In a 1997, the Coop Scoop printed an article on the history of the Coop — from its early days to the beginnings at 484 Central Avenue. This month marks our ninth year at 484 Central, and seemed a perfect time to look at our "new" history. Instead of looking at a chronological history, I’ll focus this article on some of the themes that have dominated Coop life since 1995: growth, management structure, membership rights and responsibilities, product selection and continuity.

Growth

The HWFC Annual Report for 1995 (published April 1996) reported that sales for 1995 had been about $2.5 million, that HWFC had moved into its 5,000-square-foot store, and that there were approximately 500 member workers. By the year 2000, sales had grown to about $4 million and the Coop had added about 2,000 square feet to the store. The Annual Report for 2003 (published in April 2004) reported sales of about $5.5 million.

HWFC grew in other ways too. Shareholders increased from 2,253 in 1997 to 3,667 at the end of 2003. In the intervening years, the Coop had begun using PoS (point-of-sale), or computerized check-out and inventory control, and had changed the system two times. A deli, with an accompanying café space, was opened in September 1997; it instantly became a popular feature, with frequent requests for more — more variety and more and better space for the café.

With all the growth, HWFC began to experience friction about growth — should the store enlarge? Should HWFC buy the building it currently leases? Should it open "satellite" stores? Is "bigger" necessarily "better?" These are questions that are currently being discussed as HWFC develops a Strategic Plan. The history of the current strategic planning process were reviewed in the March 2004 Coop Scoop.

Management Structure

In March 1995, the Management Collective, the group of managers (i.e., paid staff) running the Coop requested that the Board hire a general manager. The Management Collective felt that with the imminent move to 484 Central, there was more to be done and more decisions to be made than they could accomplish. In June 1995, the Board began a search for a general manager and, in October, appointed Bill Zeitlow. Bill began work as general manager just a few weeks before the move. In the fall and winter of 1998–99, Bill was on extended sick leave and an ad-hoc management team, composed of Gayle Anderson (produce manager), Nancy Reich (grocery manager), Michael Toye (operations manager), and MaryAnne Winslow (outreach coordinator) took over his responsibilities. The Board later decided not to renew Bill’s contract (this decision was not made in connection with his illness) and he left HWFC employment in July 1999.

Since HWFC’s first experience with a general nanager had not been an entirely happy one, discussions then began at the Board and staff level about what the desired management structure should be. In the meantime, the staff proposed and elected a five-member staff council to serve as an interim management group. The Board approved the Staff Council in July 1999. The Staff Council, however, indicated that it did not want to be a permanent management group. A new Management committee, composed of two Board members, two staff members and two "general" members (i.e., HWFC members who were neither on the Board or staff) began discussions about the best management model for HWFC. By December 1999, they had decided that it would be best to try another general manager.

The search for a new general manager began in the spring of 2000. The Staff Council resigned in July 2000 and the Board appointed Ed Jenner, who had been elected to the Board in April 2000, as interim general manager. The search continued for a general manager. Ed Jenner applied and was appointed general manager in December 2000. He resigned in June 2002. Assistant general manager Cathy Neal was appointed as interim general manager.

Again, discussions began about the best management structure for HWFC. Having had two not-so-successful attempts with a general manager, the Board and staff began to explore other options. It seemed that the "strong general manager model" of coop management did not suit HWFC, with its high level of membership-based decision making. By January 2003, the Collective Management Team (CMT) was proposed. The Board approved the concept of the CMT in late January. The CMT is made up of 11 members. Most of the CMT members were already HWFC managers (department heads): Gayle Anderson (produce), Nicole Bailey (food service), Kathleen Boehning (HaBA), Gustav Ericson (cheese), Nate Horwitz (member coordinator), Ghada Jaouni (finance), David Jimenez (front end), Lexa Juhre (point-of-sale administrator), Bob Linn (bulk), and Nancy Reich (grocery). To round out the CMT a new position, operations and administrative coordinator (OAC), was developed. In February 2002, Cindee Lolik, a weekly cashier who had extensive experience in coops and natural foods stores, was appointed to the OAC position — and the CMT was launched.

Membership Rights and Responsibilities

This issue might be more precisely, if less concisely, defined as the extent to which HWFC members should be the decision makers for the Coop. This had long been an issue, surfacing at many Annual Meetings, and reflected in the HWFC Bylaws. It resurfaced very strongly soon after the move to 484 Central Avenue, brought on by the change to a general manager management structure and some difficult personnel issues connected to that change. Most directly, the issue came to the forefront in the fall of 1998, after the Board voted to reduce the working member discounts, from 16% to 10% for monthly workers and from 32% to 26% for weekly workers. (The change was made in response to a cash-flow problem. The reduced discounts resolved that problem, and then had the benefit of allowing HWFC to pay off its debt from the move more quickly.)

Among the changes made in response to the outcry over member rights were quarterly meetings. These were held from about 1998 to 2001 (when attendance seemed to become too small). It was thought that these meetings would give HWFC Board and members more time for discussing issues and resolving problems. A second, and more lasting change, was the decision to have the membership vote on the annual budget. Previously, the budget had been prepared by staff and the Board and approved by the Board. Now, the budget is still prepared by staff and the Board, coordinated by the Finance committee, but it is voted on by membership at a membership meeting held in January or February of each year.

