March Update

Greetings, fellow Cooperators!  As of this writing, it has been about one month since I assumed my new role as General Manager, and I thought it was about time to reach out to you all.  First and foremost I would like to just say thank you.  Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to our slice of the Co-op community, making us who we are today.  And thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it, and the opportunity I now have in this new position.  I look forward to working with each and every one of you to maintain the core values and principles that have made us who we are today, and who we will grow into in the future.

In my role as General Manager it is important to me that we grow as an organization.  And I do not mean just as a business, but as a leader in our community.  The BFC Ends, our reasons for being, ask us to provide:

1. An open, inclusive, and welcoming marketplace
2. Access to and education about goods and nutritious foods that are ecologically sound and responsibly sourced
3. An organization that contributes to a just and resilient local economy
4. An enterprise that engages in sustainable and regenerative environmental practices

These fundamental concepts lay the foundation for who we are, and, just as importantly, provide the framework for what we strive to accomplish on a daily basis.  My job as General Manager is to make sure that we accomplish one or more of these ends in every decision we make.  Your job is to hold me accountable for exactly that.  

A co-op, by (loose) definition, is “a body working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit,”  i.e.: our previously outlined ends.  The follow-up question may then be… How?  Who we are internally is how we want and need to be perceived externally.  That perception is reflected via our community. We all know the Co-op is involved in the community: a community leader, sustainability-conscious, carrying high-quality foods, taking pride in supporting local producers, and providing superior customer service.  This is what differentiates us, this is our how.  These strengths are what we need to continually leverage, to communicate, so we as an organization continue to grow.  

In the coming months I look forward to further elaborating on the things we are doing, how we are doing them, and the benefits of doing them.  I truly hope that all of you who are reading this are looking forward to this journey with eyes just as wide open as mine, relishing in the opportunity to make our community the best it can be.

— Anthony