Member-owned co-op · Ames, Iowa

Own a slice.
Take a shift.

Whetstone is a wheel of member shares, work shifts, bulk orders and community grants. Every slice is a job somebody does. Fill yours and the co-op turns.

Join Whetstone See the shifts

Join WhetstoneTake a slice

02 — Work a shift

The co-op turns because we do.

Whetstone is member-owned, so the work that keeps the shelves full is shared out. Every member-owner takes a slice of the shifts.

A member-owner restocking a produce shelf during a shift

Shift 01

Produce intake

Meet the delivery at the door, check it in, and get the morning's produce out where people can see it.

Shift 02

Bulk packing

Weigh out split orders and label them, so every member picks up exactly their portion.

Shift 03

Front counter

Welcome people in, ring them up, and answer the first question everybody asks.

Shift 04

Grant boxes

Pack up food boxes headed out through the community food grants the co-op funds.

Tell us the hours you actually have and we will match you to a slice of the wheel.

Bulk bins of grains, pulses and dried goods with scoops — The bulk wall — cases in, portions out.

03 — Buy in bulk

One case, many kitchens.

The bulk buying program lets members go in together on staples. Buy a whole case, share it out between you, and take home only what you need.

01

Order together

Members pool their orders so a full case has somewhere to go.
02

Split it fairly

Weigh it out, label it, and take your portion home.
03

Waste less of it

Buying by the case means less packaging and fewer things going stale at the back of a shelf.

04 — Source local

Grown close to home.

Whetstone sources produce from growers around Ames and the wider Iowa prairie, so what reaches the shelf has not crossed an ocean to get there.

01 Growers we know by name
02 Shorter trips from field to shelf
03 What is on the shelves follows the season

The wheel turns with the year, and so does the shelf.

Crates of just-harvested vegetables being unloaded at the co-op door

Produce arriving — ordered by members, grown nearby.

05 — Fund grants

Good food, further.

Whetstone's members fund community food grants — money that goes back out to local food projects around Ames, decided by the people who own the co-op.

Members packing food boxes on a long table for community food grants

01
Funded by members

Grant money comes from the co-op's own members — not from outside, and not from a distant funder.
02
Decided together

Member-owners decide which projects get support. One share, one voice on where it goes.
03
Open to local food projects

If you are working on getting good food to more people in and around Ames, ask us about a grant.

06 — Join