• Agency and Stewardship: Understanding the board’s dual roles

Agency and Stewardship: Understanding the board’s dual roles

By |September 1st, 2023|

Why do boards of directors exist? We take a lot for granted when we think about serving on the board of an organization. If asked, we might describe the role as being one of a fiduciary, entrusted with its care, and we might be aware that being a member of a board confers responsibilities for the success of the organization in some fashion or another.

  • Marketing in the Co-op Matrix

Marketing in the Co-op Matrix

By |August 29th, 2023|

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.

Providing Management Leadership When Help is Needed: Supporting store startups and turnarounds

By |August 15th, 2023|

Columinate's Manager on Contract and Interim General Manager services can be a game-changer for food co-ops and community-focused independent grocery retailers. In this report and in following weeks, we will highlight Columinate consultants working as managers on contract. After an introduction, here we highlight Wynston Estis and her work at Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Market in San Diego.

  • Garland McQueen, Manager on Contract

Providing Management Leadership When Help is Needed: Supporting store startups and turnarounds

By |August 2nd, 2023|

Columinate's Manager on Contract and Interim General Manager services can be a game-changer for food co-ops and community-focused independent grocery retailers. In this report and in following weeks, we will highlight Columinate consultants working as managers on contract. Featured here, following our summary of these programs, is Garland McQueen at Lovettsville Cooperative Market, which is planning to open in late August 2023.

  • Customer Service for Board Members: Strengthening the co-op's public face

Customer Service for Board Members: Strengthening the co-op’s public face

By |July 17th, 2023|

Even though board members are elected by the co-op’s members, how often do they interact personally with owners, shoppers, and future owners? For many board members, the answer is, “Not often enough.” Providing basic customer service training to board members is a simple way to increase the quality and frequency of those interactions.

  • Award to Rebecca Torpie: Top Women in Grocery

Award to Rebecca Torpie: Top Women in Grocery

By |July 10th, 2023|

The Progressive Grocer Top Women in Grocery (TWIG) is a prestigious award giving industry recognition to grocery retail leadership, and this year's list includes one of Columinate's own, Rebecca Torpie. TWIG awards are granted annually to a generous number of women in a huge and diverse industry, from team leaders and store managers to senior executives. The 2022 awards were announced in June 2023.

  • Prompts from a Racial Equity Challenge by Hether Jonna Frayer

Prompts from a Racial Equity Challenge: A Tool for Board Engagement

By |June 27th, 2023|

I serve as a co-chair of the board of directors of PFC Natural Grocery and Deli in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a co-op that identifies as being anti-racist. Dismantling systemic oppression is an ongoing journey. As the primary organizer of our board’s work together, I aim to make sure we are holding ourselves accountable for this work. I don’t want it to get lost or forgotten amidst all of our other roles and responsibilities.

  • Welcome!-Lisa-Malmarowski-and-Pam-Mehnert,-Flying-Squirrel-Milwaukee-LLC

Welcome! Lisa Malmarowski and Pam Mehnert, Flying Squirrel Milwaukee LLC

By |June 27th, 2023|

Sometimes the road to Columinate is a direct line, and sometimes it’s a leisurely path with many twists and turns. For Lisa Malmarowski and Pam Mehnert of Flying Squirrel Milwaukee LLC, joining Columinate has been a logical extension of the work each of them has been doing at Outpost Natural Foods in Milwaukee. They have been sharing their skills with fellow cooperators for years, putting into practice the cooperative principles of education and cooperation among cooperatives.