Changing the Rules: How Local Businesses Are Building Power in Arizona's Economy
Shifting economic priorities means changing the policies, market conditions and systems that determine who has access to opportunity, resources and economic power. For Local First Arizona, that means helping locally owned businesses build collective leverage, removing structural barriers and creating more ways for Arizona communities to benefit from the wealth generated here.
Helping local businesses succeed sometimes means helping one entrepreneur solve one problem.
And sometimes, the problem is the system itself.
A local restaurant can make smart decisions and still struggle with the cost of sustainable packaging. A small employer can want to provide quality health insurance and still lack the purchasing power of a large corporation. An Arizona food producer can make a great product and still face enormous barriers getting it onto grocery store shelves.
Those aren't simply business problems. They're market conditions that disproportionately affect locally owned businesses.
That's why part of Local First Arizona's work is focused on shifting economic priorities: bringing businesses together to build collective power, changing policies that put them at a disadvantage and creating new pathways for more Arizona businesses and communities to participate in — and benefit from — our economy.
And over the past several months, that work has been moving on a lot of fronts.
Lowering costs for Arizona restaurants through collective purchasing
One small restaurant ordering compostable takeout containers doesn't have much leverage over pricing. Hundreds of businesses potentially do.
Local First Arizona is working with Captains Restaurant Supply to launch the Green Business Buyers Coop, which will allow locally owned food businesses to combine their purchasing power to buy compostable to-go containers at a significant discount.
The goal is to move compostable containers from specialty-item pricing closer to commodity pricing, making it more financially feasible for restaurants and coffee shops to reduce their reliance on plastics and Styrofoam, which are made primarily from fossil fuels.
It's a sustainability initiative, but it's also an economic one: change the economics of the choice and more businesses have the power to make it.
Giving local businesses a stronger voice in the marketplace
Collective power matters beyond purchasing, too.
When the proposed merger between Sysco and Restaurant Depot raised concerns about competition and choice for independent food businesses, Local First contributed the voices of more than 120 Arizona food businesses to a letter opposing the merger.
The Federal Trade Commission subsequently flagged the proposed merger as a potential concern during its initial review and moved it into a second stage for further scrutiny.
Local business owners increasingly want a voice in decisions like these. In just six months, Local First's Rapid Responders list — businesses willing to respond to urgent policy issues and sign-on letters — has grown by 55%.
The goal isn't simply to speak for local businesses. It's to make it easier for business owners to speak for themselves — and harder for decision-makers to overlook them. For owners who want to go further by providing testimony, contacting representatives or meeting directly with lawmakers, we've created a Business Leader group. It now includes 60 business owners from across Arizona ready to weigh in on issues affecting locally owned businesses.
How Local First Arizona is working to shift economic priorities
Lowering operating costs through collective purchasing
Increasing local business influence in policy and competition issues
Expanding healthcare access through pooled bargaining power
Opening retail markets for Arizona-made food products
Amplifying rural decision-making around major energy investments
Keeping ownership local through employee ownership and succession
That work also means creating opportunities for local business owners to be heard by the people in a position to shape the rules. In September, Local First Arizona and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance will bring Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes together with local business owners and national policy expert Stacy Mitchell for a discussion about how corporate consolidation is affecting Arizona businesses and the broader economy.
Expanding affordable healthcare options for Arizona small businesses
Large employers can use their scale to negotiate benefits in ways individual small businesses simply can't. This year, Local First worked alongside the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Arizona Small Business Association to help pass HB 2693, which creates an opportunity for business coalitions like Local First Arizona to aggregate their purchasing power and pursue lower-cost healthcare options.
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the bill into law, and it takes effect this year.
That could ultimately mean lower healthcare costs for business owners, more employees with coverage and another tool locally owned businesses can use to compete for and retain talented workers.
Again, the principle is simple: A business shouldn’t be required to grow to corporate size in order to access opportunities and resources.
Standing with immigrant entrepreneurs
Economic opportunity also depends on who gets to participate.
Immigrants are entrepreneurs, employers and an integral part of local economies throughout Arizona. Amid federal policies targeting immigrants and immigrant business owners, Local First joined a coalition supporting the Dignity Act, bipartisan federal legislation that includes provisions addressing legal status for undocumented immigrants and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
A resilient Arizona economy depends on people being able to build businesses, create jobs and invest in their communities. Immigration policy is economic policy, too.
Helping rural communities shape the energy investments coming their way
Some economic shifts bring opportunity and risk at the same time.
Arizona's rural communities are increasingly navigating proposals for major energy infrastructure, from renewable energy generation to data centers. These projects can bring significant investment, but communities need the information and capacity to evaluate what development means for their land, resources, residents and long-term economic goals.
Local First recently secured funding to launch our first Rural Energy Learning Series in partnership with the Arizona County Supervisors Association, with participation spanning all 15 Arizona counties.
The series will help county leaders understand the challenges involved in siting large-scale energy projects, learn from real-world examples and develop strong community-benefit strategies. Participants will also have access to experts who can provide ongoing technical assistance if a county decides on a project they deem beneficial.
The objective isn't development for development's sake. It's giving rural leaders more of the information, relationships and tools they need to determine how major investments can contribute to sustainable, locally beneficial economic growth.
Getting more Arizona-made food onto Arizona shelves
Meanwhile, another question we're tackling is deceptively simple:
Why shouldn't it be easier to buy Arizona-made food in an Arizona grocery store?
Local First has assembled a portfolio of 30 Arizona businesses representing more than 90 products for a new Consumer Packaged Goods program designed to create stronger pathways into grocery stores.
In July, we presented the program to multiple regional grocers.
Getting locally made products into more stores is a win for more than just an individual producer or manufacturer. More shelf space for Arizona businesses means more opportunities for those companies to grow, hire and purchase from other suppliers — while giving shoppers more ways to keep their food dollars circulating here.
Keeping Arizona businesses locally owned through employee ownership
Finally, we're looking at one of the biggest long-term questions facing locally owned businesses: What happens when an owner is ready to leave?
Selling to an outside buyer isn't the only option. Employee ownership can give founders another succession path while allowing the people who helped build a company to share in its future value and keeping ownership rooted locally.
Local First Arizona is working to establish an official Center for Employee Ownership in Arizona through legislation planned for the 2027 legislative session. The center would help more Arizona business owners explore succession through employee ownership, including Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP).
We're currently working with partners that have advanced similar efforts in other states and talking with existing Arizona ESOP companies about the effort.
Join Local First Arizona and Bayntree Wealth Advisors on September 17 for Business Transition Strategies: The Power of Employee Ownership—an event introducing the initiative and offering a workshop on exit strategy planning.
Local businesses don't have to play small
There's a common thread running through all of this work.
Individually, local businesses often enter markets where larger players have more purchasing power, more negotiating leverage, easier access to distribution and a louder voice in public policy.
But being locally owned doesn't have to mean going it alone.
Businesses can aggregate their purchasing power. Producers can approach major retailers together. Employers can pursue better benefits collectively. Hundreds of business owners can make their voices heard on policy. Communities can negotiate from a stronger position when major investments arrive. And employees can become the next generation of local owners.
That's what shifting economic priorities looks like: not asking local businesses to work harder within systems tilted against them, but working together to change the conditions in which they operate.
Because a stronger local economy isn't built one business at a time in isolation. It's built by making sure locally owned businesses have the power to shape what comes next.
