While UC Berkeley students face a rising cost of living, members of the campus cooperative community are continuing to plan what they say will be a low-cost and healthy option for struggling students.

In recent weeks, Berkeley Student Food Cooperative leaders have hired professional staff and have started to hold regular meetings with its growing membership of 90 volunteers.

The business would sell deli food and organic produce and is slated to open by January 2010.

"We're doing great," said Alli Reed, a member of the group's steering committee. "We are in the final stages of a location search and we just hired our first employee."

Business analyst Jeff Stein of Green Innovation Inc. will help prepare business plans to secure loans to supplement $106,000 already raised for the project.

He said that despite the difficulties of starting a cooperative business, the local business climate is particularly ripe for progressive options.

"Cooperatives have to work through the organizational struggle (because) you are working by consensus," Stein said. "(But) if it can work anywhere, it would be in Berkeley."

The steering committee will also hire a program director in the coming week to oversee publicity efforts and final product selection.

"In the next month, we will know exactly what we're selling," said Yonatan Landau, a member of the committee who works on community outreach.

Though a location for the business has yet to be determined, potential locations on Telegraph Avenue and on campus have been considered, Reed said.

"I think there is a lot of excitement around the campus space," she said.

While the group's preferred location is on Lower Sproul Plaza, a lease would require approval from both

administration and ASUC officials.

That space had been the planned

location of a Panda Express restaurant. A deal with the chain restaurant was ultimately rejected by the ASUC.

The ASUC Auxiliary still needs tenants for the two lease spaces on Lower Sproul Plaza formerly occupied by C.U.B.S. Credit Union and STA Travel, said Tom Spivey, auxiliary associate director.

"We will be approaching the (ASUC Store Operations Board) next month to ask them what direction they want to take," Spivey said.

While the future of the Berkeley Student Food Cooperative is still being determined, the steering committee has looked to emulate cooperatives in other high-cost areas that have survived through tough economic times, according to the group's Web site.

"Co-ops (have done) pretty well throughout the financial crisis," said Carmichael Monaco, who has worked for the past two years at the 4th Street Food Cooperative near the New York University campus. "If people look at them and pay attention they can save money."

Tags: PANDA EXPRESS, BERKELEY FOOD CO-OP