October 2010: Passing the Torch

by Jim Nelson, General Manager

Jim Nelson shares his experience and knowledge with future General Manager Kelsi Swanson.

When I noticed an ad in the Journal Star for General Manager Wanted, I really had no idea exactly what the job description involved. By fate, it had something to do with the retail grocery business, which has been most of my forty plus years of experience.

Managing Open Harvest has been an adventure. Three years ago, Open Harvest lacked sales and operating revenue (profit) thus creating a cash flow crunch. This was further fueled by a lackluster economy. Adding to all this fun was the dire need for Open Harvest to find a new home. After looking at numerous sites for expansion and spending a lot of funds on market studies, we looked hard at 16th and South Streets. We sat down with Eyes of the World, had a discussion regarding their space, and after some back and forth we ended up acquiring their space. Now, a year later, we are mostly achieving our projected numbers and have the co-op in a much better position for the future.

Even in a very delicate economy, our members stepped forward and loaned us over $200,000 for our expansion project. For that, once again thank you. We also offered a Pay Forward program to raise funds for expansion. We offered members the opportunity to pay four years of equity at the current rate, instead of the new yearly rate. This program was very successful and raised over $50,000. Thanks to Union Bank for sharing our vision and loaning us the majority of expansion funds. Union Bank is very supportive of the local economy and is a good friend of Open Harvest. If you need a good local bank, they are someone to visit with.

On a strictly personal note, I have never had the opportunity to work with such dedicated staff in all the years of my retail experience! In the food business today, as I am sure it is with many other retail stores, employee turnover is an issue. Another issue is the lack of dedication to the job. The employees at Open Harvest are here for more than a pay check! Our staff cares about your shopping experience.

Some time ago, we tallied up the years of experience the management staff of Open Harvest had. I do not remember the exact number but it was somewhere over 100 years. Many of the department managers have been employed by the co-op for over 10 years. This is the definition of dedication to their beliefs and jobs.

It has also been a wonderful experience to chat with customers, both members and non-members, on an almost daily basis. Many of our customers are in the co-op multiple times a week, which gives all of us a chance to get to know each other better. Our goal has always been to offer the best shopping experience in Lincoln; the customer is the one who will let you know if you are on track.

I have truly enjoyed my relationship with the Open Harvest Board of Directors. I have had an excellent working relationship and grown to respect and appreciate Board Chair Keith Dubas. Keith has led the board with steadiness and always hears and thinks about both sides of an issue.

I cannot imagine how someone retiring could end their career surrounded by a better support staff than I have had at Open Harvest. This is true for every job level at the co-op without fail!!

One of my proudest moments was when I found out that a staff member who had come up through the ranks was chosen to replace me at the end of the year. The Board of Directors, through the search committee, went through an extensive search process before a final decision was made. Shortly after I started my career with Open Harvest, I had identified Kelsi Swanson as someone who had a burning desire to learn, and an extraordinary work ethic. I ask you to give her your support in future years and accept my gratitude for letting me be your General Manager for the past few years.

January 2010: Samples from the GM

By Jim Nelson, General Manager

Happy New Year! As you have noticed while shopping, the dust is gone and the samples are back. We welcome you to come in and try out a variety of selections from each of our food departments.

After some five months of dry wall dust, wood dust and every other dust possible, the expansion project is all but complete. We managed to stay open and serve our members and other customers during the entire time frame. There was a little hiccup with the city inspectors, but we smiled and corrected the issue and kept on working.

We started the project late due to additional city issues, but we almost made up the time and had our Grand Opening just a few weeks later than planned. Our opening was a wonderful success. We've had many great comments on the store. Our post Grand Opening sales levels tell us our customer base likes the new looking co-op.

The staff worked very hard dusting, cleaning, and doing many other duties to make the space what it is today. This, along with managing the budget, allowed us to complete the project under the budgeted dollar goal amount. This is important, as it makes our 10 years of loan payments a little less each month, as we did not draw the full amount that Union Bank agreed to provide. This also allows us to be in a strong position to begin paying our member loans back in a timely manner.

During the almost two years of planning the expansion, I studied many other co-ops' history of their projects. I was especially interested in finding out what went wrong and what caused the biggest problems. The largest issue by far was the stress on the staff during the project. Many sister co-ops experienced turnover of staff that made their projects even more challenging. Some of these turnover numbers were very alarming.

