Katie Novak’s interest in local food stems from years living in Colorado where her sister and brother-in-law opened SAME (So All May Eat) Café, a non-profit restaurant providing customers a healthy, organic meal regardless of ability to pay.
After moving from Colorado to Bloomington, IL Katie volunteered for Green Top Grocery Cooperative and was hired as the co-op’s first employee (Outreach Manager) in April 2013. She chaired Green Top’s record setting Owner Loan Campaign raising nearly $1.5 million in loans and donations to open the grocery’s first location.
Katie grew co-op ownership (with the help of an army) from just 100 owners in April 2013 to nearly 1700 owners when she left Green Top in 2017. During her tenure, she was approached by other start-up grocery co-ops seeking guidance and advice.
Over time, as requests became more frequent, she launched Katie Novak Cooperative Coaching. Katie now works from her home in Plano, TX assisting start up grocery co-ops with topics ranging from ownership growth to hiring the co-op’s first employee to capital campaign planning. Recently Katie has upped her game by co-developing and offering an app created specifically for start-up grocery co-ops, which has been received with rave reviews. She’s also recently expanded her work to include strategic grassroots marketing consulting services to other mission driven businesses.
Hear from Katie in her own words about her entrepreneurial journey!
Tell us a little bit about your background in coops and why you ultimately decided to work on developing CoApp.
My sister opened a non-profit restaurant in Denver, Co called SAME Cafe where you can volunteer your time or pay what you can for a healthy, organic lunch. I realized working with SAME Cafe that people needed access to healthy food - not just food. When I moved Bloomington, IL I was looking to do some volunteer work with food access and a friend introduced me to co-ops. I was hooked from the very first moment!
What’s your vision for your business/work looking ahead, both short-term and long-term?
In the short term, I want to finetune CoApp, which is an application designed for co-ops by co-ops to help them manage their contacts and raise funds. In the long term, I want to use the insights we gain from use of the app to identify best practices, trends and provide data driven guidance to the co-ops I work with.
Katie Novak and CoApp partner, Jess Butimer
How has the app development process been and with whom have you had to partner/connect?
It’s a huge learning curve for me. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to work with very patient and super smart people, like my current partner Jess Buttimer. I’m learning so much! I never thought I’d be working in the tech industry, but here I am. And I love it!
Did coop coaching come naturally to you, or were there certain parts of the process that you had to work on more than others when the opportunity arose?
Yes, coaching co-ops has come naturally for me…and one of the cooperative principles is co-ops helping co-ops. So it’s in our cooperative blood so to speak to help each other and move the cooperative industry forward. I absolutely love sharing what I’ve learned with other cooperators.
It seems you take on many roles and teach/coach different topics in the work that you do (assisting start up grocery co-ops with topics ranging from ownership growth to hiring to capital campaign planning); what have you found to be the best ways to manage your time?
The best way for me to manage my time is to limit the number of clients I take on. To ensure that each client gets the time and attention they deserve, I take on no more than 4 clients at any one time. This allows me to give the best service possible and maintain a semblance of work/life balance.
Katie at the National Up & Coming Start Up Food Conference in 2020
Where do you typically get work done? What’s your favorite thing about your workspace?
I work in my home office mostly and my favorite thing about that space is a painting I inherited from my Aunt. It’s a beautiful painting and it inspired the entire decor in that room. My Aunt was a phenomenal entrepreneur and philanthropist and she’s an inspiration to me!
How do you motivate yourself if you find that you’ve hit a wall or are stuck somehow?
This is hard. When this happens to me, I find my best option is to let it happen. To be stuck. To hit that wall. And to rest or reset. Sometimes that means taking a break or going for a walk. When I give my mind and body a break, I can refocus.
Name a person, past or present, whom you admire or look up to. Why?
I’d have to say the amazing women in my family. I have 30 aunts (and uncles) and a bazillion cousins and so many of the women in my family inspire me. I’ve been blessed to have a tribe of aunts and cousins support, encourage, inspire and love me serving as an amazing example of what it takes to be a confident, kind, and loving person. I am so grateful for ALL the women in my family, and of course that includes my mom.
Katie celebrating with a co-op that she helped hit a milestone in their campaign!