Harvest Co-op Supermarkets
Board of Directors Meeting
March 31, 2003
Present: Ed Barsamian (general manager),
Jeff Rosenblum (secretary), Mike Wiecek (president),
Melitta Jakab, Betsy Adams, and Elisa Alonso (board
members), Mary Grinnell (member worker), Josh Walczak
and Dawn Olcott (staff), Win Burleson
Absent: Andrew Weaver (treasurer),
Eliza Strode (vice-president), Sujatha Byrvanen (board
member)
Revisions to the Agenda
Executive session: loan letter and approval of FY
2002 financials
Approval March 10 Board Minutes
Motion: Approve the March 10 public board
minutes
For: Unanimous
President's Report - Mike Wiecek
He has been attending meetings and consulting with
Ed, but has nothing further to report at this time.
Eyes and Ears of the Board
Mike said that the dried thyme is out of place in
the bulk and there are three different alphabetic
systems. He said a sign would help. Jeff added
that the organic seperation is tricky. Melitta
said the café looks good and is glad they
have added salads as well as pizza. The juicer
is broken and has been for two months. Ed responded
that the cost is $800 to repair it and a new juicer
is $1200, so they are trying to decide how to proceed.
Betsy has noticed that cardboard pieces seperating
items. Dawn said that stockers said that it would
help them. Elisa is happy about Friday demos, thinks
they are very social for shoppers, wishes they
could come every month, and likes the changes in
the café. She added that some cashiers don't
give discount for bags.
Committee Reports
MSSC: Jeff said that the MSSC is trying to set up
next their meeting. Jeff asked if Jack could come
to a meeting next week to brainstorm about membership
topics. Membership rollout should by the end of
this week. Training should be happening this week.
Next meeting to be determined.
Nominations and elections committee:
Betsy has volunteered to chair the committee and Elisa
will be working with her. Dawn has been the point
person in the past and will be again this year. She
advised Betsy to go through the calendar to set dates.
Planning Committee: Neither Sujatha or
Eliza present.
CCMA
Mike said that CCMA is the annual conference of national
association for people who manage and work in coops.
The general manager typically goes and one member
of the board. In the past the president has attended,
but not this year. If anyone is interested in going
let Mike know. Jeff said that he may be interested
in going or asked if it's appropriate to send another
staff person.
General Manager's report - Ed Barsamian
Ed brought a small flier that was delivered to homes
in Cambridge and JP and said that he thought it was
important to get the flier out after the Globe article
last Thursday. Poles have been removed from the shopping
carts. Café is really doing well and showing
strong sales and a signficant increase in business.
Ed is hoping to get café business to where
it was a few years ago. In JP the produce department
is getting reset and window unit built. This past
week new freezers delivered and the store was a mess.
It was difficult to shop with all that going on, but
numbers were good. Last week JP's store hours were
increased and Ed will track to see the benefits of
extended hours. He is getting ready to announce the
new parking at JP.
Visitor Question and Answer:
Mary asked how well the co-op is doing financially.
Mike answered that the store is treading water
and over the last few years has lost a lot of money.
The cash from the Allston stores kept the stores
afloat. Right now there is a slight positive balance
on the income statement. Mary talked about doing
member work and difficulty find supplies like brooms
to complete work. She also has suggestions about
bulk area.
Josh added that he has a lot of minutia
so suggested that there be a meeting of members and
general manager to give feedback. Jeff said that Ed
could initiate a meeting. Melitta asked what kind
of forum Josh envisioned. He answered once a month.
There was a discussion of ways to help members give
feedback to Ed directly. Jeff and Ed will work on
organizing this through the MSSC meeting.
Win visited to talk about the 100 Percent
Life product. Dawn said that she'd be a good person
to talk with about that subject. Win added that while
co-op promotions the New American Plate, but deli
options do not reflect. The American Plate is a concept
moving from meat and potato to meat as a condiment.
There is literature about this topic on the member
education bulletin board.
[Board moved into executive session
at this time]
Action Items:
1. Any board member who is interested in going to
CCMA should tell Mike.
2. Jeff and Ed will work with the MSSC
meeting to organize member feedback sessions and opportunities
with Ed.
[Minutes submitted by Natalie C. Jaeger]