Dear MMFC owners,
The Board of Directors and staff of Menomonie Market Food Co-op (MMFC) are proud to announce that your co-op is expanding! MMFC has secured a purchase agreement for a new store at the downtown property currently known as City Lot 7 on Barstow and Galloway Streets. The new retail property will serve as the home for our expanded retail store, projected to open in 2023.
For the past several years the board and management have worked on a plan for future growth and success. The cooperative has already accomplished amazing things over the last half-century in the Chippewa Valley: the co-op currently owns a beautiful property and retail operation in Menomonie, and we are looking to bring the same amenities and permanence to our co-op in downtown Eau Claire.
Now is the time to ask for your help in making this expansion a reality. One of the crucial pieces of the success of this endeavor will be our ability to demonstrate the financial commitment of our owners to financiers. Co-ops are unique in their ability to sell Class C stock to their owners—stock created for raising capital that pays interest and allows owners to make longer-term investments in the sustainable growth of their store. MMFC is offering you a chance to make a local investment, the benefit of which will be visible every day in Eau Claire.
We must raise $2,000,000 in preferred shares to make this vision a reality. The MMFC Board has declared an offering of up to 4,000 in Class C stock certificates, sold in $500 shares, for purchase by owners who live in the state of Wisconsin. Shares will earn an interest rate of 2.25%-3.75%: higher than low-risk investments (e.g., Certificate of Deposit or government bonds) but lower than the rate that MMFC would pay a bank for the same money: a win-win for both parties.
Are you already sure you would like to learn more? Please be in touch with us! We are 4,500 owners strong, and though we will make our best efforts to be in touch with all of you, we are relying on you telling us about your interest. We hope you’ll agree that the payback is not only financial, but a more connected, vibrant downtown Eau Claire, more great co-op jobs, more local food, and more cooperative community.
Yours in cooperation,
Crystal Halvorson