1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,720 Hello and welcome to Smooth Cooperators, a Belfast Community Co-op program. 2 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:21,720 I'm Emily. 3 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:22,960 I'm Alessandra. 4 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:28,400 And we are here to talk to you about the Cooperative Business Model, the Belfast Community Co-op 5 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:29,800 in particular. 6 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:35,120 Today we are going to continue our series on Cooperative Principles with Cooperative 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,800 Principle number four, autonomy and independence. 8 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,560 But first we're going to do a little check in and see how our summer is going, particularly 9 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,080 what have you been eating lately? 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,520 Oh, the food at the co-op has been delicious. 11 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:52,920 The deli has been able to get their hands on a lot of fresh produce recently. 12 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:58,360 And so their cucumber and onion salad, this vinaigrette dressing, is just so good. 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:00,120 Just really hitting the spot lately. 14 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,840 And I think the recipe just kept secret. 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,080 So I just have to go in there to get my fix. 16 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,680 But it's like fresh cucumbers that are sliced up and fresh red onions that are sliced up. 17 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:14,160 And then it has this vinegar oil dressing on it that when I'm finished eating the salad, 18 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,160 I just kind of drink it down because it's so delicious. 19 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,120 What are you eating, Emily? 20 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,360 I basically live for cherry season. 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,640 I think they might be my favorite things in the world. 22 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,560 I say that about a lot of stuff. 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,880 So just add it to the list. 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:31,880 I love cherries. 25 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,360 And the cherries right now have been particularly delightful. 26 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,640 The other thing that I really love are white nectarines. 27 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,520 They don't come around very often. 28 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,560 I definitely romanticize them for the rest of the year. 29 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,720 But right now I've been putting them on my breakfast cereal. 30 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,120 It makes my day awesome. 31 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,400 I was just orienting a new person this morning who's going to be a cashier. 32 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,560 And I was telling them about the Farm Fresh Rewards program. 33 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:03,280 If you shop at the co-op and you use Snap, the EBT food stamp program, and you tell 34 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:08,360 the cashier that you're paying with EBT, they will scan a coupon. 35 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:13,680 And it gives you 50% off the fresh fruits and vegetables that you're buying. 36 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:14,680 And he was like, 50%? 37 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:15,680 That's wild. 38 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,160 And I was like, yeah, it's super it. 39 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,120 But it's like, when you think about buying cherries, you're like, oh, maybe it's too 40 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:22,840 expensive or I can't buy so many. 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,760 And it's like, if you have food stamps, you can go buy cherries and get 50% off them. 42 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,440 And I just think that's super cool. 43 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:30,440 That's awesome. 44 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:31,440 It's such a good program. 45 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,160 Big shout out to Maine Farmland Trust who started it and Good Shepherd Food Bank who 46 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,720 took it over and is partnering with them. 47 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,000 It helps so many of our community members. 48 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,640 And we're really happy to be able to participate in that. 49 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:44,640 Come into the store and check it out. 50 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:45,640 Yeah. 51 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:46,800 Okay, cooperative principles. 52 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,480 So just to give you a quick reminder, we're on cooperative principle four. 53 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,000 Cooperative principle one is open and voluntary membership. 54 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,460 Number two is democratic member control. 55 00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:02,800 Number three is member economic participation. 56 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:05,760 And number four, autonomy and independence. 57 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:11,160 The International Cooperative Alliance defines autonomy and independence. 58 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,440 Cooperatives are autonomous self-help organizations controlled by their members. 59 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:20,160 If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments or raise 60 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:25,120 capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by 61 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,400 their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy. 62 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:29,680 So what does that mean? 63 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:36,600 When I think about it, I think about how sometimes co-ops look the same or feel the same or smell 64 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:42,680 the same, but that for the most part, all the food co-ops that you've ever shopped in, 65 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,680 they're all separate organizations. 66 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:46,120 So we all work together. 67 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:52,320 We all align ourselves with these cooperative principles and values, but we're all designed 68 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,800 and governed to serve the communities that we're in. 69 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,240 It's kind of how I was thinking about it before we started to research for this episode. 70 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,920 And now I kind of think about it as the whole reason that you're a cooperative and that 71 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,700 you stay autonomous is so that you're not bought out by a huge corporation. 72 00:04:08,700 --> 00:04:12,920 That is really what I think that that principle was there for, to be like, look, you're not 73 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,920 going to look for this best deal for your shareholders. 74 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,080 You're not going to try to make money at all costs. 