Hudson Food Co-op Joins National Co+op Grocers
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), the business services cooperative for retail food co-ops nationwide, has added a new member, Hudson Food Co-op.
Hudson, Wis.-based Hudson Food Co-op, which began as a community-organized startup, recently acquired an existing natural and organic food store, Fresh and Natural. The co-op is now operating under the Fresh and Natural banner but intends to rebrand the location as Hudson Food Co-op in the near future.
“Not only does Hudson Co-op’s purchase of Fresh and Natural greatly accelerate what often can be a long co-op startup development cycle, it also ensures Hudson and surrounding communities have consistent access to fresh, local natural and organic food,” noted C.E. Pugh, CEO of Saint Paul, Minn.-based NCG. “We realize it’s cliché to say it’s a ‘win-win,’ but that’s exactly what we have here. We congratulate Hudson Food Co-op’s member-owners and welcome them into NCG.”
NCG currently has 161 member co-ops operating more than 230 retail locations across 39 states. Other members that joined this year are Detroit People’s Food Co-op, Purple Porch Food Co-op, Good Tern Co-op, which joined in October, and Kensington Community Food Co-op, Gem City Market and Wild Onion Market, which were added in February.
An annual impact report released this past May found that on average, an NCG member food co-op buys from 281 local farms and producers and sells $5.6 million worth of local products each year. The study measures how community owned food co-ops work individually and together to create a more resilient, just and regenerative food system.
Founded in 1999, NCG helps unify food co-ops to optimize operational and marketing resources, bolster purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers. Its members have combined annual sales of $2.4 billion.
