board of directors
from the board Greetings from the Board of Directors! It s been a challenging and rewarding year for our Co-op as we expanded into our Two Store, One Co-op Treasure Valley presence. Last November we opened the Village Store, broadening our Co-op outreach to promote healthier lives and a stronger community. The Village Store is becoming more successful while the North End Store remains vital and strong. We added over 3,000 new Members ( Co-Owners ) since opening the Village Store! Our Co-op works diligently at becoming a more vital community resource for our Co-Owners and the public at large. For example, the Co-op staff recently completed a thorough in-store review from a national cooperative team to help us thrive in an increasingly competitive market and amid pressures due to new demographic trends. Thank you to our Co-Owners for voting and supporting another successful Board of Directors election this summer. You give life to one of our Co-op principles, Democratic Member Control. And thank you to our dedicated and skilled staff; you are the ones making it happen every day. The Board is working on several key endeavors. Of course, the biggest news is our General Manager Ben Kuzma, will retire next spring after many decades of work in the cooperative field, including more than five highly productive and important years with us. We will celebrate and honor his contributions as retirement draws closer, but for now we want to thank him for all he has done in his time with us. The Board began implementing Policy Governance this past year, a governance method widely used throughout the country. This helps us oversee and guide our Co-op through an ever-changing business world. This includes Board development and education to help us do that. For example, some of us participated in Board leadership training and also attended a national Co-op conference with our two Store Managers and our Board Administrator to learn from and with other cooperatives. Recently we contracted with two highly experienced and respected cooperative consultants to help us with our General Manager search in addition to accelerating development of the Board s governance expertise. In the year ahead, we want to engage with Co-Owners more and strengthen our ties with staff, working together to build a stronger Coop. Please look for opportunities as they become available to join us in that journey. Thank you for being part of our Boise Co-op community! Who knew all this would happen just shopping for some good food in a welcoming place? Best wishes to you & yours, Steve Lester President, Boise Co-op Board of Directors
store news To state the obvious, the biggest news of the last Fiscal Year was the opening of our new store in the Village at Meridian! new mural! smoothie bike! ribbon cutting! Also this year, our staff presented at 4 different national co-op conferences! But somehow, we make sure to save time for some old-fashioned fun! Here are some of the cool things we ve been up to this last year: New mural on the North End store painted by our own talented cooper the squirrel! staff. We now have a bicycle-powered smoothie blender! Over a thousand kids have had the chance to Rock the Bike at different events this year! Cooper the Squirrel, our new mascot, made his debut. Keep an eye out for him this year! North End Store Manager Matt Fuxan won the Celebrity GreenBike Race at the Twilight Criterium! twilight criterium!
Special thanks for all the love we received this year from our fans! Between Best of Meridian, Best of the Treasure Valley, and Best of Boise, we were voted in the top 3 more times than our humble selves can mention, and #1 in the following: Best Deli Best Wine Shop Best Local Ethnic Market Best Local Gluten Free Menu Best Sandwiches Best Slice of Pizza Plus, Men s Journal voted our stores the Best Place to Buy Beer in Idaho! Awww shucks, guys! Thanks for all the love. best place for beer! best wine shop! best deli! best pizza! $643,784 75.5% saved by co-owners with the monthly 10% discount day of revenue generated from co-owners A look at our numbers 27,452 4,243 Active Co-Owners new Co-Owners this year
financials Fiscal Year Assets Total Current Assets Total Fixed Assets Other Assets Total Assets Liabilities Total Current Liabilities Long Term Debt Deferred Tax Liabilities Total Liabilities Owner Equity Member Investment Deferred Patronage Dividends Retained Earnings Income Statement Sales Cost of Goods Sold Gross Profit Operating Expenses Operating Income Income Before Taxes Patronage Dividends Total Income Tax Provision Net Income Sales Compared to Previous Year 2016 2015 4,862,890 4,237,554 186,211 9,286,655 4,711,307 1,760,043 658,997 7,130,347 2,002,799 3,677,492 7,051 5,687,342 1,577,257 468,467 52,570 2,098,294 2,508,019 718,615 372,679 2,360,892 748,180 1,922,981 28,634,829 18,854,708 9,780,121 11,417,964 (1,637,843) (1,615,544) (65,242) (1,550,302) 23.36% 23,211,633 14,878,365 8,333,268 7,880,215 453,053 371,377 369,075 (21,186) 63,277 0.32%
DONATIONs We provided financial support and in-kind donations to over 50 charities, schools, nonprofits, and other local organizations throughout the last fiscal year. Donations: $45,959.71 Sponsorships: $22,392.10 Some of the groups we supported include: Meridian Youth Farmer s Market Idaho Center for Sustainable Agriculture Meridian Community Block Party Hyde Park Street Fair Idaho Foodbank OneStone Ridge to Rivers 5th Grade Field Day CHANGE 4 CHANGE recipients: River Discovery Global Gardens Cycling League Meals on Wheels Meridian Humane Society Cancer Cooperative Feed the Gap Meridian s Promise Fund for Idaho The Cabin Snake River Alliance Idaho Voices for Children Boys & Girls Club Alzheimer s Association Meridian Food Bank Cooperative Community Fund
