Accessibility is Key
The New Normal has hit Chico Natural Foods in California. General Manager Liza Tedesco believes the response from the food co-op sector must be accessibility. Liza share her perspective and the initial steps and questions [...]
Activating ‘New-Style’ Participation
Weaver Street Market Carrboro, NC Year founded: 1988 Member equity requirement: $75 individual, $135 couple, $175 three or more Number of members: 18,000 consumer-owners, 210 employee-owners Number of staff: 250 Number of locations: 3 retail [...]
“To Be Happy, to Achieve Solidarity” The Roots of the New Cuban Co-op Revolution
By Gail Graham, Rebecca Torpie 180 Sept-Oct 2015 A lot has changed in Cuba since the July 2014 visit by U.S. cooperators, reported in these pages by Stuart Reid (CG#175, Nov.¬Dec. 2014). A few of us [...]
Understanding the Fair Labor Standards Act
By Sarah Dahl, Melanie Reid 180 Sept-Oct 2015 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, or FLSA, is a federal statute that provides certain protections to workers. These protections include the 40-hour work week, [...]
GM Retirement Planning Best Practices, or How to Retire Gracefully
GM Retirement Planning Best Practices, or How to Retire Gracefully When a general manager (GM) is planning to retire, (as opposed to leaving the co-op for another job), the specific date of departure is flexible [...]
Engaging the Whole Person in Succession Planning
By Sarah Dahl 180 Sept-Oct 2015 There are two commonly seen staffing problems in co-ops that may at first seem unrelated: At Co-op A, sales had been declining for the last few years. Personnel costs, [...]
Getting Started with Expansion Planning
By Bill Gessner 180 Sept-Oct 2015 Expansion projects for food co-ops fall somewhere between a labyrinth and a maze. With continuous improvement and development of best practices, expansion projects are moving closer to the one [...]
Amplify Cooperative Impact through Participation
The democratic structure of cooperatives allows people the opportunity to have a real influence on business goals and outcomes through their investment, patronage, feedback, and aspirations. It’s one of the most defining features of cooperation, [...]
Choose structured interviews to make better hires
Extensive research on job interviews shows that structured interviews are more accurate than unstructured ones in predicting which applicants will make good employees. By “structured,” researchers mean that the interviewer uses a consistent format with [...]