FOR Brattleboro Food Co-op thought December 2017 Green River Aprons Wild Blossom Designs Guilford,VT Shelburne,VT Local Producers of the Month BrattleboroFoodCoop.coop facebook.com/BrattleboroFoodCoop FOR Published monthly by the hat's N W ew at the Co-op! Designers House-Made Mild Curry Marlene O'Connor Holiday Meat Menu Donna Lee Amerman BFC [email protected] Stop by during December for your MADE Lamb Sausage Editors holiday roast, goose, or duck. Curry + ground lamb + love = delicious Jon Megas-Russell, [email protected] We will have a full menu of house-made sausage found in the Ruth Garbus, [email protected] offerings! meat department. Advertising Jon Megas-Russell To advertise in Food For Thought call 257-0236, ext. 813, or email [email protected] Dr Schnuffies Stay Well Ad deadline is the first Friday Daily Immune Support of the previous month. Letters to the editor must be signed New from the Berkshires of Massachusetts! and may be edited for length. High potency vitamins and herbs. Brattleboro Food Co-op Found in Aisle C of the Wellness Department. General Manager Sabine Rhyne Board of Directors Richard Berkfield Boody Organic Ruth Garbus Cozy Jars John Hatton, Treasurer A 32 beans and 8 Emilie Kornheiser, Vice President Bamboo Eco Wear Beth Neher, President vegetables soup. Just Found near checkout. Wesley Pittman, Secretary add water and cook in Daniel Seals a crock pot. Jerelyn Wilson Found in the Bulk Candy Cane Caramels The articles appearing in this newsletter A great gift or sweet treat found in represent the views of the individual Department or at the the Bulk Department. writers and do not necessarily reflect the Demo counter. opinion of the Brattleboro Food Co-op. Brattleboro Food Co-op 2 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT Mon. - Sat. 7–9; Sun. 9–9 2 Main Street, Brattleboro Bag-a-Bean Main Number: (802) 257-0236 Customer Service 802 Recipients for December Bulk Area 812 Project Feed the Thousands Staff Recognition Cheese Counter 852 Deli Counter 826 Meeting Waters YMCA Each month we recognize Deli Platters 838 a staff member for doing a great job at the Grocery 875 Cooperative Development Fund's Meat Area 818 Hurricane Relief Fund Co-op. Staff are nominated by their colleagues and Produce Area 804 our committee which is made up of a diverse group Seafood Counter 846 Shareholder Services 821 from the Co-op team. We are proud to share Wellness Counter 803 (Dial "0" at any time for assistance) the winners with you in Food For Thought! We would like to recognize from our Moved recently? Sam M. We want to keep in touch! Facilities and Maintenance Department, Please give your new address (or any status updates we should know) to Shareholder for December. Services at 802-257-0236 ext. 821. Thanks! 2 | December 2017 What's New p! at the Co-o Measuring Impact from the GM Sabine Rhyne, General Manager have previously referred measure how well we are support- we saw a significant uptick (5.6%) and a filet of Faroe salmon. We to the process that our ing our fellow cooperatives, such as over last year. Another way is to have peace flags in our store, and board uses to measure Equal Exchange, Real Pickles, and compare average transactions, to a “Black Lives Matter” sign in our Ihow well we are achieving our La Riojana, thereby executing the see if more people are coming in window. We wish to communicate goals at nearly every board cooperative principle of coopera- the store. The answer is that for to our fellow community members meeting. As the one charged tion among cooperatives. We hope last year, we actually saw a small and those passing through that we with the execution of these to reflect these attributes on your downturn in transactions, even are a safe and welcoming place to goals, this methodology forces receipt as well, as your choices are while we saw an increase in both shop for groceries and meet up me to quantify our success. Few at the root of these programs. new shareholder signups (up 5.6%) with friends. assessments are more important We also did our most rigorous and average basket size. This is a The fact that we prioritize values than monitoring the overarching price comparison of the year, to little perplexing; we will continue like local production and provide a “Ends” policies, which hopefully see how we are doing on like items to monitor these trends. We also welcoming space sets us apart from you reviewed and commented on with some of our competitors. I am noted an increase in community other grocery stores. The fact at our annual meeting last month. happy to report that the results of groups tabling at the Co-op, consis- that we measure and report actual These