PRINCIPLE # Education, TRAINING, and INFORMATION 5 What an exciting year it s been! Our expansion into Meridian has kept us busy. Not only are we continuing all of our fun involvement in Boise (Treefort, Hyde Park Street Fair, Idaho Greenfest, etc.), but we ve now expanded our reach into Meridian as well. The Meridian Youth Farmers Market (pictured at right), Community Block Party, Ladies Nights Out, and more, have all been really fun events that we got to participate in. These allow us a chance to have some great conversations about what our community members are looking for, as well as introduce new people to what the Boise Co-op is all about. Not only did we participate in many external community events, we joined forces with the Idaho Center for Sustainable Agriculture and co-hosted the documentary Polyfaces, featuring Joel Salatin. We had over 300 people join us at the Egyptian Theater for the screening! Also, our new classroom space at the Village store has allowed us to expand our education program. We hosted over 30 classes and workshops and had a total of 270+ attendees! These classes run the gamut: kids cooking classes, book clubs, nutrition workshops, wine classes, and more. Check out our schedule at www.boise.coop/classes PRINCIPLE # cooperation among cooperatives 6 Boise Co-op Community Fund Thanks to the generous contributions of our customers, as well as a sizeable match from Frontier Co-op, our Community Fund grew by $3,602.24. This money is invested in cooperative businesses around the country. As our fund grows, our Board of Directors will use the interest earned on these investments to award grants to organizations in our community. It s easy to help us grow the fund just drop a wooden nickel into the BCCF jar next time you bring your reusable shopping bags.
VOLUNTARY & OPEN MEMBERSHIP DEMOCRATIC MEMBER CONTROL CONCERN FOR COMMUNITY THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES MEMBER S ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION COOPERATION AMONG COOPERATIVES EDUCATION, TRAINING, & INFORMATION AUTONOMY AND INDEPENDENCE
Letter from the general manager When I started work at Boise Co-op in June 2011, the first order of business was to prepare for the scheduled opening of several natural food chain stores entering our marketplace. In a short period of time we needed to make our store more visually inviting (less cluttered, better lighting) and an easier place to shop (wider aisles, self-serve options). Longer term projects included building a strong, business-savvy management team to help lead the Co-op well beyond the time after my planned retirement next spring. The Board of Directors has also been proactive in preparing for the transition in their policy making by including GM succession planning. Part of their policy reads: The GM must not: 1. Have less than one other manager sufficiently familiar with Board and GM issues and processes to enable her/him to take over with reasonable proficiency as an interim successor. It has taken us a while, but we trained everyone line staff, supervisors, department managers and store managers -- filling positions in all store locations mostly from internal staff. Experienced outside job applicants that are initially attracted to our wage and benefit package discover that a cooperative environment is different from the standard fare. Boise Co-op is also a place that is conducive to learning life skills in a job with an organization that benefits the community. Motivated staff may also develop technical abilities that are good to have on their resume, whether they work with us for 3 months or 30 years (thanks Divit Cardoza!). Generally speaking, people often leave us with marketable skills that are transferrable in a growing industry. Practicing servant leadership allows us to develop creative staff that regularly goes above and beyond to exceed the expectations of our stakeholders. As we approach our first year anniversary of the opening of the Village store in November, we are pleased with our progress so far. Sales at both store locations are moving in the right direction in spite of the headwinds from the Salmonella outbreak at the end of the previous fiscal year. That unfortunate experience has allowed us, through our membership in NCG (National Co+op Grocers), to bring awareness of food safety issues that we shared in training exercises with other food co-ops across the nation. Boise Co-op s founding staff and many others, including long time staff who still work at our stores today, created a gem in North Boise that became a Valley attraction to visitors and a destination for many residents from miles around. Boise Co-op used to be just about the only place in the Valley
to buy the types of natural products that today are ubiquitous. Food co-ops in their communities have not kept up with the demand from the public, and natural product grocery chains have rapidly moved into communities to fill the void. Over the past several years conventional grocers have also entered the fray by adding many of the products we sell into their product mix. With offerings of similar products at more convenient locations often at lower prices, Boise Co-op started to get its first taste of competition. Boise Co-op at the Village in Meridian was built to accommodate that growing demand and now more customers can experience Boise Co-op for the first time. This has also been a great opportunity for the hundreds of local producers we work with to reach a wider audience. In the years ahead, competition will increase and continue to challenge the Co-op to remain nimble operators. It will require the skills of an experienced management team focused on attracting new Co-Owners who joyfully shop at our stores and a commitment to leave the Co-op in at least as good of shape as it was found. Thank you for your continued support as we move into an exciting future that includes many more Co-Owners in the Treasure Valley. It s been a pleasure serving at this great institution for the last 5 years, and I look forward to seeing where the next GM will take it. Ben Kuzma, Boise Co-op General Manager how your dollars make a difference: 231 employees 91% full time boise co-op Minimum wage: $10.43/hr 43% higher than Idaho s minimum wage 68% of operating expenses contributed to salaries and benefits $213,445 in employee discounts