WHO IS MANDELA FOODS COOPERATIVE?

We are West Oakland residents who have come together over the last few years with the goal of bringing food to our community. As worker-owners, we own and manage the store and are responsible for its success. We believe that we will be able to deliver real service, the foods you want, and a real community-owned grocery store to West Oakland in a way that a traditional chain grocer would not. We are members of this community and we pledge to do all that we can to ensure that you get the quality service, excellent selection and low prices that we have long deserved. There are currently twelve of us preparing to open our store. Here are just a few:

	James Bell, Operations, Assistant GM (in training) Hi, I am James Bell, a resident of West Oakland. I am very exited about being involved with bringing MFC to our community. There haven’t been any actual grocery stores in this direct area for about 30 years. My family and other families in West Oakland currently are forced to leave our own community to make groceries. We will all be a part of restoring a greater need of health in our neighborhood, making fresh healthy choices more accessible to us all.
	Rachelle Brown, Accounting I have over eighteen years of customer service experience. I have genuine interest in helping others and providing great service. I feel that my role in the Mandela Foods Cooperative would be to make sure that providing good customer service would be an ongoing process. I currently work with payroll and some accounting. I have an interest in working with the accounting/financial team. I want to increase my knowledge and skills in those areas.
	Stephanie Camus, Marketing I have a long-time interest in food and a commitment to making healthful food and nutritional information available to everyone. I have experience working and making decisions democratically. I bring to MFC my strong work ethic, leadership skills, and years of professional customer service experience.
	Dennis Terry, Operations I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. I moved to Oakland, California in 1969. I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in Political Science. I have eighteen years experience in a cooperative (Bookpeople in Oakland). I have years of experience in community organization and in the cooperative movement supporting worker-owned business. I am currently in Board of Directors of Mandela Foods Cooperative. I have recently worked on the MFC Personnel Manual and am engaged in marketing activities for the coop.
	Nathan Cheng, General Manager After many years in business/restaurant management, Nathan Cheng decided to do something more for his community. Seeing a need for fresh produce and mentoring among local youth in his West Berkeley neighborhood, he decided to address both issues by opening a store. The store was well received and known for its excellent service, provided by five local students whose jobs were tied to keeping good grades in school. Nathan was not only a employer, but also a mentor and helped the students/employees with schoolwork, while teaching them about fresh produce and healthy eating habits. After such a rewarding experience Nathan decided to continue his work with food access and expanded his community work throughout the state of California designing and implementing a pilot program for outfitting liquor stores in low income communities to carry fresh produce and healthy grocery items. Now Nathan is honored and very excited to help in opening West Oakland's first worker-owned food cooperative.

ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

Mandela Foods Cooperative would not be possible without generous support from Mandela Marketplace, a non-profit business incubator focused on improving community health and wealth in West Oakland. Mandela Marketplace has provided us with technical assistance, management support and seed funding for store start-up activities. Mandela Marketplace is comprised of professional advisers with expertise in retail grocery, entrepreneurial training, business planning and marketing. This team will continue to support us as we stabilize the business in the next few years. For more information about Mandela Marketplace please visit www.mandelamarketplace.org.