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The Isla Vista Food Co-Op
The Isla Vista Food Co-Op

                                         is Santa Barbara County's only community-owned grocery store. An economic alternative founded on cooperative business principles and values, the Co-Op has worked tirelessly to provide UC Santa Barbara students and the Isla Vista community for several decades a network to healthy and sustainable food.

Melissa Cohen, General manager
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Melissa Cohen is the current general manager of the Isla Vista Co-Op. She is an alum from UCSB, graduating with a degree in Cultural Anthrpology in 2003. As the general manager, her job is to function like an owner and run the whole operations of the Co-Op and report to a board of directors.

 

Melissa has worked at the Isla Vista Co-Op since she was 21 and after graduating from UCSB, she worked on and off. She finally returned to working full-time at the Co-Op when she was 24, then took over running the business when she was 27 and has continued to serve in this position for the past 10 years. She is the youngest general manager of a national Co-Op in the whole country.

The History

The Business Model

The Relationship with Students

Challenges in a College Town

Our

Fun facts

Jack Greenberg, Student Employee
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The Voice of an Employee

Jack Greenberg is a 3rd year transfer student at UCSB majoring in Cultural Anthropology. Jack has been working at the Co-op as a produce clerk since December of 2017.

 

After applying once with little experience and not getting the job, Jack sought after a job at Sprouts in Goleta. He said he found the work unsatisfying and unfulfilling. After gaining the appropriate experience, Jack applied to the co-op again and got the job.

 

Since then, Jack has come to love working at the co-op and all the opportunities it has brought him.

Works Cited

  1. Isla Vista Food Co-op. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://islavistafoodcoop.blogspot.com/

  2. Spence, E. (2018, January 15). Isla Vista Food Co-op Celebrates 46th Anniversary. Retrieved from http://dailynexus.com/2018-01-07/isla-vista-food-co-op-celebrates-46th-anniversary/

  3. Cohen, M. (2019, January). Personal Interview.

  4. Greenberg, J. (2019, February). Personal Interview.

  5. Britta. “Isla Vista.” Cow Tipping - Davis - LocalWiki, 20 Aug. 2017, localwiki.org/islavista/Isla_Vista_Food_Cooperative.

  6. Facebook, Inc., Isla Vista Co-Op,www.facebook.com/pg/islavistafoodcoop/videos/

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