"I can smell autumn dancing in the breeze. The sweet chill of pumpkin, and crisp sunburnt leaves.
~Ann Drake
Hiring Opportunities
Arena Market and Cafe is expanding its leadership team. Please spread the word and help us recruit people who can continue our decade of service to the community.
Our current General Manager, Natalie Cortese, has requested a reduction in workload for personal reasons, but we hope to retain her expertise and passion for the co-op on a part-time basis. The Board of Directors sees this as an opportunity to bring in additional talent and implement a team management approach for the store. We feel this will not only create more resiliency and resources in management, it will also be more in harmony with the business structure of a co-op.
We are hiring one or more people to collaboratively manage our natural food market and cafe, approximately 20 staff members, cafe/deli food production, the store and facility, and finances. Experience in food retail and working with related technology is strongly desired. Passion for serving our community with natural food is required. More information is available at at www.arenamarketandcafe.org, including the job description, qualifications, and objectives for the leadership team.
We are also hiring a kitchen person to prepare and expand our offerings of prepared foods, soups, salads organic salad bar, sandwiches, pizza, breakfast sandwiches, baked goods, and more. 707-882-3663
What Happens to My Suggestions?
The co-op gets suggestions all the time. Most come by talking with staff, especially our GM, Natalie. Some come from emails or notes in our suggestion box. Sometimes we get fairly complete proposals.
What happens to them all?
Why are some suggestions declined?
Adding new products is often easy, but not always
Adding a new product from an existing supplier is easy — we just call or add it to the order form. However, sometimes a product requested by one person isn’t appealing to enough other customers. Several new suggested products have ended up in the compost. So far we haven’t found a better way to know ahead of time if a product will sell before it expires! However, customers can usually make a special order to get these items even if they’re not popular enough to stock on the shelves.
Adding a new product from a new supplier is more complicated and often presents delivery challenges to our remote location on the coast. If it’s a local supplier, they may have difficulty offering the co-op wholesale pricing or being able to fill our order quantities. Getting to a deal that works for everyone may be difficult and time-consuming for what seems like a simple suggestion.
Process changes can be difficult, but are sometimes worth it
Adding a new service or prepared food item requires the staff to modify their workflow. That can be easy when it’s something like a variant of a special coffee or a different panini sandwich. But when it requires new training or hiring additional staff, then that takes away time from their other duties and we need to calculate whether the additional sales will cover the cost for the extra training. Will we make enough to justify adding something new? Will the staff be able to add the additional task without compromising their current work schedule? Often times, it takes a bit of effort to get to Yes, but we appreciate the opportunity to grow and serve the community interests.
Equipment changes often require special funding
Adding new equipment for a product or service may also be a challenge. Occasionally, a co-op member offers to fund the purchase, which is how we upgraded our espresso machine and replaced our stove/oven. Deciding to add a pizza warmer was easy because we knew demand was high and we expected it to pay for itself quickly. It may be hard to figure out where to put new offerings that fit into the flow of our modest-sized store!
Keep helping us with your suggestions
The co-op wants to serve the community better even when implementing new ideas may be difficult. Suggestions have helped us expand our food options, such as gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and non-GMO offerings. So please keep your ideas coming, and give us the chance to work things out. And if you want to know why a suggestion wasn’t implemented, please ask! It’s important for co-op members and shoppers to understand the complexity and challenges of running the store.
Cheers
RIck, Treasurer
Coastal Organics Cooperative, Inc.
dba Arena Market and Cafe
New Products
Living Intentions Popcorn ~ 4 OZ. $4.99
Bobs Red Mill high protein pancake mix ~ 14 OZ. $8.49
Nairn’s Oat grahams & crackers ~ $4.49-$5.09
Emmy’s raw lemon ginger macaroons ~ 6 OZ $7.49
Iwon caramelized onion protein puffs ~ 5 OZ. $4.99
Sale Items
Real Foods sesame rice thins ~ 5.3 OZ. $2.49 (.90 off)
Bulk Organic White Quinoa ~ $2.89/LB. ($1.70 off)
Local Hive honey ~ 16 OZ $8.98 ($1.00 off)
Sesmark savory thins terriyaki ~ 3.2 OZ $2.89 ($1.00 off)