75 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,520 You're not going to be a part of the extractive capitalist economy. 76 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:28,840 You are going to be a business that is governed by your community, that serves your community, 77 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:33,280 and that your community in the end is the biggest benefit factor. 78 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:38,280 And that's like pretty radical in this day and age where we have companies, corporations 79 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:46,640 and CEOs who are literally vacuuming money out of our local economies to national, international 80 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:47,640 banks. 81 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,440 That money doesn't come back. 82 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,080 We work really hard for it. 83 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,360 It's taken out of our local economy and we don't get to get it back. 84 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,240 And I think with the co-op, obviously some of our money leaves the county and leaves 85 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,160 the state because we're buying product, you know, we buy apples from New Zealand. 86 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:08,760 There's that exchange, but for the most part because our management and our workers and 87 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,840 our distributors are relatively local, that money is staying in our economy. 88 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:15,600 So that's kind of a little bit more about how I'm thinking about it. 89 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:20,440 Well, and it makes sense too because you have a business that's being started by the people 90 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:26,160 who live near it and they're starting it because they have a certain set of needs that they 91 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:27,920 would like to meet. 92 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:33,240 This principle ensures that it stays in their control, that decisions aren't going to be 93 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:38,960 made, that jeopardize the autonomy of the business, that somebody can't come in and sweep that 94 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,520 up like all those other little grocery stores we've seen throughout the years. 95 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,880 It's so interesting to me that the co-ops that are commonly thought of and commonly 96 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:55,240 founded in our country are food co-ops because when we think about all the things that we 97 00:05:55,240 --> 00:06:02,320 need to survive like as humans, we need shelter, we need water, and we need food. 98 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:08,680 And so many things like public transportation and drinking water and roads and even our 99 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:15,480 first responders, those services are governed by organizations or by the public because 100 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,800 they're so important, but our food isn't. 101 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:24,560 When we know that, when the food is kept away from us or when the food is not healthy, that's 102 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,920 when people really turn to the cooperative model to say, hey, we need a little bit more 103 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:29,920 say here. 104 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,320 This food is really important to us. 105 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,080 We need to figure out how our community can be served. 106 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,000 So it's like when you take care of a water system, you're not taking care of your water 107 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,840 system for the company that's on the other side of the country. 108 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,520 You're taking care of it for the people who are in your community who are drinking it. 109 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,920 And I think that in that way, the board of directors and the management, they're like 110 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:59,000 stewards of the food economy in this community to keep this food that we all need to eat 111 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,760 available and safe. 112 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:06,720 It was really interesting to go down this research rabbit hole. 113 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,600 There's a guy, his name is John Steinman. 114 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,960 He came and did a talk with the co-op, maybe last year or whatever. 115 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:14,860 He wrote a book called Grocery Story. 116 00:07:14,860 --> 00:07:21,880 He drove around the country in this van visiting food co-ops, all of them autonomous and independent. 117 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,200 But notice a lot of similarities. 118 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:28,840 And I think out of those travels, he decided to develop this app that's called Food Co-op 119 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:29,840 Finder. 120 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,040 So that way you can go traveling or whatever and you're like, oh, I need to buy some food. 121 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:37,800 You can go buy your food from a food co-op and support that local organization of where 122 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:39,200 you're traveling to. 123 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:47,000 And he thinks that there are probably 325 individual food co-ops in North America that 124 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:52,840 are established and over 100 that are in more of the startup category. 125 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,160 So basically they have owners, they have a board of directors, but they don't have a 126 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:57,240 story yet. 127 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,640 I just read an excerpt from his book and I got chills. 128 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:06,080 I was super inspired by just reading a little bit about the story of food and about how 129 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:12,640 taking that autonomy back and supporting your local food co-op and your local economy is 130 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,080 kind of groundbreaking. 131 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,200 It seems life-changing for him. 132 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,920 And he talked a lot about who owns your grocery store. 133 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:26,720 So he has a website which we'll put in the description for the program that's grocerystore.coop 134 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:33,480 which is co-op backslash who-owns-your-grocery-store. 135 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:39,280 And you can just go and see your local big box grocery store has a name, but it's owned 136 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,440 by a different company that has a different name. 137 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,000 The chances are super high. 138 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,320 And the chances are even higher that that company's headquarters are out of this country. 139 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:49,600 Definitely. 140 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,600 And so it's like people who are not living in this country, they don't have any skin 141 00:08:53,600 --> 00:09:00,720 in the game for making sure that we all have consistent, fresh, healthy food. 142 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:02,640 You all should read this article. 