Honest Weight Food Co-op
Honest Weight Food C0-op
Annual Report 2018-19
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Annual Report 2018-19
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Honest Weight Food C0-op
CCO’s Report
The big news of the past year on the business side is that, as I write this, we are just under $4,000,000 in long-term debt. We prioritized payment of our debt obligations and we are now in a very manageable position going forward.
We saw 3.5% growth in our sales, and topped $28,000,000 for the first time in Honest Weight’s history! Together our Marketing and Operations teams are having a significant impact. New customers are coming to the Co-op to discover what great products we offer and how we differ from others who sell food. Outstanding effort!
Finance and HR worked very closely to continue to raise wages and improve benefits for our Staff. We were able to put in place a living wage model for those with 5 years’ seniority and will move to a living wage for staff with 4 years’ seniority as of Jan. 1, 2020. Education and Outreach programs continue to be an important part of who we are. With increased profitability, our 5% donations grew to $32,000 for financial 2019—an increase from $13,981 just two years ago! As Education programs continue to grow, we make a positive impact on both members and the local community. What challenges lie ahead? We are grow-
ing our expenses more quickly than our sales. The majority of these increases are planned and invested where they should be, in wages and benefits for our Staff. If we continue to come together, acting cooperatively and with respect for one another, we can meet all challenges. We are making real change in our community. We are building on our history with our cooperative ideals and continued focus on our mission to promote more equitable, participatory, and ecologically sustainable ways of living. We will continue to explore opportunities for further achieving our goals. Stay tuned. —Rick Mausert, Chief Cooperative Officer (CCO)
From the HWFC Board of Directors:
Nate Horwitz President
Janet Sorell Vice President/ Acting Secretary
Warren Hamilton Treasurer
In FY 2018-19, Honest Weight saw another year of solid financial growth thanks to the diligence of our Staff and careful planning by Management. As ever, we continue to focus on the balance between the corporate and the cooperative, and strive to maintain our commitment to our Staff, our Membership, and to our mission and values. Our financial gains in the last fiscal year enabled us to meet our financial obligations and to pre-pay some of our debt for yet another consecutive year. Slowly over the past few years, but on strong footing, we have climbed out of substantial debt. In just a few more years, we will be positioned to consider financial choices that will present new and different challenges. Based on our success in FY 2018/19 the Board approved Management’s proposal to provide a Living Wage of $15.25 to Staff of five years’ tenure or more, effective January 1, 2019. In addition, the Board approved implementation of a living wage for staff with 4 years of service effective 1/1/2020. The living wage will be recalculated in December of each year and is estimated to be $15.56 for 2020.
Rebecca Dinhofer
Russell Ziemba
Chris Dorando
Significant progress in other important areas harkens back to our roots as a Co-op. The Membership voted to expand our Statements of Conscience to include a commitment to work towards zero waste: We are committed to reducing waste generated at Honest Weight locations and by the products purchased at the Co-op as much as possible, as well as promoting, teaching, and practicing Zero Waste principles. The Communications Committee launched a new Membership newsletter, Honest Slate, fulfilling the Bylaws’ mandate and providing a forum for news related to governance, Staff, Management, and Membership. The Board launched a Governance Development Initiative to task our committees with bringing salient workshops to the Membership and Staff. Ultimately, we hope that workshops like Finance 101 and What Does the Board Do? will cultivate a new generation of Member-Owners and Staff to serve in governance and help lead Honest Weight to great achievements in the coming years.
4 Departments 10
Bulk
We are happy to report that FY 2018–19 was a very good year for the HWFC Bulk Department. With a strong finish, annual growth was just over 1%, putting us $26,726 over last year and $34,624 over budgeted sales. This year Dried Mangos edged out Freshly Ground Almond Butter (in terms of sales) for the number four slot behind conventional Walnuts, Organic Raw Cashews, and Organic Walnuts. The latter remained in the top slot, cementing its position with a remarkable 12% increase in sales! The people’s choice in coffee? People Power by local powerhouse Democracy Coffee. “Would you like sugar with that?” No doubt the answer was “Yes!” Always at one of the top slots in terms of tonnage, shoppers with a sweet tooth added over a quarter-ton of the sweet stuff to their diets, bringing PLU 1263 a stone’s throw from a Top 30 slot in terms of sales.