Some of the conflict surrounding the "member rights" issues seemed to come from the Bylaws, which were not always clear, having been amended numerous times since their original adoption in 1980. Recognizing that the Bylaws were actually contradictory in some areas, the Board charged the Bylaws committee in the winter of 1999 with re-writing the Bylaws. The committee sought input from members and drafted and refined the proposed new Bylaws during 2000. They continued to revise and discuss the Bylaws with the Board through 2001. Following review of the Bylaws by the Coop’s lawyer in 2002, the committee disbanded. It was reactivated by the Board as an ad hoc Governance committee in early 2003, with the goal of bringing the revised Bylaws to a vote by the membership. The draft revised Bylaws were presented to the membership at the Annual Meeting in April 2003 and were passed nearly unanimously at a special membership meeting in June 2003.

The revised Bylaws differentiate between "shareholders" (those who purchase a share in HWFC) and "members" (those who purchase a share and also work for the Coop as "member workers.") The Bylaws articulate the rights and responsibilities of shareholders and members, and clarify which decisions can be made by staff, the Board, or members. The new Bylaws also contain the provision for a Governance committee that is not a committee of the Board, as the other committees are, but a committee elected by the membership to provide advice and support to the Board and the membership in fulfillment of duties.

Product Selection

The larger space at 484 Central Avenue, changes in the natural foods industry, and the many varied opinions of HWFC members and shoppers contribute to ongoing debates about what products HWFC should carry. Between 1998 and 2000, staff, the Board and members struggled, in particular, with the issue of carrying foods containing sugar. By tradition, the Coop had not carried white sugar or products sweetened with sugar. (The 1980 Bylaws said that HWFC would avoid selling non-foods, including white sugar. Honey, molasses, maple syrup and other sweeteners have always been available.) However, as the natural foods industry evolved, the general taste for sweet foods prompted the use of new sugar-like products such as "refined organic cane juice." It became harder to maintain a strict no-sugar policy without eliminating many popular packaged foods.

In the spring of 1999, HWFC held a referendum on refined sugar, following a series of articles in the Coop Scoop on the pros and cons of the Coop selling products containing refined sugar. The referendum passed — which is to say that "sugar lost." Staff began to stop purchasing products containing sugar . During the winter of 2000, staff noted a number of complaints as sugar-containing products disappeared from the shelves. In May and June of 2000, a second referendum was held. This time, by a 2-to-1 margin, members voted to return the buying choices to the staff until a new buying (i.e., product selection) policy was developed.

As part of the Bylaws revision and of the strategic planning process that began in 2003, a Product Selection committee has been working to develop what the Coop’s product policies should be. This committee is looking at much more than the issue of sugar: It is evaluating the question of selling meat (stocking meat, as opposed to the current special order system), how company policies should affect what the Coop buys, and so on.

The question of product selection is also connected to a significant change in HWFC suppliers: the consolidation of suppliers and the demise of many of the cooperative wholesalers, from which HWFC had gotten many products. These changes were highlighted in the January 2003 Coop Scoop.

HWFC members at the Annual Meeting in April 2004 discussed and voted on a proposal by the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) to dissolve the regional cooperative associations and become the negotiator with the one remaining natural foods distributor. No one attending the meeting voiced an opinion that the proposed organization was a good one or that the proposal itself was good. But eventually members voted that HWFC vote "no" to the formation of NCGA, but to join once it came into existence. It was understood that there were already enough other coops voting to create NCGA that it would come into existence. Coop members decided that since NCGA was going to exist, it would be better to join it and work from within for change. As a member of NCGA, HWFC would also benefit from sale prices offered to NCGA members. A group of members interested in exploring alternative suppliers formed the Alternative Supply and Products committee to explore other options.

Continuity

Throughout this period of growth and change, there has been some marked, even remarkable, continuity at HWFC. The most remarkable continuity is found in the ongoing presence of several staff members: Bob Linn (staff since 1981), Gayle Anderson (1985), and Nancy Reich (1987). Many HWFC members attribute a good deal of the Coop’s success to the work of these and other hard-working staff memers.

Of the shareholders who purchased the first 414 shares — HWFC switched from a "dues" system to a "shares" program in 1989 — 247 are still shareholders. Of those, 59 are still (working) members. While this may not seem like a huge number, member coordinator Nate Horwitz notes that over time most (working) members join HWFC and work for about two years. Among the 59 people are four current Board members and at least three former Board members. The list also includes several long-term weekly cashiers, the long-time bulletin board manager, and a couple who have helped stock produce each week.

The Coop Scoop — which marked its 300th issue last month — has also experienced continuity, with Judy Trupin serving as editor and David Ford doing production since 1993. Susan Palmer has done the calendar since 1997, following a long tenure by Lisa Judd. Alice Bernat succeeded long-time illustrator Betty Kodela in 1998, and Nancy Ellegate has written the News at a Glance column (summarizing the minutes of the Board meetings) since before 1997. The Coop Scoop has included monthly columns on herbs and herbal remedies for many years. And, many Coop members fondly remember the late Ellen Rappaport and her longstanding feature, Boycott News.

Activism is another thread of continuity at HWFC. The Coop regularly makes financial contributions to community groups, and has had a policy in place for doing so for many years. At various intervals, staff, committees or groups of Coop members organize letter-writing or petition-signing campaigns around issues of significance to the HWFC. Typically these relate to the natural foods and supplements industry. Of particular note is HWFC’s work against the first draft of the Organic Standards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997–98. HWFC supports local farmers, both by purchasing produce from them and by featuring them in Coop Scoop articles highlighting the farmers.

Educational and social events have been another continuous feature of HWFC. There have been lectures on health and wellness on an intermittent basis since at least 1995. The Special Events committee organized a variety of social activities between 1997 and about 2001; its work was then taken over by the Membership committee, which has revived the member worker dinners. In 2004, the Special Events committee was re-born. Food "demos" or tastings have been an irregular but frequent feature at HWFC. Staff and members have done outreach for the Coop and healthy eating at a wide variety of community events.