I am pleased to report that Open Harvest did not experience any staff turnover beyond our normal range. Was there stress? Sure there was. There were a lot of long days and short nights. But your co-op staff rolled up their sleeves and stayed focused on the new space. The Open Harvest community is the reason we have the new wonderful space.

I hope you enjoy the new Open Harvest. Our goal is always to provide you with a positive shopping experience. I feel confident we will work hard on that each time you visit your co-op.

January 2009: New Experiences for Open Harvest

by Jim Nelson, General Manager

Your co-op has reached a point in its growth cycle that is unique. The current Open Harvest has sales approaching $1,200 per square foot. An average grocery store experiences sales of around $700 per square foot. Initially, this may seem to be positive news, as the more business you do, the better for the organization. In most cases this is true. In our case this has caused our level of inefficiency to rise. What does this mean?

We handle many of our products, stock, back stock, storage items, etc. many times because A is stacked in front of B, and we need B, so we move everything to get at B, then we need to put the original product back.

When receiving merchandise we need to break down the pallet due to lack of space to even get the order inside the store. We are thus handling it before we re-handle it even more times. This entire process goes on and on and snowballs.

The organic and natural food industry has recently experienced a sales slow down and in some cases flat sales versus a year ago. As you can imagine, the expenses of running the co-op have not adjusted to the economic slow down.

What does this mean to you as a member owner? It means the co-op is being unproductive and is experiencing ever increasing costs of doing business. The cost of doing business is increasing at a rate much higher than our ability to generate profit to pay the expenses.

This is very serious! What are we doing? First we continue to try to find an expansion program that is efficient and affordable. In today's economy, that is becoming a challenge. Second, we are looking at some of our controllable expenses on a day to day basis.

We recently enacted Phase 1 of a possible 3 Phase program of cost cutting measures to keep Open Harvest a viable operating store. The Phase 1 cuts included asking our volunteers to accept a lesser discount on their purchases at the co-op. Also, we have eliminated the off-shelf discount for business accounts. The business accounts still receive a case cost reduction on their purchases. We have adjusted the matrix we use to calculate staff pay raises to be in line with today's economy and the cost of living.

Your Board of Directors has reduced the discount they have received for serving on the board. The Board has eliminated the pay they are entitled to for serving.

We sincerely hope that Phase 1 will help us through these economic challenges. As I mentioned, we do not want to use additional cost saving measures, however, the co-op needs to survive.

These are difficult times and the challenge we face trying to operate in our current space only supports the need for relocating or expanding space for Open Harvest.

I wanted to share with you a few things that you as owners can help with. Our credit card charges for this year will approach $43,000. This charge is for customers using credit and debit cards. How can you help? If you can, use cash or write a check.

If you can bring in sacks, boxes, or containers for your own food purchases, that will be a help also. The cost of paper bags has increased dramatically and using plastic is just not good for obvious reasons.

Support your co-op. The ability of your co-op to grow and expand and serve your needs is based on the support of our members. Let us know how we can meet your needs.

July 2008: Samples from the GM

When you read this, our current fiscal year will be complete. Our year ends June 30th. I can only provide an educated guess on some of the results, so here we go.

It appears we are going to end the year with an 8% to 9% sales growth over the previous year. Some of this is inflation and some is real growth. An educated guess may be 4% inflation- 4% real growth.

From a profitability standpoint, we are poised to have one of the better years in Open Harvest history. This is positive news for a couple of reasons. One is for our expansion efforts, second is for us to be able to pay our bills and be responsible to our vendors, and third is being able to continue to fairly compensate our staff.

A few thoughts on expansion: The financial institutions we have a relationship with have told us we need to show sustained profitability for them to provide us funds. How we finish our 2007/2008 year will lay the groundwork for being able to obtain funds for expansion. This is also important to you as members if you elect to help us with member loans once we enter into an expansion project. Being financially strong allows us to repay these loans in a timely fashion. We currently are in a position to pay our vendors on time. This is important as we look to them for help with expansion.

Department updates: In the past few months, Melissa and her staff have added over fifty new items and three new lines in our supplement department. Our health and beauty section has expanded by 56 items including new essential oils, and expanded Dr. Bonners and Indigo Wild product lines.

Our produce manager Deslie continues to offer the best local vegetable and fruit selection. With the great rainfall of the spring and seasonal temperatures we hope to increase our status of being your in-store farmers market. Produce continues to offer Veriflora floral products as well as locally grown flowers.

Our meat/seafood department is now offering NaturALL beef products from the David City area. Alex is also offering some new local beef jerky as well as a great salmon jerky.

