The Process

Iowa Food Co-Op connects consumers in the greater Des Moines area with local producers via our online shopping platform. Obviously you, as a producer, are a vital part of our mission of growing our local food system and represent both Iowa’s diverse agriculture and the diverse community that cultivates it.

The Iowa Food Co-Op runs on a two-week cycle. For producers, the different stages of the co-op cycle look like:

Prep: Managing your inventory before the shopping cycle begins

This is the time to add new items that you want to sell in the upcoming shopping cycle, or to unlist items that are no longer available. For more information, see Inventory Management.

Shopping: Monitoring your inventory and orders. Orders will come in during the time the cart is open and you can add more inventory and product during this period if you find that you have more available.

Distribution Prep: This is the time for assembling orders. If you have any concerns that you may not be able to fulfill an order during the Shopping or Distribution Prep phase please notify IFC staff (and customers) as soon as possible. Label and package your products. Then, deliver your products to the distribution site where staff will check them in. This is also when you’ll collect your check for any earnings from the previous cycle.

And then on distribution days, the co-op distributes your products to our consumers!