Co-op, Community and Coffee

We are thrilled to announce that the Ashland Food Co-op has purchased the Rogue Valley Roasting Company (RoCo) from longtime owner, Dustin Way.

Rogue Valley Roasting Company has been a neighborhood favorite for almost 30 years. For the past 16 years, Dustin has been the proud owner of this sweet little hot spot located at 917 E Main Street, in Ashland. Dustin’s homegrown business values focus on locally produced baked goods, organic certified ingredients, PNW wine and beer, and fair trade organic certified coffee beans that are roasted locally by the RoCo team.

“I am excited to bring the Rogue Valley Roasting Company into the Co-op family,” said Nick Hardee, GM of the Ashland Food Co-op. “RoCo has the love of our community and the product standards that compliment our Co-op values. Investing back into our community and small businesses just feels right to me.” 

Dustin has created a business that is ready to grow. With our expertise at the Co-op, we will be focusing on developing a more robust wholesale product line while increasing our offering of Co-op exclusive bulk coffee beans and made-to-order coffee drinks available at our Co-op store location. We will also consider having neighbor-friendly events and educational classes at the coffee shop’s location on E. Main Street.

If you aren't already a Co-op Owner this is one more reason to join! Purchases made at RoCo are eligible for Patronage Dividends!

Questions? Drop us a line at [email protected]

More Co-op News

Meet Board of Director Julie O'Dwyer

When not working on Board of Director efforts, my profession is an Interior and Building Designer. I own the Ashland Design Studio, located in the Historic Railroad District, and have a design services studio there - JulieO Design. I have been in the architectural design business my whole life; from crawling around my father's architectural studio to traveling around the world working on buildings large and small to now having created my own niche in the local building community. I took a few years off this path to own and run Tease Restaurant here in Ashland.

Nourish Your Family and Fight Hunger

The holiday season is upon us. Amidst the shopping frenzies, family gatherings, and parties it can be hard to remember this is also a season of giving. That’s why we want to make it easy for you to give back. So easy that it’s as simple as doing your everyday grocery shopping. You can nourish your own family and help fight hunger in the Rogue Valley.

For the month of November, we are once again teaming up with Smart Chicken® for the Smart Chicken® Smart Giving program.

Here’s how it works.

5 Reasons to Love Co-ops

By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator

October is National Co-op Month, so what’s the big deal? Being a co-op is special. Yes, we know we are biased, but being a cooperative enterprise means we do business differently. We don’t have a single owner living on their private island drinking margaritas all day without a care in the world. We are owned and governed by you, our 10,000 members. We share the burden in hard times and share the benefits in the good times. We put people, the planet and our principles before profit.

From the General Manager's Desk

By Emile Armarotico

This spring, National Co-op Grocers recognized Ashland Food Co-op as a Co+efficient Sustainability Star for our excellent sustainability efforts.

Our Sustainability Vision aims at being carbon neutral by 2030. We’ve taken a great stride toward this by installing a 39 kilowatt solar electric system on our rooftop with the capacity to generate approximately 7% of our electricity usage. The cost was partially offset by a $27,000 REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) Grant.

Local Starts at the Co-op

When we say local, we mean local. We source our local goods from within 200 miles of the store. By purchasing goods from local producers, we aim to create and maintain a healthy local economy and support family farms. What could be better than helping your community by buying local goods?

With all the local products that we offer, it’s hard to pick a favorite. But that’s exactly what we asked our staff to do. Here are some of their go-to local eats.

Your Fruit. Your Cider.

How often can you browse the shelf at your neighborhood grocery store, see a bottle of hand crafted, local cider and say, “Hey, I help make that!” Well, at the Co-op you can.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me

By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator

Many of us wait all year for this moment. We spend the winter months dreaming of a certain fuzzy stone fruit, its sweet juices dripping from our face and the buttery golden pie crust those yellow-orange slices will inhabit.

Good news! The wait is over. That local, sweet orb of sunshine has finally arrived. That’s right. Rolling Hills peaches are here!

2017 Board Election Results

The Ashland Food Co-op Board of Directors is pleased to announce the results of the 2017 Board Election. There were five excellent candidates running for three Board positions. In total, 733 votes were cast, representing 9% of owners. 
 
Congratulations to the following candidates who will serve three-year terms on the Ashland Food Co-op Board of Directors.

We're Sustainability Stars!

Deep in our hearts we've always known we were sustainability stars, but now we have an award to prove it.

We recently received a Co+efficient Sustainability Star award from National Co-op Grocers (NCG) recognizing our positive environmental and community impacts.

Co+efficient, NCG’s sustainability program, measures social, environmental and local economic impacts from participating food co-ops across the country.

Give Where You Live

It’s the most wonderful time of year! Yes, we know that phrase is generally reserved for the holiday season. But for us, this truly is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s OUR season of giving.

Dine In and Bike Your Way to Savings

Did you know that approximately half of our landfill waste stream is composed of Deli trash? A significant part of that is “to-go” containers, which are sometimes used for dining in and don’t end up “going” very far at all.

Sustainability matters in everyday actions and we want you, our customers, to help us reduce unnecessary waste and make the most ecologically sound choices possible.

Participate in YOUR Co-op!

Meet Your Candidates
The Co-op Board is pleased to announce that we have 5 candidates for 3 open seats in the 2017 Board Election!
 
Join us for a social "

Spring Picks

The sun is (mostly) out and the weather is finally getting warmer. That must mean summer is right around the corner, right? We sure hope so. We’re ready to grill, soak up some sun and enjoy the many fruits and vegetables that are in season. Our Floral Coordinator, Rachel Chastain, shares some of her favorites.

Be the Sustainable Change

By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator

Sustainability is not a new concept at the Co-op. It has always been part of our DNA. We’ve been using sustainable business practices before it was the “cool”, “responsible” thing to do. In fact, the Co-op was founded 45 years ago largely on the principles of sustainable, local organic food production as an alternative to modern industrial agriculture.  

A New Look

By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator

For 45 years we’ve been loving local and fostering community. Throughout our almost half a century history, our identity and logo has gone through many iterations.

Some of you might remember the logo above from our newsletter in the early 1980s.

As we’ve done multiple times throughout our history, it’s time to refresh our brand and launch a beautiful, new logo to take us into the next decade.