Annual Report 2018-19
Food Service added many new team members over the
past year, each with new and exciting ideas and food knowledge; the department grew by 4% for the year. Training has been a large focus for us with new hires; we strive to ensure consistency with food, customer service, and safety. An area outside of the store that has continued to grow after its remodel in menu and look is our Empire State Plaza location; our ESP sales grew 43.3%. Some of this growth occurred over a period when ESP was closed for renovations; much was also due, however, to year over year growth after the renovations ended and ESP reopened.
The Bulk Department grew not only in terms of sales and tonnage, but also added mathematics powerhouse, world explorer and Ruck 35 crusher Brad Glass to our lineup of capable Staff. We are stronger than ever. Welcome! Tom Gillespie – Bulk Manager
With a new catering menu, a large step for this coming holiday season, we offer much larger options and new, creative ideas. We participated in several events in the Capital Region, helping to get our name into the community and build relationships with other businesses. We participated in Albany Chef’s Food and Wine Festival, Wine and Dine for the Arts, the Times Union Holiday Cookie Challenge, and the Regional Food Bank’s Mac-n-Cheese Bowl. Dan Hurlbut – Food Service Manager
Cheese & Specialty had a good year! 2018’s Olive Bar
Front End
upgrade to 36 choices continued to prove very popular. We added an extension unit to the Olive Bar in spring 2019 with 12 additional selections. As a result, Olive Bar sales grew significantly in this fiscal year: by 23%, to almost 14,000 lbs. Cheese of the Month, Quarterly Cheese Specials, and Staff Picks gave customers great savings on numerous cheese favorites. March Cheese of the Month featured Kerrygold Whiskey Cheddar for the whole month, while in the past it went on sale for only one week celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. This customer favorite sold 88 pounds more than last year with an increase of 92% in sales. Kroon Maasdam was a Quarterly Cheese Special with a savings of $2 off per lb. This large-hole swiss cheese increased sales over $4k and provided an opportunity for customers who tried it on sale to come back and still buy on sale. Staff Picks have been fun recommendations to encourage customers to try something new. Offerings included cow milk Taleggio, Gorgonzola Dolce, Buffalo Milk Parmesan, Baked Lemon Ricotta, and goat milk Cana de Cabra. Homegrown Happening is a delightful event in the Cheese & Specialty Department each year. Customers tasted Local Chocolate & Local Charcuterie Salami, and enjoyed Chef Jerry’s Grilled Provolone. We added 31 cheeses, 2 local egg vendors, and 15 specialty items; plus we expanded 3 current vendor offerings. Linda Donegan – Cheese and Specialty Manager
Fiscal year 2018–19 was another record-breaking year for HWFC and the Front End kindly greeted and thanked 699,558 customers, totaling $28,196,653.34 in sales. We had 10,405 hours invested by Member-Owner Cashiers and 7,809 hours invested by Courtesy Clerks! Our Front End staff continues to grow and change, and I am so grateful for each Cashier and Manager! Without this amazing crew our Co-op would not be able to function so seamlessly. We assist with product inquiries, membership information, price adjustments, and weighing hundreds of containers daily to help keep waste out of landfills; and we enjoy being an ear for so many people when they just need to talk to someone out in the world! We raised $9,266.64 for the Food Pantries of the Capital Region this year, and continue to collect nonperishable food items daily for the Food Pantries. Our top fundraisers were Debbie Foley raising $2,751.31 and Susan Fountain raising $2,569.75! Our top Member-Owner Cashier fundraisers were Maggie Bye bringing in $372.55; and Al DeSalvo, with $281.57! We are also proud to host bins for the Squash Hunger program at the front of the store for Capital Roots. This helps provide fresh fruits and vegetables to both families and food pantries. The Enviro Token program, which encourages people to reduce waste by using reusable bags, has also been a continued success, earning $9,655.55 for local nonprofits. Overall, the Co-op tracked 193,111 tokens, which translates to 193,111 reusable bags used over the course of the year! Katie Centanni – Front End Manager
Departments
Honest Weight Food C0-op
Grocery saw a strong fiscal year. In May, we successfully
completed a multifaceted department reset, adding 12 ft. of refrigerated space with the goal of greatly improving the placement, variety and overall footprint of our grab-n-go beverage set. This involved a major overhaul of our beer and pet sub-departments. In June, as a second phase of this reset, we overhauled the dairy/ refrigerated area, moving the kombucha set into the walk-in cooler doors. This move cut in half the time it takes to stock kombucha, one of the Co-op’s busiest areas! The reset also conveniently placed hummus and other dips at the end of the chip aisle and brought the beloved fermented foods set out of the corner it has been hiding in for the past 5 years and into the spotlight, with its own open-faced endcap across from the new kombucha set. We introduced hundreds of new items, especially in the shelf-stable aisles. On the staffing front, we welcomed back Jenna Craig, who was promoted to Grocery Floor Manager in June. Michael Washington from the Front End joined the team as our new fulltime Grocery Receiver. Bruce Ross and Gabe Malerba, longtime Member-Owners, joined our team as part-time staffers. Alex Mytelka – Center Store Manager
Meat and Seafood made steady sales growth this
