Pandemic

Emerging—Carefully—From a Pandemic

| Food For Thought, GM Report

As you well know, the governor has indicated that the reopening phase will be accelerated, with the numbers of those vaccinated reaching an acceptably high percentage.

We have long said that the initial herky-jerky moves that we all made to protect ourselves and each other from virus transmission, though difficult and confusing, wouldn’t come close to the difficulty of emergence. Now, conflicting messages and even conflicting ordinances have served to sow apprehension among businesses as we all prepare to navigate the transition ahead.

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October is Co-op Month…

| Food For Thought, GM Report

…and I invite you to consider what your Co-op means to you and your family these days, especially in light of all the upheaval to which we are constantly adjusting. We at the Co-op have been working on how best to support and provide for all of you this holiday season (like no other to date). In preparing for this, we have been analyzing our trends and also observing those of the industry to assist us in thinking through our various solutions.

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Flex and Reflex; and The Co-op’s Learning Curve

| Food For Thought, GM Report

Flex and Reflex

Thinking about the last few months, it continues to amaze me how much change we have needed to absorb, and how much change will remain a part of all of our lives. Here at the Co-op, we all feel this personally—in about 150 different ways—and together as an organization. And yet, we are required to proceed, more or less, on a schedule that still needs attention. So we do our best, while having little idea of how things are going to develop or devolve.

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A Day in the Life of a Brattleboro Food Co-op Employee, Pandemic Style

I work at the Shareholder Services desk at the Co-op. In mid-March I returned one week early from a trip to the Pacific Northwest and California, quarantined for two weeks, and then came back to find a completely transformed workplace. It was shocking: the business had been completely reinvented in less than a month. No customers at 10 am on Tuesday when I arrived, just a sort of warehouse feel with a bunch of very busy colleagues, as though all the grocery aisles were just for storing food for purchase, none of the browsing or chatting, just dry storage, cold storage, freezers full of future shipments.

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