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Jun. 14, 2010 at 9:01pm
June 9, 2010 Board Meeting Minutes
Tacoma Food Co-op Board Meeting
Thursday, June 9, 2010
Present: Amber, Casandra, Ken, Michelle, David, Molly
Ken shared a list of potential volunteers who he called. He also shared a potential position description for volunteer coordinator. One person has expressed interest in being the volunteer coordinator.
We decided to create a separate Google Group for TFC volunteers. We will put documents and other resources there specifically for volunteers in order to avoid sharing board-specific information.
We will call a meeting of volunteers to train for tabling at events. Casandra and Amber will design the curriculum. Meeting will happen 5:30-6:30 at Trinity House on June 21, before the regular board meeting.
Ken, Amber, and Casandra will be meeting with potential board member Jamie Smith and Courtney Love on Monday.
Food on Film event next week!
Rack Cards: we need to correct information on the new batch of rack cards. Theoretically, we have a $20 processing fee for credit cards, and therefore people who pay in installments need to pay much more. From now on, we will charge $5 EITHER for using a credit card OR for paying in installments.
We will only order 500-ish rack cards currently in order to get us through early farmers markets and other events for the next four weeks.
Memberships: we have the form for membership in the 6th Ave Merchants Association ($25). We will also join the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), and we intend to fund the Board President (or another board member) plus the General Manager attending the NCGA annual conference (which happens in June every year).
Cory Dunn, a UPS student, needs an internship credit and has spoken to Amber about volunteering with us. Amber will invite him to the next meeting and training session and find out if he qualifies for work study.
Business Plan:
- Molly just received financial information from John Loesch and will review it soon.
- Molly is concerned about the numbers in the plan. She shared feedback from Stuart Reed, who felt that margins are too low and membership numbers are too optimistic. The challenge of “making it pencil” is in having the store be too small.
- Ken added a graphic to the conversation, showing the proximity of members and other stores to our potential Neighborhood Market site. Strictly on a competitive basis, our numbers simply do not add up. We had a very engaging and open conversation about the logistics of forming a grocery store versus the greater goals of changing public policy, educating about nutrition, supporting local growers, etc.
- Essential question: How many people in this trade area are going to make an ideological choice to shop at a food co-op when they could get good organic produce at Safeway/MM/Stadium Thriftway and also get all of their other grocery items?
- What about a structured conversation with the membership at large, regarding these economic realities/challenges/opportunities facing us? Retail space is but one of the tools in the box. Town hall meetings? “Tacoma Food Conversation?” We need to pose the question to the membership: if we want a store, these things need to happen. How important is a retail storefront?
At our next meeting, we need to plan for this conversation with our membership. We have more, and better, information now about the Neighborhood Market plan and we absolutely need to share this with the members before we proceed with any plan.
To the next meeting, Ken will bring a structure for the format for the member conversation.
Amber will get in touch with Sarah Garitone-Wilcox, Alicia Lawver, and Patricia Lacey-Davis. Molly will talk to Cheryl Jones and Corrinne.
posted by Michelle under board meeting, minutes
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