past year. We grew 1.7% with annual sales for meat and seafood combined totaling over $2 million. We are striving to grow sales in the upcoming year by adding more product assortment, local and regional items, and customer-requested products. We also look forward to offering more housemade items and cooking demos. The department welcomed the return of Nick Bauer, longtime Co-op Member-Owner and former Department Manager. Nick returns with more experience, including whole animal butchery and detailed cutting skills. Products new to the department include Thousand Hills Beef (part of the Co-op Basics program) and Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat alternative. Our rotisserie chickens continue to do well and we just started offering our first flavored option: garlic parmesan. Mo Durr – Meat Manager
Honest Weight Food Co-op
100 Watervliet Avenue • Albany, New York 12206 518-482-2667 (482-COOP) • www.honestweight.coop
Annual Report 2018-19
Design/production: Carol Ostrow Editing: Don Kennison, Courtney Semoff Photography: Barry Koblenz, Drea Leanza, Jill Malouf, John Akots Printed by Guilderland Printing
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Marketing “It’s better to go slow in the right direction than to go fast in the wrong direction.” This quote by Simon Sinek reminds me daily that we need to stay the course, remain energized, and keep making smart, steady, and positive progress. Again this year, we increased the consistency, quantity, quality, and complexity of our work. Highlights included increased and improved collaboration with internal teams and committees, new Member-Owners, and local college interns; amazing ideas and energy from Education and Outreach; and showcasing our leadership on and love of LOCAL. We had fun exploring new ways to delight our shoppers during demos, and enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to important internal branding and communication requests from the HR team, our Member-Owner Coordinator, and various committees. We helped to drive some great overall results, including +3.9% Sales (year over year), + 1.3% Sales (versus budget), increased basket size, and improved customer count (10 of 12 months versus last year)…all while coming in under budget (–3.5%). Our Marketing team strives to keep an eye on the results while never forgetting our mission, our “why.” We’ll continue to build on the basics and keep our shoppers’ needs and shopper, Staff, and Membership feedback front and center. Thank you to all our fellow cooperators and loyal shoppers for all your input, ideas, and support. Here’s to another year of heading in the right direction together! John Akots – Director of Marketing
Produce saw a resurgence of growth in the 2018–19 fiscal
year. At nearly 3% we saw a greater gain in sales than in the last two years combined! Staffing levels continue to be stable; the 16 Department Employees, 10 of whom are now full time, boast over 122 years of collective employment with Honest Weight! This past year saw a wide array of improvements as we continually aspire to be the best produce department in the Capital Region. In April we reset the Salad Case to broaden our bulk offerings. In March we applied some slick-looking graphics to the new Sweet Potato Bin, for which sales are up nearly 22% against the same 23week period last year! In November we completed an ambitious Floor Reset with 12 new Euro Tables, imparting a much cleaner and more organized look, while simultaneously widening aisles. And our in-house Cut Fruit Program, now just over two years old, represents more than 1% of weekly sales. Brendan Kelly – Produce Manager
10 6 Departments
Wellness
This fiscal year can be summed up in 3 letters for the Wellness Department: C, B, and D. At the beginning of the year, it became clear that this trend wasn’t slowing down anytime soon, leading to the decision to dedicate the endcap closest to the Wellness desk solely to CBD products to improve variety and customer service. On April 20 we experienced the biggest single sales day in the department’s history with a huge doorbuster hemp and CBD sale, bringing in over $18k, more than double a normal sales day! We have been able to differentiate ourselves from the dozens of others in the Capital Region selling hemp CBD by sticking to what we’ve always stuck to—local; responsibly grown; and, whenever possible, organic. On the staffing front, we welcomed three longtime Member-Owners to our staff team: Nina Stanley, Bridget Cooke, and Jakob Spearfisher. We welcomed back Sue Ellen Lewanick, a member of the Wellness staff team at the Central Ave. store; and we also welcomed Marlee Ford to the team. Caleb Crouch was promoted to full-time Wellness Buyer. Alex Mytelka – Center Store Manager
Human Resources continues to collaborate with Store
Operations on ways to reduce turnover and increase tenure; and the results are showing, with less turnover year over year. Our average length of service increased from 4 years to 4.33 years. We remain committed to paying $1 per hour above the NYS minimum wage on all entry-level new hires. On January 1, 2019, HWFC implemented a living wage program for all employees with 5 or more years of service. Hourly wages for 28 employees increased to $15.25. By the end of 2019, 72 employees will be earning hourly wages of at least $15.25 per hour. Hourly employees with 4 years of service on Jan. 1, 2020 will also have their hourly rate adjusted to the living wage. HWFC maintained the same percent of Employee contribution to medical, dental, and vision coverage for benefit-eligible Employees. Although we saw a slight increase in dental coverage premium costs, we were fortunate in that monthly premium rates for our medical and vision coverage did not increase. We improved the 401(k) package by offering immediate 100% vesting of the HWFC employer contribution. Additionally, we changed Financial Advisors for our 401(k) Retirement Plan. This change will provide participants with new investment options and we anticipate savings to both employees and HWFC. During FY18–19, five additional employees enrolled in our 401(k) Retirement Plan.
