General Manager’s Blog - May
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.
May General Manager’s Report
Working Together to Nourish our Community
Market Relevance
We are preparing for the new Washington State Retail Food Code Food Rules which were scheduled for implementation in March but now are moved to September. Did you know that there are 140 pages of rules that cover how we store, date, cook, and serve all the food that we make and sell, as well as our bulk food, and while the rules change regularly, this is the greatest number of changes we have seen at one time at least as far as we can recall. All changes are designed to improve food safety and sanitation but they also mean adjustments to the way we are used to doing things, so lots of work on our end! We will let members know more about how these changes will affect our shopping habits when we get more information, probably later this summer.
And as every knows, the cost of goods is increasing According to FMI (Food Marketing Institute), the food at home CPI increased 1.5% in March 2022 and grocery prices are up 10% over this time last year.
There are three pieces in the food supply chain affected by COVID19: production, processing, and retail, and these are further influenced by population growth, the slowdown of agriculture productivity, the weather, and the global trade market. Then factor in the shift towards eating at home, the loss of food service demand, the increase in production and processing costs, the increased costs of running a grocery store, not to mention the impact on food supplies from the Ukraine/Russian war, and it is no wonder that prices are increasing across the board. At the Co op we are focused on sourcing good food at the best price we can, to help you feed your family well at a reasonable price. Many years ago, we created a list of pantry staples, that we committed to keeping at as low a price as possible. These staples included
regionally produced items like granola and milk and formed the basis of what is now called Co+op Basics In the intervening years that list has grown and now includes products that are good quality, meeting our high product standards but more affordable due to basic packaging or lack a national brand marketing program. In essence they act as a “ brand. We have over 300 items in the store that are Co+op Basics, and this month we brought in three new items in the pasta/pasta sauce category. We also added a new SNAP incentive in March—for every $10 spent, SNAP/EBT users get $5 off that purchase. It’s another great way to save at the Co-op. Be sure to ask our staff if you have any questions.
Food System Development
Wurm Wares - Erika wurm
New Local WA goods include a wheat-free kale pasta from Local Goods on Orcas Island, plus several Holy Mountain ales, rarely distributed outside of Seattle. Timber City Ginger, another Seattle brewer, delivers both their product and Holy Mountain.
Wurm Wares is a new local vendor from Port Townsend. They are supplying us cards and kids ’activity books. Wurm Wares donates a portion of their proceeds to the Marine Science Center.
And spring local produce is coming on hot with lots of raabs and tulips! Last month we sold 650 local bouquets from Dietrich Farms, Diamond Day Bouquet, and Red Dog Farm. This is almost double the local flowers that we had to offer in 2021 in the same time period. Red Dog did not have tulips in 2021.
Outreach
We co-sponsored the Earth Day Beach Cleanup at four different locations on the peninsula. 100 volunteers received a $5 gift card from the Co-op as a thank you for their efforts.
Community Cook Vegetarian Indian recipes and videos are still available on our web site and new videos are being posted regularly. For more information, check the link:
www.foodcoop.coop/community-cook.
And our outreach team has also been laser focused on preparing for our 50Th Anniversary Party on May 4th, 2022. To ensure that everyone could enjoy the event, held at the Fairgrounds, we closed the store early that day. We’ve got lots of new 50th cups, bags, and hats at the store—be sure to check out the beautiful cups/mugs from Millbrook Clayworks in Hadlock, special designs to celebrate our 50th, so you can celebrate year round.
Abi and Sidonie are making Indian Food for our Community Cook program