143 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,280 It is totally inspiring. 144 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,640 We'll put the rest, we'll put the article in there too. 145 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:08,640 Absolutely. 146 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:13,920 It's like really disempowering to me to think about those big corporations owning food that 147 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,440 like I need for myself and my loved ones to survive. 148 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:24,440 And so maybe part of why the co-op is so inspiring and motivating to some people and why they 149 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:29,880 like choose it as I say as a lifestyle, like the co-op isn't just a job, it's your lifestyle, 150 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:36,480 is because there's empowerment there and there's like accountability to feeding your 151 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:41,280 community to supporting the producers and the farmers and like getting to know your 152 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,160 distributor truck driver who like they're superheroes. 153 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,480 The stuff that they can do with huge trucks is amazing to me. 154 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:49,600 Boggles the mind. 155 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,880 Every time they get into our parking lot we are astounded and we say, that's a job I 156 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:54,880 could never do. 157 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:56,360 I hope they get paid a lot of money. 158 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:58,080 And it makes me want to like clap for them. 159 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,400 And I'm like, I know this is just their job. 160 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:01,400 They do it second nature. 161 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:02,400 It means a lot to us though. 162 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:03,400 It does. 163 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:04,640 It's super cool. 164 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:05,640 Yes. 165 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:11,960 It's also fun being autonomous and independent means that we can go out and meet our local 166 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,400 farmers and our local producers. 167 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:21,200 We don't have to go through any specified distributor, although we do obviously have agreements 168 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,320 with specific distributors. 169 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:29,880 But if you are shopping at the co-op, you are bound to run into somebody who is delivering 170 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,760 some sort of produce. 171 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,200 Those people, they live in our community. 172 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,440 They are bringing the food that they grow directly to our store. 173 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,000 Because of being a cooperative, we are able to do that. 174 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,560 And we then develop those relationships. 175 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,800 And there's so much more than just the transaction of like, we buy your produce. 176 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:57,920 It turns into help us design our flower boxes or you know, something happened to your land. 177 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,240 We're going to raise money for you. 178 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:05,760 We're going to help support cleaning up PFAS or when people have had their barns burned 179 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,520 down or something bad happened to their animals. 180 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:14,120 We know that the way that we're eating is because these people are producing food for 181 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,240 us so we're going to help them. 182 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,680 It's a relationship. 183 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:23,960 So the other part about being autonomous and independent that I just wanted to highlight 184 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:29,640 is the fact that our board of directors has a role in keeping us autonomous and independent. 185 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:34,160 One of the ways that we have made that possible is by using policy governance. 186 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,280 And I know that we've talked about policy governance in the past, but we're just so 187 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,080 pleased to have it that we want to talk about it all the time. 188 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:47,880 Because our board of directors is not necessarily trained to run a grocery store, what they 189 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,760 do is they hire a general manager or a general management team. 190 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,720 In this case, we just have the one general manager at the moment. 191 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,200 Shout out to Doug Johnson, who's awesome. 192 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,320 Oh my gosh, so right. 193 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,680 So our management team runs the store, but they are held to the policies that the board 194 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:06,200 sets. 195 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:11,960 So the board is not actually running the store per se, but they make sure that the management 196 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,440 team is doing what they're supposed to be doing. 197 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:20,040 And that allows us to stay autonomous and independent and fiscally sound. 198 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,320 After I tell somebody, oh, congratulations, you're an owner or whatever. 199 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,800 Now you have rights and responsibilities. 200 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,480 It sounds kind of, you're like, oh, wait, what did I sign up for? 201 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,240 And it's like, no, it's cool. 202 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,120 But a huge responsibility is voting for the board of directors because those are the people 203 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:38,760 who are setting those policies that are guiding the general manager. 204 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:45,000 And also the board of directors, they're like the people that look into the future and say, 205 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,480 why do we exist? 206 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,120 What's this for? 207 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:49,840 And they answer that question. 208 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:57,000 And they recalibrate our cooperative compass to walk in the direction that we think that 209 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:01,360 the organization should be headed towards community, which is towards connection, which 210 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:06,680 is towards sustainability, both of the environment and also of the business. 211 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:12,000 So that is such an so crucial for the owners to vote for those people. 212 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,160 Sometimes elections are so big that you feel like your vote doesn't count. 213 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:20,080 Those elections are small enough and have a super big impact. 