Annual Report 2018-19
Housekeeping
The daily floor care taken over from our previous contractor has seen its challenges at times with staff turnover but has generally improved the condition of the floors on a daily basis. From a financial standpoint we continued to see savings of approximately $600 weekly from the previous year’s (FY 2017–18) professional cleaning budget. This savings has ended as we began the program at the close of the last fiscal year. We began a quality assurance program centering on a daily morning inspection performed by opening Staff. This ensures high-priority areas are checked and corrections are made at the day’s start to bring store appearance up to par and increase general awareness of priority areas for everyone. We began a team project to analyze and rework tasks associated with different shifts to improve efficiency and distribute workloads more equitably. Waste management continues to be a focus. Because our primary vendor and local organization Victory Gardens was unable to process paper goods and compostable packaging, we outsourced café compost to another composting vendor. John M. Daubney – Environmental Services Manager
The Human Resources Department, Store Operations, and Member-Owners worked together to recognize and appreciate our employees and other Member-Owners with a delicious BBQ and cake-baking contest. Over 100 folks enjoyed a shared meal, a gift raffle, and delectable homemade desserts. Through the cooperative efforts of several departments and employee bicycle advocates, our team of 43 riders represented 22% of our Employees; and we won first place in two of the four categories: for Largest Team and for Highest Participation rate for the CDTC Bike to Work Week Challenge! With an eye always focused on skills and knowledge development, and with the recent changes to the New York State Harassment Policy, all active employees and all new hires have been trained on Preventing Sexual Harassment via an online training program. Employees participated in a variety of trainings: annual biometric screenings; providing CPR/First Aid/Narcan responses; responding in an active shooter situation; and training in supervisory skills and effective communication styles. Managers and Employees learned about skills development training, product/vendor training, recruitment and retention, and attended NCG conferences offered both locally and throughout the country. Many Employees sought services from our Employee Assistance Plan as a resource for both work and life issues. Rhoda Pickus – Human Resources Director
Departments 711
Honest Weight Food C0-op
Education offerings continued to engage our loyal commu-
nity and new fans with exciting and improved programming in FY 2018–19. Our Community Room and Teaching Kitchen spaces have been busier than ever! We offered 235 free classes for which over 3,900 reservations were made. Nine new monthly classes were added to the calendar, including Product Knowledge and Zero Waste Cooking with Chef Morgan Waite, both of which support our mission to educate on food sourcing and environmental responsibility. We’ve increased our children’s programming by adding monthly classes for preschool, 4–7, and 7–11 age groups. Our Practitioner’s Services program featured 28 talented Member-Owners who provided an average of 50 hours per week in free one-on-one services to the community. Education hosted and assisted with many community events throughout the year: Homegrown Happening, Trick-or-Treating, Holiday Cookie Challenge, Gingerbread House Decorating, Valentine Crafting, St. Patrick’s Celebration, Earth Day Every Day (in April), and So Many Seeds!: A Spring Planting Event for Kids. We also established a quarterly vegan potluck luncheon. Programs and attendance increased thanks to additional strategic marketing efforts, including custom social media posts, emails, in-store signage/flyers, and register screen messaging—even Spectrum News coverage! Response from attendees (on our new feedback forms!) and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive. We developed several new partnerships—Wildwood Programs, To Life!, Alzheimer’s Association, NAMI, and St. Anne’s—and maintained partnerships with CDSNY, Solarize the Capital District, Upper Hudson Green Party, Albany Bike Rescue, Albany Food Readers, Upper Hudson Epilepsy Foundation, Albany Vegan Network, MVP, and CDPHP. Thank you to everyone who supported us this year as we cultivated collaborations with the community, HWFC departments, Staff, and Member-Owners to offer abundant, quality classes that support our mission, values, and purpose. Your enthusiasm and assistance are much appreciated! It’s with a lot of gratitude that we look forward to what’s next. Deanna Beyer – Education Coordinator
Mission Statement
Honest Weight is a member owned and operated consumer cooperative that is committed to providing the community with affordable, high quality natural foods and products for healthy living. Our mission is to promote more equitable, participatory and ecologically sustainable ways of living. We welcome all who choose to participate in a community which embraces cooperative principles, shares resources, and creates economic fairness in an atmosphere of cooperation and respect for humanity and the earth.
