Cook Wind Down FAQ
Josephine will be closing its doors on Friday, March 30, 2018. As a small company, we just aren’t financially able to continue to support the logistics of supporting our mission as well as our cooks, our employees, and the investors who continue to put their trust in us to do what’s best.
We still see a future in which home cooks are free to earn an honest living feeding their friends and neighbors. The laws are moving forward to make that possible, but unfortunately, we’re just not there yet. Closing down our current business operations and continuing our policy work independently feels like the best way for us to continue advocating for the food system we know can be possible.
As we come to the end of this chapter, we still hope you’ll join us in keeping the spirit of the Josephine community present in our everyday lives.
When is the final serving date?
Final meals will be served on March 30th, 2018.
Can I still post meals until then?
Yes! That said, the meal publisher has been adjusted and will not allow for meals to be posted beyond our last day — Friday, March 30th. We will be waiving the 10% fee for the final 60 days of service, and we encourage you to post as much as you’d like. We’re hoping this will help incentivize and encourage your customers to purchase and support you through our last day of operation.
Can I keep cooking and selling my meals after Josephine closes?
We will send to each of you a personalized packet with resources to help you continue to operate and grow your personal food business, should you choose to do so. Our goal is to get you this information by mid February, so that you can begin thinking and planning as soon as possible.
This packet of information will contain all of your Josephine business history, including menus, photos, sales, reviews, customer contact information for those who have chosen to share it, plus alternative business proposals, resources, and tool recommendations to help you continue your business.
Can I contact my regular customers about continuing to cook for them?
Customers will be given chances to opt-in to allow us to share their contact information with you. We have also encouraged them to reach out to you personally to see how they can continue to support your food business after Josephine comes to an end. Your customer opt-in lists will be updated through March 30th as we send them a series of reminders, so make sure to check it more than once after you receive your packet.
If you’d like to reach out to specific customers to share your plans, we encourage you to use your CRM tool in the dashboard and to do so before 3/30. Please keep in mind that they will have been asked by HQ to opt-in to cook communication twice, so please be considerate in who you choose to reach out to and what you wish to communicate. (If you’re planning on keeping your business alive in another format, we suggest filling your best customers in on your plans!)
Will I still have access to the cook education information?
You will have full access to Josephine educational materials until March 30th and are welcome to copy or download relevant materials for your personal use. A limited selection (but not all) of the educational information may be available beyond 3/30 on cookalliance.org.
What about my 2018 taxes?
If you earned more than $600 in 2017, your 1099 is on it’s way (issued by PayPal). Some of you have already earned more than $600 in 2018! We are tracking all those cooks and will furnish our accountants with the list after 3/30. You will receive a 2018 Form 1099 by early February 2019.
When did you know you were first shutting down?
Our decision to wind down was made relatively quickly over the past several weeks. We know that the timing of this announcement is especially surprising for cooks newer to our community. Please know that we stopped accepting cook applications as soon as we knew we would be closing our doors, and have worked as quickly as possible to plan our announcement thoughtfully while trying to provide you with as much support and time as possible.