214 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:25,920 The fact that the co-op has been an anchor of downtown since 1976, I guess maybe it wasn't 215 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,880 an anchor then, but it certainly was a draw to town. 216 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,720 I think that that has formed what Belfast as a city is today. 217 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:38,800 And that means that our decisions that we make at the board level do have an impact 218 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:39,800 on our whole community. 219 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:44,400 Hey, I'm going to make a really big transition for a second. 220 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:45,400 Okey dokey. 221 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:51,640 Just say that the board is starting to look for candidates to run, even though the elections 222 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,040 in March, they will be looking for candidates now. 223 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:59,720 So if all of this sounds exciting to you, you should reach out to the board. 224 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,000 It's the board at Belfast.coop. 225 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,600 Check out the board page on our website. 226 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,960 It's a really great opportunity, and you could be the future. 227 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:09,800 I was on the board for six years. 228 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,600 They were like six very transformative years. 229 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,160 I was a young person who kind of came on with a lot of energy thinking I knew what I knew 230 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:22,680 and realizing I didn't and being willing to like push myself and learn new things and 231 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:27,000 get educated and understand like what governance was and why we were there. 232 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,720 I was like, oh, I'm not here to be Alessandra on this board. 233 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,120 I'm not here to make Alessandra's choices. 234 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:39,320 I'm here to think about the co-op as a whole and to think about the co-op as this child 235 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:44,520 that I'm raising but also my elder who has wisdom all wrapped up into like what's going 236 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,040 to be the best for the business, what's going to be the best for the community and make 237 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:53,160 decisions based on that mode of thinking, which was really expansive, really challenging 238 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:55,520 at times, but also really exciting. 239 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:56,520 Yeah. 240 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,320 You get to hang out with cool people. 241 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,320 You get to hang out with Emily. 242 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,200 It's really just the best. 243 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:05,680 Thanks for taking that road trip with us. 244 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,000 We know how much we love to talk about the board. 245 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,120 Is there anything else we wanted to talk about, principle for autonomy and independence? 246 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:17,400 Obviously, there's so much more to all of these principles than that. 247 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:23,400 I urge you, if you're interested, to go take a journey into the International Cooperative 248 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:28,680 Alliance website, understand why these principles were made, why they're important, and what 249 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,320 other co-ops do to kind of uphold these things and their day-to-day operations. 250 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,680 So if you have any questions, please reach out and ask us. 251 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,120 We would love to hear what you're thinking. 252 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,520 There's a few other things we wanted to talk about today. 253 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:48,280 The next thing is there's been a lot of chatter out there about the renovation and the fact 254 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,040 that we did not get a bid on our general contractor. 255 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,120 There's a story behind that, and Alessandro said she was willing to share that. 256 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:56,120 Yeah. 257 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,480 So I was at the register the other day and somebody was like, oh, I have a construction 258 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,200 friend and they told me you didn't take a bid on the project. 259 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:02,280 Is that true? 260 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:07,320 And I was like, oh, okay, I have a minute to talk to you about this because when we 261 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:12,560 started out discovering what the depth and breadth of this project could be seven years 262 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:18,680 ago, we were not looking for this get-rich-quick scheme. 263 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:20,040 We needed partners. 264 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,400 We needed people who were going to be committed to this, and we needed people who were going 265 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:29,480 to be willing to ask the hard questions and go deep for us and find answers because it 266 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:31,080 was unconventional. 267 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:35,000 But also for the people that we found to work with us, it was going to be an opportunity 268 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:40,680 because our architects, Woodhull, they had designed a couple of retail spaces, mostly 269 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:42,120 in southern Maine. 270 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:47,360 They are excited to design retail spaces for other places in Maine, and we were really 271 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:52,080 dependable partners to work with, really excited partners to work with, and so that was a really 272 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:54,200 beneficial project for them. 273 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:59,320 And so if we found people that we felt really secure in working with, we weren't going to 274 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:00,320 find the cheapest person. 275 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,360 We needed to find the dependable person and still have it be reasonable. 276 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,000 We're not going to run our bank accounts dry. 277 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,520 Building trust in a huge project like this was super important. 278 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,640 So same thing with the general contractor. 279 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:17,640 We have had hours and hours and hours of discussions with them to find out what's possible, to 280 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,080 be like, hey, we're not professional builders. 281 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:21,360 You are professional builders. 282 00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:23,400 Please tell us what's going to happen. 283 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,740 Tell us how we're going to keep selling groceries while we go through this renovation project. 