General Manager’s Blog - June
by Kenna S. Eaton
Each month, I report to the board on how we are progressing on our long term goals, which we call our Ends. These Ends reflect our aspirations what we want to accomplish and they are what makes us different from a regular grocery store. We publish these reports as a blog to keep our member owners up to date on what we are doing.
The reports are organized by our five Ends, although not all are discussed in every report. Our Ends say that, as a result of all we do.
Our community is well served by a strong cooperative grocery store, integral to the lives of our customers, our farmers, and our producers.
Our community has a resilient local and regional food economy, supported by our Co op and our community partners.
Our staff and board have the knowledge, skills, and passion to make our cooperative thrive.
Our members and customers are proud to shop at a local cooperative grocery that is working to reduce its impact on the environment.
Our community is informed, engaged, and empowered to join us in making a difference.
The early days of COOP2GO! Board members helping curbside in 2020.
June General Manager’s Report
Working Together to Nourish our Community
Market Relevance
Changes in to Coop2Go. As many of you may be aware, there are severe staffing shortages around the country, affecting all kinds of industries. The reasons for the shortages are many and varied, and they aren’t necessarily as simple as many media sources suggest. And just as many businesses in town and around the country are affected, so are we. Due to these staffing shortages, we are having to adjust hours where we can. So, for the time being, we are reducing the days we offer Coop2Go pickup from five days to three. We now have curbside pickup only on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Just know that we are hopeful this change will last no more than a few weeks while we get more staff hired and trained. Of course, we will let you all know when curbside pickup switches back to five days per week. Thanks for your understanding and support!
In order to help mitigate grain price increases and long term out of stocks, we have committed to a few months’ supply of Field Day flour and Wild Harvest apple juice–approximately two pallets will arrive at the end of June. We have also added two new Co-op Basics in wellness – Field Day honey shampoo and conditioner.
Food System Development
This month we have two new gomasio blends from LandSea on Orcas Island. One is a popcorn blend, and the other is a za’atar blend. LandSea collects spring nettles and purchases locally-harvested seaweed for their products. We have been stocking their original gomasio since 2016.
While our Local 5 sales in dollars so far in 2022 are almost the same as 2021, we’ve sold 670 unique items so far in 2022, which is 8% more than during the same time period in 2021, when we sold just 618 unique local items.
Thriving Workplace
No More Paper Folders! Welcoming a new employee to The Food Co-op family is always cause for celebration. The Human Resources Department starts every new hire off with an orientation that involves paperwork to sign, policies to go over, and information about Co-op culture. This process used to include a paper folder decorated with a Food Co-op sticker and thickly filled with documents to read, sign, or keep. Thanks to Paylocity, our new HR and payroll software, new hires can now read, sign, and complete the vast majority of these tasks at home with easy access to all the documents they will need to reference or upload. Plus, their first day’s meeting with HR is cut from two hours to one, and the paper required is pared down to a few sheets. We save trees, money, and time, and the HR Department has more time and energy for other important work.
In mid-May our finance team—Tony, Kristiana, and Anne—generously fed our staff with a homemade grilled lunch out in the courtyard. Over 40 staff stopped by during the day to grab a BBQ sandwich, a drink, and chips. The Food Service team also made strawberry shortcake to help celebrate all those May birthdays.
Outreach
Dang! The 50th party was amazing! A huge shout out to everyone who helped plan and staff the party. There were so many people who helped us celebrate our golden anniversary, and it is because of their efforts we had such a successful event. I want to especially acknowledge and thank our marketing staff (Andrea and Abi), who in addition to The Production Alliance, the board, and volunteers, worked tirelessly to ensure we all had some serious fun and made new memories!
