Small food retailers in Colorado - both urban and rural - face common challenges in stocking their stores with fresh foods. Retailers such as grocery stores, corner stores, carnicerias, and small mercantiles often struggle with high minimum order requirements, fees for not reaching an order minimum, delivery fees that can exceed $20,000 per year, fees for not having a loading dock, or all of the above. To tackle these challenges, the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Community Food Access program has created the Community Food Consortium, so small retailers can join together and negotiate better deals as a larger group.
“The Community Food Consortium aims to help small retailers address distribution and cost challenges, so they can provide fresh, nutritious food to communities across Colorado,” said Community Food Access program manager Mickey Davis. “It’s powerful to see the ways these businesses support each other with a common goal of feeding their communities.”
Another common barrier to advancing fresh food access in Colorado is keeping food fresh. Produce can go bad within days of delivery and without the proper equipment, it can be very difficult to keep produce refrigerated to extend shelf life. These obstacles mean there are often limited healthy food options for Coloradans living in isolated or low income communities, which can lead to poor health outcomes in the long term.
The CDA Community Food Consortium convenes retailers and producers across Colorado to solve problems related to fresh food access, to network, share resources, and get access to exclusive benefits. For instance, only members are able to access Consortium tax credits for fees incurred on deliveries of healthy foods. To be eligible, retailers must submit documentation to CDA showing the fees they’ve incurred. If approved, businesses receive 75 percent of the fees as a credit towards their Colorado business taxes.
Additionally, CDA has contracted with three food hubs to offer more exclusive benefits to Community Food Consortium members. These differ by food hub, but include special price lists, order coupons, guaranteed delivery (even if the retailer is located outside their normal delivery route), and broad access to Colorado grown and raised products. The three food hubs contracted are Farm Runners (blue), Valley Roots Food Hub (yellow), and Hearty Provisions (green).
The Community Food Consortium meets quarterly to discuss group business, hear about relevant opportunities, and problem solve together.
Since the Community Food Access Consortium first launched five months ago, Consortium members have collectively saved more than $26,000 through tax credits, received more than $4,500 in savings from food hubs deals, and created numerous fruitful connections to other retailers and producers.
Membership in the Consortium is free for small food retailers and Colorado owned and operated farms. To join, interested business owners must fill out an online application and qualify. Learn more by visiting the Community Food Consortium website.