Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

[2] Rainbow Grocery began as a bulk food-buying program by followers of Guru Maharaji (Prem Pal Rawat), a spiritual teacher San Francisco in the early 1970s; it quickly became a secular project.

The ashram members who organized the opening of Rainbow Grocery did so largely by studying and copying the operations of the Noe Valley store.

As the store became increasingly successful, it was able to bring more workers on as paid staff, although people were generally not brought on to payroll until after several months of consistent volunteering.

In order to avoid generating a taxable profit, Rainbow distributed its financial surplus by increasing worker compensation and investing in expansion.

Rainbow's first substantial expansion, in 1978, was the opening of a general store (selling vitamins, dry goods, housewares, books, clothing etc.).

This situation eventually reversed and the general store became a strong support to the financial health of Rainbow Grocery.

This committee in turn drafted a “Principles of Unity” statement to which member stores had to ascribe in order to they might retain their membership in the People's Food System.

Another significant organizational development made in preparation for the move was creation of a board of directors elected from within the membership, who met regularly beginning in 1982.

[citation needed] One major factor that helped Rainbow in its move to Folsom Street location was the ability to get a bank loan with backing from the city of San Francisco.

[citation needed] In order to carry off the planning and growth involved in this move, Rainbow undertook further organizational refinement.

The Membership Meeting created an elected Storewide Steering Committee to help coordinate the Departments and overall day-to-day operations, hoping to free the board of directors to focus on the larger financial/legal issues and long-term planning.

The financial success allowed an increase in wages and benefits as well as “patronage” distributions to worker/owners in keeping with the new cooperative legal structure.

[citation needed] In 2023, Moby, the famous musician and animal rights activist, stated that he goes to Rainbow Grocery every time he visits San Francisco since 1990.