General Manager’s Blog -December 2019
General Manager’s Blog
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 refreshed 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.
January General Manager’s Report
Market Relevance
We had a great holiday season here at The Food Co-op, with lots of holiday cheer, and now we are ready for the new year! Reflecting back on the many changes made during 2019, we continue to be awed and amazed by what we accomplished together. We are also appreciating how well the renovation has worked out for
us. Even during our busiest days in the holiday season, the store felt like an ocean of calm—shelves were well stocked and customers were generally able to find what they wanted. This reflects how much planning by staff went into the store renovation prior to breaking ground as well as how flexible and adaptable staff and members are during chaotic times. Thanks for a wonderful year, everyone!
The latest issue of the Co-op newsletter came out the first week of January, renamed Around the Table. This issue’s theme is “Powered by Plants,” and it's full of great articles and wonderful recipes. The next issue will have a theme of “Zero Waste
Food System Development
Six new Local 5 items came in over the last month: BluJay kombucha (four in bottles and one in bulk) and a new Camaraderie wine from Port Angeles. We brought in 24 Local WA items over the last month: eleven wines, five beers, three new flavors of Acme ice cream, and five Wellness products. James’s two favorite new wines are Analemma, noted for their dry farmed grapes, and
Statera, both located in the Columbia Gorge. What is the most unique new product? Fungi Perfecti primordial chocolate, three flavors chock full of mushrooms.
Thriving Workplace
At our fall staff meeting, we chose to focus on one of our seven core values—Love—so, we’re calling 2020 “The year of LOVE.” As this value reflects our passion for what we do and how we share that with our community, this year during team meetings, trainings, and communications, we will be exploring what this value means to us, and how we can do a better job of bringing it into our workplace on a daily basis.
Environmental Stewardship
Another project we will be undertaking this year is an exploration of how we can best focus our sustainability efforts and be more effective. Beginning in February, we will launch Phase I of a transition plan, beginning with an internal review of the core metrics we currently report on. By mid-year, we will begin Phase II, which will include reaching out to members to gather feedback and developing one key initiative for the organization to pursue.
Outreach
December wrapped up a four-part cooking series at Blue Heron, where we taught middle school children how to cook culturally diverse foods from countries like Ethiopia and Brazil.
We also decided to give $10,000 back into the community in grants to different organizations for some really exciting new projects. We gave the Food Bank Farm and Gardens the final amount needed to buy their second food dehydrator, part of a plan to stretch local food through the winter. Jefferson Universal Movement Playground (JUMP) was awarded funds for their inclusive playground project, which is making great progress, and we granted some funds to the Port Townsend Education Foundation for a culinary-based food program in the 2020-2021 school year. Look for more information on these and other projects on our blog, The Beet, at www.foodcoop.coop.
