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. Below, after an introduction, we highlight consultant Chris Morris, Manager on Contract.

The opportunities for utilizing a Manager on Contract fall into two broad categories: new store openings, and an operational tune-up or turnaround.

New store openings, especially startups: Opening a new store requires different experiences and skills than managing a store that is up and running. Columinate consultants serving as managers on contract can build and work with the local team and other professional support to manage the store through store opening—then hand off to the client’s long-term general manager a few months after store opening.

Management transition coupled with an operational tune-up or turnaround: Often alongside a manager transition comes an opportunity to identify and implement changes to strengthen store performance. The return on investment of having a Manager on Contract stems from Improved systems, team empowerment and development, and an updated retail strategy. Columinate’s grocery retail experts assess and identify opportunities for improvement, and because they are in a position of responsibility as manager, they can build alignment and implement changes needed for better store performance.

For new stores, Columinate support can begin with a consultative relationship early in the process, during the organizing stage when the vision for the store is first being created. Once implementation begins, Columinate’s Management on Contract services include:

• project management during the store design and build-out process;

• management during pre-opening, when store systems are developed and implemented;

• management during the critical opening stage, when the best available resources should be deployed to ensure the community experiences an exciting store;

• finally, management during the first few months of the new store operations.

An ideal time to hand over management responsibilities to the long-term general manager is when the store, team, and systems are stable.

That timing for hand-over of management applies as well in a store turnaround. In a single-store operation, the Manager on Contract typically serves as an Interim General Manager (IGM). In a multi-store setting, the role could be IGM or Store Manager. Sometimes the position is named Interim Turnaround Manager, and in longer engagements the role could be Contract General Manager. The common thread is that the engagement includes management responsibilities and authority to get stuff done.

Utilizing Columinate Manager on Contract experts can also go hand in hand with our GM Development and Training program and our GM hiring and search support.

There are many examples of interim management assistance, and each has its own circumstances and challenges. Columinate’s group of talented grocery experts are passionate about co-ops, especially successful ones! For more information about having a Manager on Contract during a manager transition or when planning to open a new store, contact Mark Goehring.

Manager on Contract: A Fit for Co-ops and for Chris Morris

Chris Morris, manager on contract with Columinate, emanates traveling energy. Decades of experience with neighborhood grocery stores and a zest for adventure guides him to co-op communities in transition. Morris currently shares his operational expertise near the coastal waves of Ocean Beach in San Diego, California, as Interim Store Manager.  With this engagement, he’s supporting the co-op’s general manager, Sarela Bonilla, to bridge leadership gaps, navigate the high-volume holiday season, and assist with some exciting store updates they’ve been working toward. Where his road may wind next is open for discussion, keeping energetic and optimistic Morris content.

A lifelong Midwesterner, Morris cites Fargo, N.D., as his home base, and like an explorer with a strong sense of self, earnestly shares his love for history, camping, and the outdoors. He willingly pairs locations he will work at with adventures around parks, food, and music. “I love to travel. After 15 years of retail operations leadership with five promotions and relocations, I found myself laid off from a family-owned chain that was in the midst of bankruptcy and eventual sale.”

“I was eager to learn more about food systems and took a job with Acosta Sales & Marketing, a brokerage company that supports producers and retailers in a variety of ways. I was part of a new program geared at training and developing fresh department teams for a national retailer. This included preparing for and proctoring ServSafe food safety manager certifications, which really reinforced my knowledge in this area. In our work we truly are protectors of public health, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. The market area I was responsible for was west from Duluth, Minnesota, out to Colorado. This meant I could work across five states in a multitude of retail stores with hundreds of individuals.”

In recent years, food co-ops are lucky to have caught Morris’ attention and his wealth of industry expertise. “I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join the Columinate cooperative. I was excited to get back into the co-op world while continuing to fuel my passions for travel, people, communities, and their histories.”

It has been just shy of two years since Morris joined Columinate as a manager on contract. There was more work for interim general managers available than Columinate could support at the time, and he jumped at an opportunity to get to know Island Employee Cooperative (IEC), located at the edge of the Stonington archipelago along the coast of Maine.

IEC is an employee-owned co-op and Ace Hardware affiliate with three locations on Deer Isle: two conventional grocery stores and an Ace Hardware affiliate. The co-op was transitioning between general managers and had struggled through the pandemic, given their significant reliance on summer tourism.

“I was brought in as interim restructuring manager and, in large part, helped get back to the basics of being good grocers,” Morris shared. “Among the million small things that arise, we reset departments, focused merchandising, deep cleaned kitchens, painted walls, hired two store managers, completed ServSafe certifications, restructured their organizational chart, and promoted a GM internally, facilitating a smooth hand-off when I exited.”

“I say ‘we’ for two reasons. I don’t do anything alone in these engagements with clients, I support their teams. Second, I had the support of seasoned consultant Scot Destasio on my first contract, among other Columinate heavy hitters like Thane Joyal and Terry Applebee, who were working with their board. The breadth and depth of expertise among Columinate consultants is staggering.”

Though individuals in his role are not always able to cross paths on-site with their consultant peers, Morris relishes the collaboration when it happens. Observing impressive cooperators at Columinate, their style and approach, has been a great support for him. “It can be a challenge to be away from home so much, nearly 300 days last year. I balance that with the overwhelming benefits of this work in getting to know others and being able to immerse myself in beautiful communities across the US.”

“It has been a great honor to work with diverse communities and people, and my passion for that has kept me in this business,” Morris explains. “When I go into a new engagement, my first focus is the people and discovering ‘who makes this co-op tick.’ It is a consistently humbling and rewarding experience to be a leader during business transitions. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I have the ability to offer perspective, bring fresh energy, and build capacity.”

“I know that there is a time and a place in which to apply pressure. I choose a collaborative approach, because I’m comfortable getting out and meeting new people. Once we have a human connection, I find I’m often able to help them to see the whys behind different possibilities or proposed adjustments, and we make decisions together.”

Morris’ personable nature and willingness to jump in with both feet has benefited a wide range of food enterprises. His career to date has supported conventional stores, including employee-owned IEC; big-box retailers; independently-owned single stores and small chains; small-scale and rootsy consumer-owned co-ops; and operations with a specific product mix and focus, including the aforementioned Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-op, where shelves are stocked only with vegetarian/vegan foods and customers are nourished by a 100 percent vegan deli.

Each has required him to cultivate new management skills and to stretch into new facets of work, such as guiding full fresh food teams through ServSafe Management Certification and developing new training initiatives. “Prior to my work with Columinate, I wasn’t very familiar with the co-op model, and there was a steep learning curve at first,” says Morris. “At the end of the day, it’s still good retail. We sell good food, and take care of our teams. I just happen to believe from my experience with a multitude of organizations that the cooperative model offers the most democratic, equitable, and sustainable approach.”

Columinate is able to facilitate the connections Morris speaks of. A personable specialist such as Morris may be just the one who segues into your co-op’s story next—one who truly wants to get to know people, their systems, their process, and their community to help make great decisions.