Growing Flame Tree Coop

By Susan Luscombe

In October 2007 a group of people gathered with the idea of starting a local food co-operative. In May 2009 a foundation meeting established Flame Tree Community Food Co-operative and in 2010 a shop was established in Thirroul, behind a dress shop. In 2012, the shop extended into the street frontage and in February 2018, after a successful crowd-funding campaign, Flame Tree moved to its current premises in Lawrence Hargrave Drive.

Thirroul resident, musicologist and cultural historian Amanda Harris was one of the inaugural directors. She’s been an active Flame Tree volunteer ever since, now as a part of the finance team.

From the standing room only first meeting there was a lengthy process of research, meetings, and planning, driven by a core group of committed volunteers. Luckily there were other co-ops to learn from, including Alfalfa House, Blue Mountains and Manly, all with common values of putting people, the planet and quality nourishing food before profit.

Flame Tree was conceived as volunteer-run, from serving customers to all the behind the scenes roles. Amanda says that, in the early days,