284 00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:32,440 We also looked to other co-ops in the area and we said, hey, Portland food co-op, who 285 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,280 did you work with when you needed to redesign and retrofit this store? 286 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,440 Warrant construction came super highly recommended. 287 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,160 We started to build again that relationship and that trust, and we weren't about to break 288 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,040 that, especially because they were so reasonable. 289 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:47,480 They were so supportive. 290 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:53,920 So now as we've gotten into the actual building project, they do bid out all those projects. 291 00:17:53,920 --> 00:18:00,040 We do find local contractor who is available and who has the best price. 292 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,320 Like that is absolutely what we are doing. 293 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:07,600 We're working with local people who are our neighbors, who live streets over or who are 294 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,640 traveling from a little bit outside of Augusta. 295 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:15,440 We are finding trustworthy people to do the best work for the best price. 296 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:22,600 We're absolutely bidding out concrete, electrical, plumbing, all of those subcontracting jobs. 297 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,320 We also have a position known as an owner representative. 298 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:27,600 Can you tell us about that? 299 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:28,800 Yeah, sure. 300 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:34,480 We have a couple local guys who are there to make sure, so they're owners of the co-op, 301 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,920 and they're there to make sure that everything is going well. 302 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:45,200 And they're there to make sure that people stay informed and that Doug can keep running 303 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,960 the store, the general manager can keep running the store, and also know everything that's 304 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,040 happening on the job site. 305 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:56,640 They're there to reach out to local people because they've been working in construction 306 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,880 in this area for a long time. 307 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,040 So they know the people who are available. 308 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:02,440 They know the connections. 309 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:08,040 They know who's going to show up beyond time and follow through on the work that they do, 310 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:09,600 which is really what we need. 311 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,240 We need to have a store that looks great. 312 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:14,240 Sure. 313 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,200 But that's also like, we need a store that works. 314 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:18,200 Absolutely. 315 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,160 So where are we on the renovation at the moment? 316 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,000 The renovation at the moment is going well. 317 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,160 Our excavators have gone, which is really sad because I really liked them. 318 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,720 Pendleton Street is open again, though, and that's pretty nice. 319 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:30,720 It is nice. 320 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:35,000 The flow of the parking lot is going to be sort of here and there. 321 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:39,200 Let's be honest, it was like never great, and we're doing the work that we can to make 322 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:40,200 it better. 323 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,720 There's a lot of work being done in the basement. 324 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:49,800 We are framing out and building walls for a meat preparation area, so it'll be a refrigerated 325 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:53,680 prep area so that we can get large cuts of meat and cut them up. 326 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:55,000 That's going to save us money. 327 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,600 We're also having a refrigerated prepared foods preparation area. 328 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:04,320 So again, if you can be in a refrigerated space preparing food, that food's going to 329 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:05,480 have a longer shelf life. 330 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:10,080 It's going to be safer to eat, so that is also being built downstairs. 331 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,600 We had some moisture issues with one of our coolers. 332 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:19,120 Thankfully, the guy who's the superintendent on our job site is really resourceful and 333 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:22,040 makes changes, and things happen really quickly. 334 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:28,960 They were able to clean the underside of one of our walk-ins and insulate it and build 335 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:34,280 a false floor while the glue dries and really work with our team so that we can sell a product 336 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:38,880 on the shelves, be improving the store so that in the years to come, we don't have moisture 337 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:40,480 issues. 338 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:45,640 Some of you may have noticed that we had a large tree on the southern corner of our 339 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:47,920 building near the parking lot. 340 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,160 It was lovingly planted by Mike Hurley back in the day. 341 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:57,360 Unfortunately, we had an arborist come by and test it, and there was enough rot in it to 342 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:03,600 make it potentially dangerous, especially because our plans are to have a cafe seating 343 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,040 area underneath those branches. 344 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,080 Unfortunately, that tree did have to come down. 345 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:16,800 We have donated the wood to the Waldo County woodshed, which provides heating assistance 346 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,960 to those in need in Waldo County. 347 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,440 There actually are common sense recipients in the month of September. 348 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:30,680 So, as you round up your sense at the register, it'll go to keep people's homes warm. 349 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,320 So thank you for that. 350 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,760 Any trees that we do take down, we will be planting a replacement. 351 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:41,440 Probably not in the exact same place, but we will be replacing those trees that come 352 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:43,480 down because we care. 353 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:49,040 Yeah, in the accepted civil plans that we had to submit to the city. 354 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,920 On those plans, you have to have all the plantings in there. 