Mastering strategy is absolutely key for a manager. “One of the most important of a manager’s tasks consists in establishing the organization’s strategy—or in at least overseeing the process by...
On Saturday, November 13, 2004, Bloomingfoods Market and Deli and its Encore Café helped cater a fundraising reception for The Kinsey Institute, celebrating the premiere of the Fox Searchlight...
The Swarthmore Co-op started in a garage in 1937, founded by local residents in search of less expensive and fresher food. The membership fee was $5, which remained in effect until December 2002....
I recently had an opportunity to represent food co-ops at a forum for Social Justice in Agriculture, along with representatives from organizations representing farm workers, fair-trade initiatives...
Kootenay Country Co-op is a 29-year-old cooperative operating in Nelson, British Columbia. We have been enjoying several years of financial stability and membership growth. We are fortunate to...
People’s Food Co-op in La Crosse, Wis., started laying the groundwork for expansion years ago. Peg Nolan, our co-op’s former general manager, made a brilliant purchase back in 1998, buying a house...
In his booklet Three Strategic Concepts for the Guidance of Cooperatives, Brett Fairbairn urges co-ops to place our relationship with co-op members at the center of our thinking and...
I briefly interviewed Don McLemore in late November, two months after his hiring as the CEO of the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA). Don McLemore can be reached via email at don@...
If you are like most produce managers, you are always looking for ways to make the best use of your marketing efforts and increase your daily sales. That success depends on whether you are...
Food co-ops banded together to form the Cooperative Grocers’ Information Network (CGIN) in 1997. In the intervening years, their idea of a “low-overhead organization that cranks out products, not...
You’ve been working on this project for more than two years. After overcoming every obstacle, putting up with countless delays, raising hundreds of thousands in financing, moving all your...
As businesses providing ready-to-eat foods, co-ops should be taking precautions to ensure that we are not contributing to the statistics on food-borne illness. With an estimated 1.5 million people...
