Details of Our Operations
The Adventist Food Buying Club (AFBC) has a very organized, structured system in place, thanks in part to the careful planning and implementation of a process by the club’s coordinator, Loraine Sweetland, and the collective ideas of club membership. Below are rather detailed descriptions of the ordering and pickup procedures.
Ordering
Each month, food club members place orders online at unfi.com after logging in with a user name and password supplied by the club coordinator. Those who don’t have Internet access send their orders to the club coordinator (last name A through L) or to Jerry Ziegele (last name M through Z), who inputs the orders for them.
Annual product catalogs and monthly price lists (both optional) are available for a fee from our supplier, United Natural Foods (UNFI). Online catalogs are available for viewing free of charge at www.unfi.com. Monthly specials are also shown in the catalog and on the UNFI web site. Members of AFBC receive a discount of 13% off the catalog price due to our annual club volume. This discount is not reflected in the shopping basket when placing orders, but will be shown on the final invoice. When items are on special, members will be given either the special price or the club discount price (13%), but not both.
Many items are available individually, while some can be purchased in small quantities. Many items can only be ordered by the case, or in bulk. There are also items that can be ordered individually or in small quantities, but have reduced prices when ordered in case quantities. One may order an entire case of an item if they wish.
When placing an order, if an item is available in case quantities or in bulk, the member can order the minimum amount of that item they would like, and the maximum quantity they would accept if the case or bulk item is filled. For example, if a person orders a can of beans that is only available in a case of 12, and the member wants 3, but is willing to take 6, they would check the split box, enter “3” in the “quantity” column, and “3” in the “more” column. If other members added to this split order and the case quantity of 12 is obtained, then that case would be filled. As an example for bulk quantities, if a person wanted 5 lbs. of a 25 lb. bag of rice, but were willing to take 15 lbs., they would enter “5” in the “quantity” column and “10” in the “more” column. For more details on the specifics of online ordering, click HERE.
Throughout the month, up until the order cut-off date, members can continue to add items to their orders, update split quantities, and enter new items. Once every four weeks, an adjustment meeting is held to allow those who don’t have Internet access to make adjustments to the unfilled cases in a group setting, and for new members who have Internet access to learn about web site ordering. A cut-off date for orders is set about 6 days before the scheduled monthly pickup to allow workers to do final adjustments to the master order and submit it to UNFI.
The Pickup
The monthly pickup takes place at the Adventist Family Life Center in Crossville. While the date and approximate time are scheduled ahead of time, last minute changes can occur, and the truck delivery is occasionally late. Last minute delivery updates may be sent by email or phone by members whose job title is designated as “callers.”
The truck is met by “distributors,” members whose job is to check in the order and sort the items for other members to pick up at a designated time. Refrigerated and frozen items are checked first to ensure accuracy before the truck driver leaves, as returns to UNFI are not allowed on these particular items. As the items are sorted out and weighed, and cold items placed in the refrigerator and freezer, a designated member (job title = "Quality Checker") performs quality checks for each member’s order to ensure everything is correct. Any adjustments for shortages are noted on the member’s invoice. After the member looks over their 
order to double check that everything is o.k., they bring their pick sheet and pink sheet to the cashier to settle up. After loading their groceries and getting their refrigerated and frozen items out of the club’s refrigerator and freezer, they are free to leave. At that time, they can go ahead and begin placing their order for the next month’s pickup, as the cycle begins anew.
As mentioned previously, there is a very organized system in place, and the pickups generally run smooth and orderly. However, there are days when things can get a bit chaotic, especially when the truck is late. Members pitch in and pull together in a cooperative effort during these challenging times, and the pickups are always a success.
About twice per year, members of the club meet for a bi-annual business meeting to share ideas to help the club run smoother and to make policy decisions. At times, pot-luck dinners are held in conjunction with these meetings, giving everyone a chance to share their dishes and recipes with other club members.
Click HERE to read about the history of AFBC.
Click HERE for information and location of our facilities where orders are delivered and picked up.