Columinate is proud to welcome Patrick Shabram as a new consultant. Patrick comes to Columinate after working with location research expert Debbie Suassuna of G2G Research Group since 1998 (specifically, with G2G Research since 2017), bringing more than 30 years of experience in location research, market research, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the Columinate network.
We all want to do more with our co-ops: make a bigger impact, pay better wages, support our local non-profits. Sometimes the money to make that impact can come from operational profits, but at other times co-ops can turn to grants. Columinate consultant Molly Phipps has been grant writing since graduate school and has helped co-ops and other organizations write successful grant applications.
In the ever-evolving landscape of retail grocery, effective leadership is paramount. Effective leadership doesn't just happen—it must be nurtured and cultivated, equipping emerging talent with the right tools, training, mentoring, and support. Cooperatives as well as other independent grocery stores face unique challenges in a post-covid world, and new challenges emerge frequently. Retailers must remain courageous and steadfast in making the necessary changes to prepare, build, and sustain a strong future.
Molly Phipps, welcomed to the Columinate consultant team in 2023, has centered her career around three key passions: food, people, and the natural environment. As a result, this warm and analytical cooperator’s resume exhibits an eye-catching variety of job titles, including evaluation and research associate, farmer’s market manager, board member, and lab manager. The breadth of Phipps’ experience and her leadership in planning/evaluating strategy are sure to generate a positive impact for co-ops in the grocery industry as well as for resident-owned communities in manufactured home parks.
Tomlin’s on-site evaluation of the deli department and the existing conditions helps to set a baseline for what is working and what systems need to be adjusted or created. Her experience both in kitchens and as a general manager (GM) herself gives her the ability to translate what she sees to what the GM needs to learn to see. “It can be small things that tell you big things. Is silverware stocked? If not, that means the deli (staff) hasn’t come out to refresh the salad bar in a while,” Tomlin explains.
Heading into 2024, grocery retailers need to understand the trends they face in today's marketplace. Being a leader in an independent grocery store has always been difficult. Our business model itself is brutal, and the competitive landscape is fierce. Adding to the difficult business climate, the pandemic brought with it additional crises—many of which we are still navigating as business leaders—that intensified the pressure on independent grocers’ performance.
Ready for digital literacy Co-ops have a lot of teaching to do. To build a cooperative ecosystem with knowledgeable and invested stakeholders aware of what it is they have become a part of, it takes a lot of orienting, sharing, demonstrating, and educating. A cooperative can fail if it does not consistently apply Co-op Principle 5: Education, Training, and Information. Lack of strong education systems within a co-op culture can slowly erode its core.
This fall, consultants at Columinate will launch CBLD Academy, an on-demand learning loaded with revitalized and accessible content. Cooperators can expect three courses within the “Foundation Series” at the outset, with more courses planned to round out this base of co-op training. “It's a natural and a march towards progress in how we provide a framework for learning about the co-op business model,” said Leslie Watson, governance at Columinate.
Hether Jonna Frayer interviewed Todd Wallace, Columinate's board president, about AI. Hether: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview on AI technology and how it could be used to support the work of governance! I'm getting the sense from the conversations that I've been having that it is a wide-ranging topic. Where would you like to start? Todd: Thanks for asking me to have the conversation. As you know, it is a topic that I've been interested in since last year, especially as applications like ChatGPT have garnered more attention and scrutiny in the mainstream media.
The board and general manager need to become literate around the quantitative as well as the qualitative aspects of the marketing field. Marketing is often at the top of the list of operational tasks that become part of the discussion at meetings of the board of directors. Topics can range from the quality of the marketing to the board feeling it’s not plugged in enough when engaging with owners through marketing channels. Marketing issues are often of concern—whether warranted or not—to boards and individual directors.
