About the Co-op
Mission Statement
The Kitsap Community Food Co-op connects our local community with quality food, products, and access to information that promotes a healthy future for our families and our planet. Together we work toward a world where mutually beneficial relationships exist between producers and purchasers.
Values
- Food: We sell the highest quality food at a fair market price.
- Local: We provide local food and products.
- Community: We are committed to building strong ties within our community.
- Education: We educate ourselves and the public.
- Welcoming: We provide a welcoming environment to everyone.
- Ownership: Members are more than just customers, members are owners.
- Volunteerism: We encourage members to help out and give back.
- Dynamic: We listen to our community, and work to meet their needs.
- Ecological: We commit to sustainable practices.
Our History:
The Kitsap Community Food Co-op began as a grassroots effort to open a cooperatively-owned grocery store serving Kitsap County, WA, in 2008. The organization initially pursued a strategy to open a very large, full-service store from the start – an extraordinary challenge that was almost too much. In 2017, we set aside the advice to start big, and instead opened a small pop-up while crafting a plan to build the business in stages – the way food co-ops used to start. In July 2018, we secured a lease at 421 Park Avenue in Bremerton, and suspended pop-up operations to focus our energy on building a small grocery store in the heart of a food desert- where our county needs it most. Today, we are operating a cooperatively-owned grocery store!