Community Outreach
Building relationships and creating community one program at a time, the very busy Outreach team led by Staff member Amy Ellis saw growth and new opportunity this past year. With a crew of roughly 15 to 20 dedicated Member-Owners, the department continues to evolve and ideas are always emerging for new ways to engage with community in a meaningful way. Outreach Member-Owners are the backbone of the program, both creating and implementing programs! Amy Ellis and her team interact with the community on a daily basis: delivering hands-on food prep classes and more to diverse groups of learners at local schools, libraries, and community-based organizations. This year, the team serviced well over 18,000 residents of the Capital District while engaging with more than 200 different organizations in the area. Additionally, time is spent at community service events and fundraisers offering food, recipes, staffing resources, and other information to make informed choices about local, nutritious food options. These programs are in close alignment with our mission to promote more ecologically sustainable ways of living. The team is committed to helping our community learn more about growing and preparing local natural foods, and about supporting local farmers and producers. We are also committed to learning and teaching about alternative ways of living that are healthy for ourselves, our community, and our planet. Amy Ellis – Outreach Coordinator
Store Operations
We had another positive fiscal year thanks to a very talented and more seasoned team in Operations. Sales grew by over 3.9% to over $28 million, comfortably exceeding budget. We continue to negotiate for the best prices and sales for our shoppers, and to closely manage costs and expenses. We continue to look forward, striving to better serve our Co-op customers as well as attract new ones. We send more Staff than ever to buying shows and developmental trainings. Areas of focus include online ordering and continuing to meet the needs of people seeking local, high-quality, clean food. In July 2018 we began working with a security guard company to provide as safe an environment as possible to our Staff, Membership, and customers. I am very happy to report that we experienced no turnover at the Department Manager level in Operations this past fiscal year. I am especially grateful to my direct reports who continue to grow and do an excellent job running their departments. Stephen Quickenton – Director of Operations
10 8 Donations
Honest Weight contributed donations to the following organizations in Fiscal Year 2018-19:
2018 Capital Region Walk for Children with Apraxia of Speech A Village Inc. Adirondack Mountain Club – Albany Chapter Albany Academies Albany Barn Inc. Albany Center Gallery Albany City Farms Albany City School District – Montessori Magnet Albany County Bar Foundation Albany Damien Center Albany Friends Meeting Peace Camp Albany Lindy & Blues & Swimming Albany PAL (Police Athletic League) Albany Police and Fire Foundation Albany Public Library – North Albany Branch Albany Public Library Foundation Albany Rock Voices Altamont Free Library Alzheimer’s Association of Northeastern NY American Legion Auxiliary Mohawk Unit 1450 American Legion Post 91 Auxiliary Arbor Hill Elementary School Arts, Letters & Numbers Athletic Haven Bethlehem Children’s School Better Angels Capital Region NYS Alliance Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region Birth Net / Birth Justice Coalition Black Child Development Institute Blue Star Mothers of America Capital District Child Care Coordination Council Capital District Irish American Association Capital District Recovery Center Capital District Women’s Employment & Resource Center Capital District Young Life Capital Roots Carroll Hill School PTO Castle Island Bilingual Montessori Catskill Animal Sanctuary Centro Civico Inc. Chinese Community Center