policies are quite extensive this diligence continue to improve tent use of the community room, data related to these priorities sets in their scope, and challenging our prices. In looking at our “shop- and 150% increase of the hours us apart as well, and allows us to to encapsulate in an annual ping cart” comparison, which credited to other non-profits in tell you how your participation as report, but reviewing the data is takes items from multiple depart- the community for shareholder a shopper in our store makes a fascinating and useful. ments much as a shopper does, we hours. In addition, we had over real difference, day in and day out. Regarding the first policy, we improved our lot, with one local $8,800 dollars from our bag-a-bean And you, too, can tell your friends measure our local, organic, and conventional store still challenging donations distributed to thirty- how these seemingly small daily fair trade sales in a variety of ways. us on shelf prices, but in all other one non-profits throughout the decisions aggregate into very real Here are a few data points: we cases, we came out with lower community, so that helps people economic well-being in our greater increased our sales of local prod- prices. That is not counting the associated with those non-profits community. Again, our story is uct last year by 7%, to 20.4% of all discounts at the register that many to know that the Co-op values powerful, and is making a difference store sales, not including products of you enjoy, either as a working their organization’s work, and they, in a very real way. Next month, that we make in house or use in shareholder, an elder, a senior, or by extension, feel welcome. But I will report on a few other met- prepared foods offerings like the a Food for All participant. With there is no doubt that feeling wel- rics that we have been tracking to salad bar or sandwich station. The discounts, we blew everyone else come in our store has everything evaluate our performance on other sale of organic products grew 6.4%, out of the water! We also noted to do with our staff. We continue ends policies. to emphasize good customer to over 30% of total sales, while that our store-wide gross margin Thank you for doing your part! fair trade products grew to over last year dropped 0.2%, reflecting engagement with all of our staff, half a million dollars. We have been our buyers’ attention to pricing. through an extensive orientation frustrated with our computer sys- Needless to say, this is a razor-thin program and regular reinforce- tem’s capability (or lack thereof) in balance beam, as we also need to ment. I think we have wonderful tracking these products well, due continue our improved profitability. staff members throughout the to limitations on how many attri- But I was very pleased with our organization who are willing partic- Sabine Rhyne butes it allows us to manage, so performance in these areas, and ipants in our friendly store culture. [email protected] our IT team is hard at work making hopefully you have noticed this too. Many of you have favorites with 802 257-0236 x801 whom you have developed friend- delicate changes to our system to And how do we measure how enable us to track these categories ships over the weeks and years, welcoming we are? One way is to and we too value all the relation- more effectively; we are also adding look at how many folks decided “co-op” as an attribute, so we can ships we have made with you over to become BFC shareholders, and a slice of cheese, a type of milk, December 2017 | 3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT Seeking A Gathering Place Candidates for the by John Hatton Board of k, it’s no secret — I hope, co-op, and got to know many/ my narrow and eclectic diet. We anyway — that I’m a realtor, most of the staff and how things have an excellent deli, that offers Directors! have been for the last 15 were being run. I followed Kate’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and fresh Are you passionate about Oyears. I often get to entertain peo- lead and became a member-owner pastries(!). Our Bulk department the health of YOUR Co-op? ple from out of our area who are of the Brattleboro Food Co-op — has the best selection of dried considering living in and/or around not early enough to compete with fruit, nuts, grains, flours, and herbs Want to help support Brattleboro; it’s actually fun to be Alex Gyori’s member # 1, but I’m that I’ve seen anywhere — and long-term planning of a tour guide, as I get to talk up my proud of being in the first 1,000; I’ve shopped a lot of stores! Gro- YOUR community owned favorite everythings of life up here we’re now in the 12,000’s.