308B member offerings — for members only
Local Effort is a Minnesota Chapter 308B cooperative association. That statute is what lets us take capital from the people we already feed and the people who already work here, instead of from someone who wants the kitchen sold in five years.
Three ways in, below. One is a loan, one is prepaid food, one makes you an owner of the balance sheet. They are not equally safe and we have said so in each one.
raising to $50,000 · members only · no money is taken on this page
the offerings —
$500 – $5,000
What it buys. Production equipment we own outright instead of rent: a second deck oven, a walk-in upgrade, and the packaging line that lets wholesale grow without more hours.
Why this one. Equipment is the constraint on every line at once. The same oven serves meal prep, pizza, and the wholesale case.
$250 – $2,500
What it buys. Cash at the front of the season, when Minnesota farms need commitments and we are least able to give them. You get 110% of it back as credit against anything we make.
Why this one. Buying early and in volume is how we hold prices and how growers plan their year. This is the offering that most directly changes what we can promise a farm.
$1,000 and up
What it buys. A capital account in the cooperative itself, under Minnesota Chapter 308B. Patronage-linked: you share in surplus in the years there is surplus, in proportion to your participation.
Why this one. The most patient money we can take, and the only one that makes you an owner of the balance sheet rather than a creditor of it. Also the one that can return nothing.
why member money —
Every staff member at Local Effort is offered equity ownership in the business. That is not a perk bolted onto a normal restaurant — it is the reason the cooperative exists in this legal form. Outside capital that expects an exit eventually asks us to sell the thing the workers own.
Member capital does not ask that. It comes from households who eat our food and from the people who cook it, and it is repaid in interest, in food, or in patronage — never by selling the kitchen. It is slower money and it is the only kind that fits.
expression of interest —
This is non-binding and takes no payment. We send the offering documents for the one you pick, and a worker-owner follows up to walk through the risks with you before anything is signed.
This page is a description of member capital offerings under consideration by Local Effort Cooperative, a Minnesota Chapter 308B cooperative association. It is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security, and it takes no money. Submitting the form above creates no obligation on either side.
Any actual offering will be made only to eligible members, only through written offering documents, and only in compliance with applicable federal and Minnesota securities law. Returns described above are targets, not promises. Member capital in particular may return nothing, and you could lose the entire amount. Repayment of the Kitchen Note depends on the cooperative's ability to pay. Farm Fund credit is redeemable in food, not cash.
Talk to your own financial or legal advisor before committing money to a small business, including this one.