Phoenix Earth Food Coop Board Meeting
January 25, 2017

Location: Main Branch Toledo Lucas County Public Library, 325 Michigan St, Toledo, OH 43604.

Board Members Present: Anita Levin, Sandor Halasz, Hermann von Grafenstein, Shelly Boraby, Tiffany Hubbell, Adrienne Armstrong, Sean Fitzgerald, General Manager, Tom Fine, Leah Foley

Absent:,Alyx Kendzierski, Claudia Cooper

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM by President Hermann von Grafenstein.

  1. Approval of the Minutes. MSC to approve the minutes of the 12/20/16 meeting as circulated, unanimously.
  2. Review of Action Items:
    1. Leah left message with Mark Mockensturm— Anita will now follow up

    from 9/28/16

    Sean — can contact Magna, M Osteria,RevolutionGrille etc re: coop supplying items IN PROGRESS

    From 10/26/16

    Hermann/Adrienne — Signage for Building, including fundraising — IN PROGRESS

    From 12/20/16

    1. Anita — Follow up with Mark Mockensturn after 1/2/17
    2. Adrienne — get price for building wrap
    3. Hermann — contact coöp neighbor to see if we can wrap their building on our side.
  3. General Manager Report — Reviewed GM Report as distributed. Approved as distributed by consensus.

  4. Financial Reports —Reviewed as circulated. Reiterated the need for Board and members to shop at the Coop as much as possible. Increasing sales needs to be our first objective. Cash flow pressures remain. 7% decrease in sales in 2016 over 2015. Net income is $5000 less than previous year even with good management.

  5. Review of Brainstorming-Session and Business-Model ideas

    Reviewed 19 points circulated from the brainstorming session. Evaluated ideas. Decided to pick several goals/items to work on.

    1. Write to members to solicit feedback and ask them to buy in advance. Hermann by 2/8/2017
    2. Coop Delivers — Goal to get up and running by end of March. Adrienne to set up sub-committee to accomplish this
    3. PreOrder Case Sale push — Tom and Sean to set up discounts
    4. Closing on Monday — Starting March 2017
    5. Pledging to Buy in Advance — Tom
    6. Send letter to local restaurants and senior centers with follow up — Call Magna
  6. Accounting — Anita connected Mark Mockensturm with Leah. Mark’s preliminary view was that the loan was still a liability if the total loan became due if we default on the agreement. However, he was to review the paperwork associated with the agreement with the Jackson family. Scott Ciolek was to share info with Mark.
  7. Outreach— Building Wrap still under consideration. Adrienne is getting a price. Leaflet drop in neighborhood did not yield results yet. Will also promote our acceptance of EBT. Also considering using USPO system targeting specific zip codes & neighborhoods that are most likely to shop at the Coop.
  8. Specialty Programs —Aquaponics going well, tomatoes almost ready. Coop Delivers food listing done. Will focus on high turnover items.
  9. Discount Policy —Sean discusses and explains each Discount card good for one year is $36. After two consecutive yearly purchases, Patron gets a Coop share with share privileges. However, to continue to get the discount, another Discount card has to be purchased yearly.
  10. Closed Session — Discussed GM Staff Evaluations.

Next Outreach Meeting

Next Board Meeting— 2/22/17 6:3PM at Main Library

Action Items:

From 8/24/16

  1. Leah — contact Mark Mockensturm for accounting issues on Jackson loan settlement& enquire about financial review in lieu of audit— Leah was unable to reach Mark. Anita will follow up with Mark. In Progress
  2. Hermann — initiate Executive Committee Review of General Manager — IN PROGRESS

From 9/28/16

Sean — can contact Magna, M Osteria,RevolutionGrille etc. re: coop supplying items IN PROGRESS

From 10/26/16

  1. Consider fundraising for signage ASAP! Assigned to Outreach Committee —IN PROGRESS

From 1/25/17

  1. Write to members to solicit feedback and ask them to buy in advance. Hermann by 2/8/2017
  2. Coop Delivers — Goal to get up and running by end of March. Adrienne to set up sub-committee to accomplish this
  3. PreOrder Case Sale push — Tom and Sean to set up discounts
  4. Closing on Monday — Starting March 2017
  5. Pledging to Buy in Advance — Tom
  6. Send letter to local restaurants and senior centers with follow up — Call Magna
  7. Set up Coop Potluck with Adrienne — Anita

Respectfully submitted,
Anita Levin, Secretary