City School District of Albany / Mohawk Ambulance Service Clifton Park Nursery School Colonie Senior Service Centers Inc. Community Caregivers Cornell Cooperative Extension of Renssalaer County 4-H Cornell Cooperative Extension, Schenectady County Country Classroom Create Community Studios Crop Hunger Walk – Capital Area Council of Churches Crossroads Center for Children Cystic Fibrosis Foundation NENY Daughters of Sarah Senior Community Eagle Elementary School PTO Elsmere School PTA Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady Epilepsy Foundation of NENY Equinox Family and Friends of Liza Ellen Warner Assoc. Inc. Family Promise of the Capital Region First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany First United Methodist Church of Voorheesville Flora E. Kippins Foundation Inc. Flying Deer Nature Center Friends of Ft. Crailo Friends of the Berne Library Globesity Inc. GLSEN NYCR Good People Fund / Jeremy’s Circle Grafton Lakes State Park Grand Total Grassroots Givers Guilderland Public Library Habitat for Humanity Capital District Historic Albany Foundation Homeless Action Committee (HAC) Hudson River Watershed Alliance In Our Own Voices Inc. Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley Internships in Aging Project Italian American Community Center Foundation
Jessie T. Zoller Elementary School PTO Jewish Women’s Circle Southern Saratoga County Jewish Women’s Connection Kelsey’s Promise Fund Kinderhook Democratic Committee Legal Aid Society of NNY Liberty Partnerships Rising Stars Loudonville Christian School Maimonides Hebrew Day School Mansion Neighborhood March of Dimes Maternity & Early Childhood Foundation Inc. (MECF) Mental Health Association in NYS Inc. Mifgash Miracle on Craig Street Mohawk Hudson Humane Society Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy Mountain Road School Mt. Olive Southern Missionary Baptist Church National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State New Baltimore Conservancy New Jerusalem Home of the Saved New Leaders Council New York Capital District Ski Council Northern Rivers Family of Services Octavo Singers Oldtone Productions Our Lady of the Snow RC Church Philip J. Schuyler Achievement Academy Pine Hills Elementary School Pine Hollow Arboretum RCS Community Library Rensselaer Land Trust Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute River Run Community Montessori Robert C. Parker School Ronald McDonald House Charities Rotary Club of Albany RPM Youth Group
Annual Report 2018-19
Schenectady Curling Club SEANstrong Senior Services of Albany Shalom Food Pantry Siena College Center for Academic Community Engagement South End Neighborhood Tutors St. Mary’s Auxiliary St. Matthew’s Church St. Peter’s ALS Regional Center St. Thomas the Apostle Stick it to Brain Tumors Stride Adaptive Sports Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation SUNY Schenectady Foundation Susan G. Komen Team Esteem on the Hill Team Treasured Pearls for Alzheimer’s Association Temple Israel The Beer Diviner Brewery The Doane Stuart School The Edward L. Witko Memorial Fund The Legal Project The Mooncatcher Project The Senior Hope Foundation Inc. The Sylvia Center at Katchleie Farm The Women’s Club of Albany Thunder Road Seniors Club To Life! Total Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region Troy Bike Rescue Troy Boys and Girls Club Troy School District – School 14 Unbridled Thoroughbred Foundation Unity Church in Albany University Apartments – UAlbany Voorheesville Friends of Music Washington Park Conservancy Watervliet Elks Watervliet Public Library Waves for Development International West Fulton Arts Whiskers Animal Benevolent League Whitney Young Health Woodland Hill Montessori School Woodstock Guild Youth FX YWCA of the Greater Capital Region
Committees 911
Honest Weight Food C0-op
Communications Committee
In April 2018, Comm Comm accepted the responsibility of recreating Honest Weight’s membership newsletter from scratch— undertaking a challenging project that culminated in a brand-new inclusive monthly publication. At the request of the Board of Directors, we conceived, defined, crafted, and refined Honest Slate. Now entering its second year of production supported by a valued team of ten skilled Member-Owners, each month’s edition can be found in hard copy in the store entryway, and online at honestweight.coop/honestslate. Although in theory we are required to operate a Membership newsletter according to HWFC Bylaws, in practice we developed this publication to include our entire community based on universally shared goals for the Co-op’s continued success. Our statement of purpose is: “Honest Slate is a platform for communication among HWFC Membership, Staff, Management, and Governance: promoting transparency, reporting news without bias, and sustaining community.” That means whether investing time, working and/or shopping, everyone connected to the Co-op matters to us; hence, Honest Slate belongs to everyone. It’s planned, written, edited, and styled by Member-Owners. And we are just beginning!