The bakery department is bringing back the famous Open Harvest veggie cheese rolls. Also, Nancy and her crew are now packing cookies by the dozen and have plans for more new bread products this summer.

The deli is offering new salads (try the Blue Cheese Potato Salad), and Cuban Rice. Lee and his staff are experiencing record sales nearly every week. Jim Larson continues to bring in new cheese items, some very simple, and many very exotic. Try the Valfrais horseradish spread, it is wonderful.

The grocery crew taste-tests new items and looks for the best value we can offer. We continue to offer samples in each department on a daily basis. There are many new organic and natural products on the market.

We are working very hard at making your shopping experience a reward for supporting your co-op. Many times we are challenged by our limited space and resources. We promise to do the best job we can and we sincerely thank you for your support.

"Supporting Local Since 1975."

April 2008: Samples from the GM

We are regaining our sales increases that were interrupted by the construction of South Street last summer. For our third quarter (Jan, Feb, March) of this year, we have almost regained our pre-construction sales increases. For the week of March 3-9, Open Harvest set an all time oneweek sales record. We have been able to maintain profitability for the last two quarters. This is extremely important as it helps us to be in a strong position to acquire funds for a possible re-location and for the long term health of the co-op.

Our expansion efforts continue. Some times it seems we are writing another chapter in our log regarding finding a new home for Open harvest. We continue to kick over rocks, and drive around South Lincoln and look for possibilities. We are talking to developers as well as brokers. With our continued efforts we will discover the correct space for the future of Open Harvest.

You will notice in the near future an expansion of meat items in out Meat/Seafood Department. We have identified a local supplier that can provide us with Natural Beef products and allow us to support our local farmers. Open Harvest has been supporting local since 1975.

We continue to be very pleased with your response to our efforts at promoting Veriflora fresh cut flowers which are produced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. We thank you for your support.

Open Harvest will also continue to offer a website coupon monthly. Each month one department will have a money saving coupon on the website. Check it out.

As I hope you have noticed while shopping in your co-op, we now have an on-going sampling program. We have four sampling stations out on the store floor. Our plans are to increase our sampling program. I hope you enjoy tasting new foods and gain some menu ideas.

In the near future, we plan to hold some specific sampling days where we will have people walking around offering you samples of goodies. We will be offering more new healthy foods for you to provide to your friends and family.

Other activities we plan to bring you this year include a bulk goods sale, an outdoor produce sale, more cheese sampling sessions, a Fall Harvest sale, a parking lot sale, a health and beauty aids/supplement sale and new holiday menu ideas. These events are tentative and subject to change. The bottom line is, we will have plenty of activities and reasons for you to visit your co-op.

New Beginnings

by Jim Nelson, General Manager

The New Year brings a fresh start for me as the rookie GM at the co-op. I was hired by the Board in late October and Margot Conrad has cheerfully tossed me the hat and is showing me the ropes.

Some of you have been asking about my background. I was born and raised in Lincoln. I have two children, one girl and one boy. Barbara, my wife, and I have eight grandchildren, all living here in Lincoln. After leaving Lincoln in the 80s, we returned in early 2007. Almost all of my forty-plus years in the work force has been devoted to retail and in some segment of the food business. Probably the most interesting part of this history is the seven years we owned a business on the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Each day I find myself continuing to be impressed with the co-op and the staff. It is wonderful to be part of a tradition that holds to its values and is focused toward the future. I have met many of you in the past few weeks, but if we have not met, please look me up when you visit the store. If you do not find me on the floor, ask someone to page me.

Open Harvest continues to experience a moderate sales growth. Our backroom and storage space continue to provide challenges! We are working hard to work smart so we can provide you a positive shopping experience.

You will now find a daily sampling program at Open Harvest. You will be able to sample a produce, bakery, deli, cheese and a grocery item each time you visit the store. We hope you enjoy this experience as it allows you to discover some new healthy foods and menu ideas.

We also hope you have noticed some fresh cut floral items in the store. So far we are experimenting with roses and carnations. We will be selecting either Certified Organic or Veriflora products. Veriflora™ is America's first comprehensive social and environmental certification standard for the floral industry. Some of the standards are water resource management, ecosystem management and protection, management of wastes and hazardous materials, social responsibility, packaging materials and energy resource management. For more information you can go to www.Veriflora.com

I sincerely hope that 2008 brings peace to the world and we all find new opportunities in our careers and personal lives.