Greetings All! I hope this finds everyone well and continually inspired. Autumn has arrived so very quickly along with many transitions of the coop. The highlight coop news this newsletter is our successful recruitment & subsequent hire of a Store Manager.

Christina DeCosmo has accepted a position with the DFC and will officially join us November 13^th. I am especially pleased about this accomplishment and confident that Christina will be an invaluable addition to the DFC community and staff team. She has worked with Whole Foods in a lead capacity, grew up with her family’s restaurant, is food safety certified and brings a cache of complementary and transferable experience and skills to the DFC at a most essential time.

The Board and Staff Team welcome Christina and will collaborate to develop a strategic orientation & training process, so that she can come on board with ample support, clear & accomplishable priorities, and measureable objectives which support the DFC’s growth & sustainability goals.

We’ll hope to host a welcome potluck shortly after Christina gets started, perhaps a Thanks Giving gathering when we can come together as Neighbors, Members, Staff and all, to encourage, support and fortify our cooperative connections and commitment as stakeholders in this community based cooperative enterprise.

The recent month since Summer’s end has delivered more goods on the shelves and a reorganized store! Many folks have offered feedback and expressed excitement for the changes and upgrades. The Board team is diligently striving to negotiate for improved equipment & services including a POS system, expanded local produce selection, and increased staple product availability, while cultivating opportunities for financing and other resources to commercialize our kitchen, acquire more refrigeration (Deep Roots in Greensboro is sharing affordable units in true cooperative spirit) and bulk bins, additional shelving, refurbish our floors, and increase our inventory.

Since Stuart Bagwell’s work with the coop this Summer to establish cash flow management systems and consult with the Board re priority marketing, retail standards, and tech support, we have been able to place ourselves in a prime position to pursue financing to support these improvements as we enter 2008! The hire of a bookkeeper, Emma Blose, has stabilized our bookkeeping and daily cash flow management immeasurably and marks a significant milestone of the DFC’s business practices.

Though we are no longer operating in the negative, we have not quite marginally increased our weekly sales sufficiently to aggressively move forward with these efforts and can just support our existing operations – we took a dip this week with a big order expense and quarterly payroll tax payout. The coop relies on your regular shopping support to stabilize our cash flow and subsequently support our long-term financial sustainability – we really want to come away from the “rob peter, pay paul” mode.

The winter season and year end expense has consistently decreased the coop’s cash flow capacity with sales expected to be decreasing by as much as 50% in December and quarterly taxes present a further burden. Thankfully, with the ardent attentions & know how of our Finance Committee and Treasurer (Jeane Brose), we are getting caught up with our tax filing (Pless & Pless has worked with the DFC to file 2005 and now finishing up 2006) and worked out better payment schedules with our vendors (Stuart contributed significantly to this accomplishment while with us as Controller this summer). With the hire of a manager and recent filling of shelves with product, we will be reliant on your shopping at the coop thru the season. In addition to retail shopping, a great way to purchase your goods is thru Special Orders service, prepaying for goods in bulk or for goods not offered on the shelf with nominal markup based on your membership, which contributes to the coop’s weekly earnings and aids cash flow thru a very lean period!

We will strive to offer promotions, coupons, and notices for vendor discounts to inspire your coming to the coop for both staple and seasonal products. In coming weeks, we’ll offer pre made seasonal vegan pies & value added chocolate for you, visiting with family and friends during the holidays, and gift giving. Giving the gift of a Durham Food Cooperative membership would be a fabulous way to share your coop with others and expand the DFC community. We’ll be working to develop DFC product gift packages to compliment the season so keep your coop in mind as you make your lists!

There have been many adjustments to how the DFC operates toward cost effectiveness, improved services, and an overall more sustainable enterprise. Among various renovations of systems efforts, we will reformat the Special Orders process for better customer communication, processing and tracking. Once we’ve settled on the format & streamlined steps, an announcement will be posted in the store and delivered via email. Please convey your feedback and recommendations to regina.dyson@gmail.com.

Winter store hours will be effective Monday, November 19 as follows:

Monday – Friday 1p-7p, Saturday 9a-7p, Sunday 11a-7p

Please address questions and/or concerns re this adjustment to regina.dyson@gmail.com

In addition to recommitting your consumer power to the sustainability of your Durham Food Cooperative, there are other ways to contribute to efforts for improved space, technology, and facility. You can make a contribution toward any of the following funds:

1) POS System (integrated scan able Point-Of-Sale register system)

2) Update our kids’ area with IKEA furnishings ($150 will cover a full IKEA outfitting!) support with check contribution or IKEA gift card

3) Purchase toys from the DFC registry at The Playhouse, located on 9^th Street (short list of stimulating, quality toys from local business), or gift certificate for DFC Kids

4) Sponsor 2 bulk bins toward expansion and upgrade of our bulk goods department

How can you make your contribution? Deliver a check for the amount of your contribution and note in the memo section, the fund you are contributing to, i.e., Kids/IKEA, POSystem, 2 Bulk Bins, enclose in an envelope and address “ATTN: DFC Fund Contribution”. If gift certificate, also enclose in an envelope and address the same. You can mail your contribution to the DFC, drop your envelope in the mailbox or give to a cashier. They will be collected, posted to designated accounts and reserved for the respective projects. We will issue updates and acknowledge receipt each week. The Playhouse registry can be tended to at the store in person or by phone. They will share they registry list with you and assist with your selection. We will collect purchased items as prompted by The Playhouse team. If you have questions re these opportunities, please email regina.dyson@gmail.com

And finally, for now, we are managing our new member processing a little differently, effective Oct 15^th. New members will receive their member card and no. by mail, along with a welcome letter, and copy of DFC ByLaws. We are just packaging new member cards from the past two weeks and will get these packages out by this weekend. Our goal is to mail them out each week. Also in the coming week, we will address email to members who need to renew their memberships. This will be an opportunity to replace your card as well. Once the POSystem is installed (target January 2008), members will receive a bar code sticker to place on your cards… we’re very excited about this! We’ll also be able to pull you up by name at the register computer and process discounts and such more efficiently. In the meantime, a monthly updated list from our database will be generated for the Staff Team to be able to confirm and reference active memberships and related discounts. If there any uncertainties about your membership status, please contact me by email or call the coop, leaving a message and I’ll investigate and follow-up asap.

It may seem a little early to announce, but our Annual Member Meeting will be here before you know it. Held each April, we convene to elect Board members and collectively address coop business. I’d like to begin recruiting for the Annual Meeting Committee, so we can begin the preliminary process of planning & coordinating our gathering. Please email me if you are interested in Sustaining in this way!

In Co-operative Spirit & Thanks Giving! ~Regina Dyson, BoD 2007-09, Chair/CEO