News

BREADROOT NEWSLETTER

Dear Breadroot Members:

Welcome to the first Breadroot Natural Foods Co-op e-mail newsletter! This newsletter will be sent out once a month to let members know about sales, new products, general Breadroot news, etc. Forwarding these newsletters to interested people is encouraged. With rising food prices, Breadroot is a great source of high quality food at reasonable prices. Anyone can shop in the retail store. Members can place money-saving special orders: see http://www.breadroot.com for details.

NEW ITEMS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE STORE:

The Coop is sponsoring an event promoting new, renewing membership, pre-pay accounts and $20 gift certificates. Here's how it works simply apply for 1 or all three options during the month of Aug. and enter your name for a chance to win a Portable Picnic Hamper (retail value $120) plus an instore gift certificate for $30. Lucky winners will be chosen at 7 p.m. Aug. 31st As always funds from this source go towards new products and restocking old favorites, as well as, the goal of expanded refrigeration and freezer needs.

Our Grand Opening Sunday, April 22nd from Noon until 5 p.m. They'll be kids games, live music and an optional pot-luck. So come check out the new store, eat some food, and celebrate the Breadroot Community!

Breadroot is moving! We need your help deciding where. If you are at all interested (and you should be, it's YOUR store) please meet Fran Linn at 4:30pm Wednesday, March 7th at Prudential (2401 W. Main). Fran has set up this time with a Realtor, and the plan is to depart from Prudential around 4:45 to tour spaces currently for lease. If you can't be there until later, you still can join the group by calling
Fran on her cell phone at 390.7743 to find out where in the tour they are.

Fran will also be heading up another tour the following weekend, (March 10th or 11th. The exact date and time will be determined soon and reported on breadroot-discuss). You can call Fran at 390.7743 if you have any questions.

Breadroot Members,

The Breadroot Board of Directors has recently been informed that the building we are currently in will be razed sometime in late summer or fall of 2007. There is an option to move into the building next door (currently occupied by
Independent Optical). This would entail a wait of unspecified length while the building the Breadroot is in is torn down, a new building is built, and Independent Optical moves out of their current location into the new building.
This process is expected to take at least a couple of months. During this time, the Breadroot store would need to find storage space for everything in the store.

Dear Members:

In recent months, we have seen a steady increase in the total amount of our weekly grocery and produce orders. This includes members' special orders as well as the store's orders. As a result, we are finding it very difficult to get orders checked in and ready by the time we open on Thursday. Therefore, as of this week, June 1, special orders will not be available to pick up until NOON on Thursday. The store will open at 10 am as usual, but we won't have orders ready until noon.

Also, we do occasionally have a probably with members' misordering an item, or deciding they don't want the item after it has arrived. Such items can be sent back to Rainbow, but there is a restocking fee that you would have to pay, which is 20% of the item's cost. So, be careful when placing an order, to make sure you have the right product, right quantity, and so forth. Breadroot Co-op cannot be responsible for your mistakes or your changing your mind about a product you were sent.

Dear Members:

Our Co-op is doing better than ever, in terms of membership and sales. Thank you all for your patronage! Another good development is that the store is now staffed nearly 100% by member-volunteers.

Here are some important announcements:

ANNUAL MEETING & ELECTION:

The annual membership meeting for Breadroot Cooperative will be held June 24, 2006 at 6 pm at the Co-op store. The meeting will be preceded by a potluck/social hour beginning at 5 pm.

The main business of the meeting will be the election of directors. The Nominating Committee has nominated the following members for Directors:

We are trying a new program of price reductions for certain foods. Entitled REACH, the program focusses on highly nutritious foods, which will be sold at cost. The goal is to make the best nutrition available to the entire population, including those with financial limitations. The Co-op will continue to meet expenses by the sale of its various goods, so we will be able to afford this "subsidy" of high-quality foods.

The REACH foods will not be eligible for other member discounts. They will be checked-out after other, regular-priced goods have been tallied and the discount given. Initially, the REACH goods are: Kale, Romaine lettuce, grapefruit, flax seeds, and short grain brown rice. We will be adding to the list as we go, and changing the selected foods for variety and seasonal availability. Also, we will appreciate any help you can give in spreading the word about REACH throughout the Black Hills community. An extended discussion of REACH is printed up at the store.

A month ago Breadroot began considering the possibilities of a bigger store, with a restaurant/bakery/deli included. Veggies was for sale and the BoD began crunching numbers to see how it might work to acquire their business. On one hand things appeared favorable, Veggies is a good business and if we were to take it over, run it like they have been running it, and add to it our produce department and enlarge the grocery selection we could have a nice operation. On the other hand the current debt burden of Breadroot is just now being reduced in meaningful amounts, and accepting a new load of debt and level of complexity with which we do business is something to be approached with caution.

The Board of Directors has determined that the current surge in growth of the co-op will be best nurtured through a hired store operations coordinator. The vision of the co-op continues to include a majority volunteer store staff, however the complexity of large orders and the growth of the store make it important to have continuity of care from a person who will be available to the store most days of the week.

The coordinator will have contact with all of the volunteers, committees, and Board of Directors and would strive in their activities to facilitate the success of the co-op by training and encouraging volunteers, utilizing volunteers according to their best capacities, consulting with the committees (finance, ordering, physical plant, and member services) to streamline the exchange of information necessary to effectively function, and consult with the Board of Directors to maintain a continuing process of action and reflection toward the successful growth and development of Breadroot.