Is your store prepared for an emergency? “It feels like an intimidating, and not immediately gratifying topic,” admits Mike Feiner - Safety, Security, and Loss Prevention Consultant, ”and that’s precisely why it’s important.” Considering your operation’s safety doesn’t have to be intimidating. “Think of preparation as your fire extinguisher,” Feiner adds, “It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”
We’ve been in the “new normal” long enough to not call it “new” anymore. Despite pressure from competition and rising minimum and livable wages, co-ops continue to work to be the employer of choice in their communities and to offer great compensation packages. We all know efficiencies are the main way we can afford to stay competitive, but other than just asking staff to do more faster, or increasing accountability, what else can co-ops do?
Everybody loves a great dinner party, especially when we take things outdoors and make it a picnic. Deliciousness needn’t be hard. Your member-owners are looking to make great food with excellent beverage pairings, so help raise basket totals while improving engagement!
Ray Williams is Seward Community Co-op’s operations manager and recognizes that even though the co-op has achieved a lot over the years, especially in terms of growing its operations and diversifying staff and leadership, it is also an organization currently in transition. “The past few years have been very intense with opening the second store, increased competition and unionization.” Like many grocery cooperatives, Seward has felt the pressure to provide good wages, pay vendors a fair price, maintain high standards of service and remain sustainable and profitable.
Nothing stings more than public criticism, and the longer it’s sustained, the more damaging it can be to an organization’s reputation. Especially when, despite everyone’s best intentions, something goes wrong, or people are upset about something. In today’s wired world, the opportunities for people to share their impressions online have grown exponentially, sometimes amplifying negative word of mouth. It can easily become a chronic [...]
Michael Faber, General Manager at the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH, shares his top 3 areas of improvement and growth for the success of his co-op. These are: Customer Experience (CX), Pricing, and Community Involvement. Sit back and listen to Michael share the stories and lessons from his Co-op's struggles and successes since their rocky start in 2013 to their double-digit growth and [...]
Retailers face lots of challenges, profit margins are small, inventory needs to turn, and the competition is fierce. Getting customers into the store and keeping them satisfied should be everyone’s focus to boost sales and enhance profitability. Retailers faced with flat or declining sales need to take a closer look at their marketing and customer service experience. Since food co-ops are owned by the [...]
Ashland Food Co-op in Ashland, OR is a successful food co-op in an artsy university town that also draws a lot of year-round tourists. The co-op is especially known for its outreach and popularity in the community. Recently, they faced a dilemma about this very thing. What should the co-op do when their dynamic and long-term marketing director retired? What could the co-op do to build on that success in a rapidly changing market?
Local food is a powerful branding force in grocery retailing. The huge shift in mainstream consumer demand regarding fresh, healthful eating and a desire to know where food comes from has changed how food is marketed and merchandised. Concurrent with the rise of “local” food, online retailing has changed how people buy food. It’s not enough to say its geographic origin. It’s not enough [...]
For a long time, the Moscow Food Co-op had dreamed of “telling beautiful stories” about the co-op. They made the investment in 2015 to launch a co-op magazine called Rooted. Since then, their dreams have come true, and then some. The publication is full of attractive photography and great stories about the co-op, local producers, and the natural beauty of the area. Putting resources into it has really paid off—in good community PR and increased sales.
