What’s in a Name?

Yet we’re starting out as a small group of enthusiastic people, so our means are more modest. We’ve got to have recognition right from the beginning. To solve this we’ve had discussions, solicited name suggestions, had more discussions, did a survey at the Seed Swap then talked about it some more.

My concern was that the name relate to the community and be the result of feedback from the community. After all, the members will own the store, they should have some say in how its named.

Our startup approach is forcing a decision though. Other fledgling co-ops hold a big community meeting then work out the membership, incorporation and other structure details. Instead we’ve been working on those details first and will present them for review before our September 19th meeting. Too many of those details need a business name. So we had to choose one to start with.

We were pretty close to choosing “Altadena Community Co-op” since this...
1) grounded us in the primary location we’re been working from
2) emphasized the co-op’s focus on community
3) has the word Co-op which differentiates us from other grocery stores.

Instead we’re starting with “Arroyo Food Co-op since this...
1) recognizes that our community extends beyond one town’s borders
2) clearly states the food nature of our primary business area.

It would take some work but it is still possible to change this name. We could have a vote if enough people feel strongly enough about the issue. A naming contest is another possibility but tracking down the origins of some existing suggestions could be a challenge.

My guess is that this might just work. Our unscientific Seed Swap survey had “Arroyo Co-op” coming in as the number one winner. The two anonymous suggestions were:
- “Good, encompasses area.”
- “Need to add ‘food’”

So we did listen. Now what do you think?