Elections and Nominations Committee
The Elections and Nominations Committee (ENC) is responsible for the voting process at membership meetings. This includes electing Board members and deciding ballot questions, such as this year’s vote to amend the Member-Owner Manual. ENC develops and organizes distribution of member applications for positions on the Board (and Governance Review Council, when agreed). The ENC also assists ballot development when ballot questions come before the Membership. Together with the Member-Owner Coordinator, the committee schedules and moderates “Meet the Candidates” events and candidate presentations on election day. When an election or ballot question appears on a Membership Meeting agenda, committee members—with the assistance of other Member-Owners—set up ballot boxes, receive completed ballots from voting members, count the ballots, and certify voting results with the Board Secretary. The committee accelerated its effort to recruit more Board candidates this year by organizing a workshop moderated by Member-Owner Evelyn Wright entitled “What Do Boards Do?” The well-attended workshop included participation by two Board members and the Board Administrator, and generated much interest in what it means to serve on the HWFC Board. ENC listed similar recruitment efforts in its proposed 2019-2020 work plan.
The committee is currently reviewing the Nominations and Voting Manual to determine whether to propose any changes. The Manual lays out voting processes and explains related ENC responsibilities. A Procedures Handbook to provide the detailed step-by-step process for voting and counting ballots is expected to be completed in 2020. ENC members are committed to identifying and cultivating exceptional Member-Owners interested in governance positions. The committee meets monthly and currently consists of five members.
Bylaws Panel
The Bylaws Panel (BLP) met on a monthly basis to review issues sent in by the GRC and the Board. The BLP evaluated whether or not proposals were appropriate for Bylaws as opposed to other avenues. We made decisions to improve the clarity and consistency of both Bylaws and Co-op governance structure, policies, and procedures. The BLP remains committed to bringing its recommendations to the Board, GRC, and Membership for a comment period before presenting to Member-Owners for a vote.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee (FC) worked cooperatively with the CFO, CCO, and the Board throughout the year. The committee works to complete actions assigned by the Board, monitors financial status, and reviews periodic financial statements and/or reports in order to be able to make recommendations on ensuring HWFC’s fiscal sustainability. This past year’s fiscal highlights include: completion of two balloon loan payments; a $1.4 million reduction in overall debt; implementation of a living wage proposal; a $1 million increase in yearto-year sales, and successfully meeting our EBITDA. Five budget presentations held to inform our community about the 2019-20 budget were informative and well received. $1.4 million in debt was retired, including: a $551,000 balloon payment to close out a loan; and a $233,000 advance payment on another loan. The advance payments made meeting our EBITDA a very close call this fiscal year. Lastly, on 1/1/2019 our living wage proposal was implemented with plans to pay employees with five years of service a living wage. This same plan will take effect for staff with four years of service as of 1/1/2020. The living wage proposal is a very good indicator of the commitment by Management and the Board to provide better financial incentives to Staff. A combination of Board collaboration, Finance Committee activities, and dedication to our mission by Member-Owners, Management, and Staff resulted in the HWFC ending the year in very good financial condition.
10 Committees
Annual Report 2018-19
Membership Committee
Nutrition and Education Committee (NEC)
The Membership Committee functions as a link between the Board of Directors and Membership. We coordinate Regular Membership Meetings 4 times annually. This year we moved the meeting location to the Ramada Inn across the street from HWFC. This space not only accommodates more people as we grow but also enables working Staff who are Member-Owners to attend. We moved the potluck preceding the business meeting to the store’s Community Room.
The NEC continued its efforts to ensure that all products at HWFC are compliant with Food and Product Manual (FPM) standards.
To keep Member-Owners up to date with Co-op policies, practices and events, we produce the Member-Owner Manual—an ongoing task, as HWFC is not a static organization. To make revisions accessible and democratic, we added periodic information sessions and store tabling to share information and solicit ideas, and we plan to continue the practice. We hosted our final Ice Cream Social as the event drew less participation than hoped for. Subsequently we shared in a successful Staff and Member-Owner BBQ, also participating in the cake competition. The committee increased its numbers by inviting two additional members to the crew. Membership Committee meetings reserve the first 15 minutes of each meeting (5:30–5:45 pm) for Member-Owners to bring comments for consideration. The Membership Committee is a compatible and fun-loving group. We look forward to another year of creativity and engagement with new and old Member-Owners.