355 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:57,400 So they're already anticipating replanting trees in and around the store, and we do hope 356 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:04,840 to work with our fellow co-op Fedco in planting native plants, plants for pollinators, and 357 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,040 also edible plants. 358 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,800 In other new and exciting news, September is our ownership month. 359 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:16,800 The last two years, we have done ownership drives, and they've been really successful, 360 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,360 and we've been very happy to do those. 361 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:24,360 This year, we are going to shift our focus, keeping it on ownership, but we're going 362 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:29,760 to talk about equity, and we're going to talk about how much equity you have, how much equity 363 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:36,400 you owe, why it would be good to invest in the co-op, and we'll be having outreach, tabling 364 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,160 sessions weekly throughout the month of September. 365 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:41,920 So come talk to us. 366 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,720 We love talking to co-op members and even just people of the community. 367 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:48,280 We are chatty. 368 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:53,600 The other really fun thing that's happening in September is our birthday. 369 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,440 It's the anniversary of the day that the stores doors opened. 370 00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,240 It's September 17th. 371 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:06,040 Every year, we stand outside, or I guess pre-pandemic, we were inside, and we give out birthday cake. 372 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:12,440 This year, we'll be trying to provide apple cake because apples in September and our logo 373 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,080 and also because they're delicious. 374 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,040 So come grab a piece on September 17th. 375 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:22,160 The other things that are going to be happening this month, we've got a board meeting on September 376 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,520 27th. 377 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,160 That is the fourth Wednesday of the month. 378 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:26,400 Those start at 6 p.m. 379 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,440 You can join via Zoom or you can come in person. 380 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,880 Those are happening in the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library. 381 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,560 You always welcome owners and there is a public comment section where you can make your voice 382 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:39,560 heard. 383 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:44,760 Then one last thing, we will do a quarterly inventory on the last day of September. 384 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:45,760 Mark your calendars. 385 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:50,840 September 30th, the store will be closing early at 5 p.m. so that we can complete our 386 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:52,520 quarterly inventory. 387 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:53,520 Any last thoughts? 388 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:58,720 Yep, but I don't remember them anymore. 389 00:23:58,720 --> 00:23:59,720 Common ground fair. 390 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:00,720 Oh, nice. 391 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:02,840 I forgot about that, but that's a big one. 392 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:03,840 Go out. 393 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:04,840 Common ground fair. 394 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:10,600 Also, if you shop on Fridays, we're going to have fair shirt Fridays again this year. 395 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:15,080 So every Friday, if you have your common ground fair shirt and you're a worker or you're a 396 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:19,720 shopper, you can come and hang out and be cool. 397 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:25,800 What I was going to say during my awkwardly long pause is if you would like to know about 398 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:33,480 all of these things and more, you can go to our website, Belfast.coop and scroll down 399 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:34,480 to the bottom. 400 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,160 There's a really handy place where you can sign up for the e-newsletter. 401 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:43,040 Every two weeks, you hear from us about what's on sale, what's the coolest thing that's happening 402 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:47,560 in the store right now, who the common sense recipients are, our whole calendar of events. 403 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:49,520 We want to hear from you. 404 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,880 This is a really great way for you to hear from us. 405 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:58,280 I did want to remind people that our wonderful general manager, Doug Johnson, makes a short 406 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:03,600 video every week about our renovation and is up on the Belfast Community Co-op YouTube 407 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:04,600 page. 408 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,040 So go ahead and check that out. 409 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,680 They're very short and informative and pretty fun. 410 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,360 We'll link that too in the description. 411 00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:14,200 We'll just have a whole slew of links. 412 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,000 I'll just link the e-news sign up in there. 413 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,600 And the grocery store and then... 414 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:21,600 Yeah, resources. 415 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:22,600 That's a better way to put it. 416 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:23,600 Yeah. 417 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:24,600 Okay, guys. 418 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,200 If you have any questions, always reach out to us. 419 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:28,840 We love hearing from you. 420 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:34,600 Again, shout out to Vic, who runs the Belfast Community Radio and edits our program for 421 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:35,600 us. 422 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,160 We couldn't do this without you, Vic. 423 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:38,160 Thank you so much. 424 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:39,160 We literally could not. 425 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:40,160 Ever. 426 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:41,160 Yay. 427 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:42,160 Thank you. 428 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:43,160 Thank you. 429 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:44,680 Bye, Cooperation Nation. 430 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:54,480 You have been listening to episode number five of Smooth Co-operators, hosted by Alessandra 431 00:25:54,480 --> 00:26:00,960 Martinelli and Emily Berry, produced at the Facilities of Belfast Community Radio.