Annual Meeting Recap

Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Meeting on Monday, August 7th. It was a pleasure to spend time with owners and keep you informed and engaged in what’s ahead. We encourage you to attend our monthly meetings, every 4th Monday from 6-7:00 p.m. (our next meeting is September 25th).

Annual Meeting Recap

Since we signed our lease in October 2022, we’ve been extremely busy with multiple, simultaneous tasks required to keep us on track. The planning and permitting stage is exciting, a bit stressful, and full of uncertainties.

Here is what we have been up to:

• Selected our store designer and architect
• Along with the store designer, we’ve developed and refined our store floor plan
• Submitted plans and permits
• Currently selecting our general contractor
• Refining our equipment list
• Working with SDGE (this is a long process)
• Working with a consultant to develop our grab and go and deli menu
• Started our General Manager search and interviews
• Raised $1.8 M
• 1095 owners!

Our Fundraising Goal Has Changed

We recently received unexpectedly high bids, indicating that our construction and labor costs significantly increased and this was understandably cause for concern. It may have impacted our feasibility to continue with our lease and the Board took time to further investigate and meet with our advisors. Although our costs are much higher, we carved items from our budget to bring us back to a feasible place. This does mean changes to our plans and that we are pressed when it comes to fundraising. Our projected costs are now $4.2M. We’ve raised $1.8M so far.

We must raise $1.6M by this fall in order to maintain our leased space. 

Failure to reach this goal means we could lose our current lease and need to look for new locations, which could take years. Because grants have timelines and are often tied to the location, this may mean we lose some of our current funding sources. As frustrating as this is, this is the nature of the business. Although many co-ops go through more than one lease before opening, we are anticipating success but planning contingencies.

Our fundraising plan:

To achieve our fall $1.6M goal, we will continue applying for grants and aggressively seek donations and sponsorships (see image below). If we achieve the goal, this won’t be the end of our fundraising as we will have an additional $800,000 to raise to fund upcoming costs. The good news is that once open, the business is self-funded. As a co-op, it’s up to all of us to work together to open the doors.

Fund-A-Need Community Investment Campaign

Equipment costs make up a large percentage of our budget at an estimated $750,000. We are asking community members to chip in to help us cover costs, with a goal of raising $100,000 toward expenses. You can make a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, the SunCoast Community Fund at San Diego Roots.

What’s next?

There are many critical steps on our journey to open our doors including:

• Continue to examine ways to reduce construction and operation costs
• Reach our 1400 owner goal
• Increase our outreach to our Spanish speaking community members
• Due to rising construction and labor costs, it is critical that we meet our fundraising goals and plan for increased costs. If we are not able to meet these goals, we risk losing our site and will need to re-start our location search.
• The process to start construction is stalled due to an SDGE delay however it is providing us with more time to fundraise. Grocery store energy needs are high and need to be well planned. There have been fees to hold the space during this process, however we have not started paying rent.

How you can help:

1. Continue to refer new owners to SunCoast to help us reach our 1400 owner goal.
2. We are seeking introductions with individual, business, or philanthropic donors. If you are able to make a connection, please reach out to us quickly.
3. We will be hiring a general contractor. If you own a business that could help during our construction phase, please reach out to us right away.
4. We need volunteers to help with outreach events. We have an immediate need for additional Spanish speaking volunteers.