Personnel Committee The Personnel Committee’s primary mandate is to ensure that the Employee Manual is accurate and up to date with regard to HR law and the Co-op’s current practices and procedures. Our diverse group includes representation from Employees, Management, Human Resources, and Member-Owners. Over the past year we proposed revisions and updates to the following sections of the Employee Manual: Progressive Discipline, Interpersonal Conflict Resolution, and Grievance. We also proposed updates to our Anti-Harassment policies based on new legislation in New York State effective later in 2019. In addition, we assisted the Board of Directors in proposing an approach to help clarify which Employees should be classified as “supervisory” and therefore ineligible to serve on the Board as per our Bylaws. Upcoming areas of focus include attendance and time away from work. We will continue applying changes to the Employee Manual as directed by the Board, and provide guidance as needed to help improve the overall employment experience at Honest Weight.
One continuing initiative of our work plan is researching products that are out of compliance. Such items are reported to Management for action as specified in paragraph 9 of the FPM. Another ongoing and time-intensive effort is identifying items potentially containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. It requires contacting the manufacturer of the suspected product for clarification regarding sources. Products confirmed to contain GMOs must be labeled as per the FPM’s GMO Policy. In cooperation with Meat Department management, we initiated editing the FPM’s Meat and Poultry Policy, striving to make it more comprehensive and user-friendly. The Meat Chart will be updated and posted in a visible location in the Co-op. NEC members and Management worked together to create and install an informational kiosk at aisle 1 providing access to product information.
Governance Review Council (GRC) GRC met monthly with the exception of June when quorum was not reached. In addition to monitoring activity during Board of Directors meetings, observing balloting and vote counts during Regular Membership Meetings, and reviewing notices for those meetings, the GRC has been organizing and archiving historical GRC records. We have been actively reviewing and, when possible, assisting drafting of procedures manuals. GRC also participated in enforcement of Bylaws concerning Board Member eligibility in relation to NYS Liquor Authority regulations. GRC reviewed actions of the Board regarding concerns brought forward by Member-Owners on awarding contracts; determining when contracts were favorable as opposed to staffing or time investment; the type of power generation best suited to our needs and mission, and the timeliness of senior manager performance reviews. We also assisted with concerns brought by the Elections and Nominations Committee relating to candidate information, and acted on requests from individual Member-Owners exploring “Proxy Voting” options. Suggestions were sent to the Bylaws Panel for consideration, such as language to ensure fairness during elections of officers. A more complete accounting of this summary can be found on the Honest Weight Food Co-op website.
Honest Weight Food C0-op
Environment Committee This year the Environment Committee (EC) focused on Zero Waste and Sustainable Energy initiatives for Honest Weight. At the EC’s request, Membership added Zero Waste language to the Statements of Conscience. In 2018, EC summarized the findings and recommendations of our departmental waste audits in a formal report to the Board. We also compiled EC findings on waste management at other co-ops. We periodically met with upper Management to discuss implementation of Board-approved waste reduction recommendations. We strive for open dialogue about institutional efforts to consider the environment in daily store operations. We kept up with the latest news and research about recycling and materials intended to replace single-use plastics—i.e., compostable tableware that may contain PFAS chemicals. We began to develop a Zero Waste workshop for shoppers and Member-Owners. Honest Slate published articles by EC members to inform Member-Owners about waste and energy issues pertinent to the Co-op. Our store’s need for a backup power system motivated EC to research and make recommendations for greener alternatives to a whole store diesel generator—including energy storage, solar, and a smaller natural gas generator. EC’s energy conservation engineer performed a building energy audit to identify potential energy savings and power load reductions to allow for a smaller backup generator. We consulted with NYSERDA on incentives and other payback opportunities.
Honest Arts Committee The Honest Arts Committee started the 2018-2019 fiscal year aiming to streamline marketing, digitize calls for art, improve receptions, and strengthen show & theme quality. We achieved progress in all areas. We changed our schedule to 4 major shows yearly with 2-week intermission shows, which allowed us to increase marketing and improve the quality of art. Reception attendance increased with 20-30 people attending two recent openings. Currently we are working on a “History of the Co-op” show to run between major shows to be hung after Rhythm is removed. We are looking forward to another artful year! FY 2018-19 exhibit themes included Shoreline, Horizons, Roots and Green.
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Annual Report 2018-19