|
|
|
Meat, Poultry and Fish at the Coop?from
the Collective Management Team By the year
2003, it was becoming increasingly clear that we as a coop needed to
start
planning for the future. Already, at that time, our sales per square
foot were
far greater than that of the average food coop. We had the same amount
of space
in several departments that we had since we moved here, even though our
sales
had more than doubled. Although we had two options for extensions, we
were
contemplating being two years away from the end of our lease. That
summer we
hired Pete Davis, a consultant from Cooperative Development Services,
to do a
market survey for us. We also did a survey ourselves, in an attempt to
find out
what our members and shoppers are looking for. Then, In September, the
strategic
planning retreat was held, out of which grew the Strategic Planning
committee
and all of its subcommittees. At the retreat, we talked about what our
personal
hopes for the Coop were; and we also talked about what made sense for
the Coop,
based on the surveys. There were
quite a few items that came out of the focus groups or the surveys that
were
rejected for lack of support, including the sale of alcohol. There were
some
things that did have more support, including the sale of meat. The
survey showed
us that working members favored the stocking of meat by a margin of
greater
than two to one, poultry by nearly three to one, and fish by an even
greater
margin. Non-working shareholders and non-member shoppers favored all of
these
by even greater margins. We decided that even though the bylaws do not
prohibit
Honest Weight from carrying these products, we would let the members
decide by
holding a referendum, as we didn’t want to break with what the Coop has
traditionally done without having a discussion first. Nearly two
years later, the referenda still have not happened. One reason for this
is
simply that institutional attention has been diverted elsewhere, but
another reason
that it has been delayed is due to disagreement about the wording of
the referendum. Some
members have made a case that the referenda language should specify
explicit criteria
that would restrict what animal products could be stocked at the Coop.
Suggestions were made at the meeting in July to limit what we would
stock to
locally raised certified-organic minimally processed meat and fish. The
management team of Honest Weight Coop is concerned that framing the
referenda
in this manner will inhibit us from providing our diverse membership
with many
of the products they want. We favor simple wordings for the referenda:
“Should
the Coop be allowed to stock fish?” “Should the Coop be allowed to
stock
poultry?” “Should the Coop be allowed to stock meat?” If we restrict
ourselves
to stocking only locally raised products, then we will not be able to
carry
certified-organic meats. While we have a great deal of confidence in
both Misty
Knoll and Sap Bush Hollow Farms, neither is certified organic, and we
do have
customers who are looking for meat and poultry with third-party organic
certification. If we
restrict ourselves to selling only locally raised products, there are
many products
we will not be able to carry. For example, we would not be able to
carry cold
cuts, as there is no one locally who produces them. We are sure that
many of our
members would like to be able to purchase Applegate Farm cold cuts —
and
currently go elsewhere to buy them. There is also great demand for
canned fish,
canned broths, frozen entrées and similar products that are
available through
our national distributors. We don’t believe that we are significantly
reducing the
consumption of these products by not stocking them. Our own survey
tells us
that our members and other shoppers simply go elsewhere to get these
products.
Furthermore, consumer research indicates that these customers are
likely to
purchase other items that we do carry, meaning that we are effectively
encouraging
our members to shop at our competitors, such as Hannaford and Price
Chopper.
We’d prefer that they use their dollars to support a local,
cooperatively owned
business — the Honest Weight Food Coop. We’d also
like to be able to support Organic Prairie, the organic beef, pork and
poultry-producing
arm of While
we’re committed to supporting our local
farmers — Misty Knoll, Sap Bush, and whoever else may arise — we’re
also
concerned that we will outstrip the local supply if we limit ourselves
to stocking
meat from local sources. We believe that it would take years for our
local farms
to grow their flocks to a size that would satisfy all of our local
demand. As things
stand now, they regularly run out of specific items. There is no
locally raised fish available. We could write different standards for
fish than
for meat or poultry, but it’s not clear to us why non-local fish is OK
but non-local
meat or poultry is not. For us, this all comes down to how we can best
satisfy
member demand. We would apply the same principles of buying to meat
products as
we would to other grocery products. Coop members who are meat eaters
are going
to eat meat whether we stock it or not. We’d like to be able to offer
them
something that’s of higher quality than what they are likely to find at
the
conventional grocer, while at the same time encouraging them to support
a local
business — the Honest Weight Food Coop — in the process. |
CoopScoop Home
|
