Credibles Applies CSA Model To Restaurants

The genius simplicity of the CSA model has been borrowed for a variety of other goods, from pie to jam.

And now thanks to the new site Credibles, it's been applied to restaurants and small-food businesses.

At first glance, Credibles looks a lot like another crowd-sourcing site in the vein of Kickstarter or Indie-Gogo. But whereas those sites encourage the idea of "rewards," which may or may not equal the value of the donation, Credibles is about an equal exchange—the amount of money that you put forth is the amount that you're credited to make a purchase.

The site is a project of Slow Money, an alliance of food businesses dedicated to shifting the ideals of the food-based economy toward preservation. At the moment, Credibles is in beta testing, working with businesses in California (a kraut company and a chicken farm) and New York (the just-opened Parish Hall). More cities will be added to the roster soon.

And supporting the businesses is not merely a show of good faith; many of the them offer incentives such as 10-percent additional credit.

It pays to be neighborly.