October 30, 2024
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumns.”
-George Eliot
I wish Autumn could last forever. The quality of light in the late afternoon gives everything a soft glow and the colors in Midcoast Maine are beyond compare. The air is crisp, perfect for a morning run in the woods or an afternoon stroll along the water. I am not too cool to admit that I am a sucker for pumpkin spice anything, and seeing those seasonal products show up on our grocery shelves does make me smile. Autumn in Maine makes me grateful for my friends and family, for those cozy moments we spend together preparing ourselves for the winter ahead.
We began our new fiscal year on October 1. Thus far, we have exceeded our sales predictions by around 12% and storewide sales are up 24% over last year, which is fantastic growth moving into the holiday season. We are still buttoning up the final details of the renovation project, but all of our sales departments are up and running and settling into their new homes. It is so great to see people enjoying the expanded cafe and taking advantage of the delicious offerings from our Prepared Foods team. Sales in that department are up 96% over the same period last year! I love seeing happy customers in the bulk aisle and it is great to once again offer customers an easy way to reduce their consumption of packaged products while not compromising on variety or quality. I love walking through our worker areas knowing they finally have the safe and efficient facility they deserve. Overall, it feels so good to be back in the business of putting food on the table after more than a year of construction.
I sometimes overhear casual comments or read exchanges online comparing our Co-op to other grocers and I thought this would be an opportunity to share some insights from our most recent annual Ends report:
“Currently our best option for supplying our customers with an affordable option in most of our grocery categories is through either the Field Day or Wild Harvest brands.
We currently have 299 individual Field Day or Wild Harvest products in our inventory. We were able to compare 254 these products with their analog at our greatest local competitor, Hannaford. On many items we are comparing either brand to the Hannaford private natural and organic label Nature’s Promise. When that comparison was not available, we sought out the most comparable product. Of the 254 products, 124 of the Co-op products had a lower retail price than their Hannaford equivalents. On 111 items, Hannaford had the lower price. 19 items had essentially the same price. On average, Co-op products were $1.47 less than the Hannaford brand when they were cheaper and $0.86 more than the Hannaford brands when they were more expensive. “ – October GM report to the Board
As we approach the Holiday season, the importance of affordable options becomes even more significant. This November, we’re excited to share a special opportunity for Belfast Community Co-op shoppers. We know this time of year brings families and friends together around shared meals, celebrating the joy of good food and cherished moments. While we celebrate, we also recognize the complexities of our history, particularly regarding the impact of Thanksgiving on Indigenous communities. In honor of this, National Co-op Grocers is partnering with NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems) to make a positive impact. For every Field Day product sold this month, we will donate $0.05 to support NĀTIFS, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to revitalizing Native foodways across the nation. Together, let’s embrace the spirit of community and support one another while honoring the rich traditions and histories that shape our shared experiences. For more on NĀTIFS, go to natifs.org/
November 5 is election day and your Belfast Community Co-op will be opening late at 11 AM to allow all of our workers to make their voices heard. Co-ops were founded on the belief that every voice matters and as a democratically governed association, we take the privilege and duty of democratic participation seriously. I encourage everyone to get out and vote on Election Day!
On November 25-30 at the Global Cooperative Conference in New Delhi, India the International Cooperative Alliance will officially be kicking off the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. The UN General Assembly designated 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives (#IYC2025) and co-ops far and wide will be celebrating the role that co-ops play in building prosperity for all. Your participation in the Belfast Community Co-op helps raise awareness of the importance of the cooperative business model and I encourage anyone who is curious to check out ica.coop/en/international-cooperative-alliance to learn more about our global impact.
Enjoy the Fall! It is a fleeting pause for reflection nestled between the whirlwind of summer and the bustling festivities of the holiday season. Celebrate the unique role that our co-op plays in both our local and global economies. Enjoy a local apple or a cup of fair trade, cooperatively owned coffee from your Belfast Community Co-op while you are raking leaves or heading out to the pumpkin patch. Owned by you. Food for all.
– Doug Johnson, Co-op GM
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August 1, 2024
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
-John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
Summer is a dream! When the sun is shining, the water is warm, and the local produce is abundant and ripening in the fields, it’s hard not to love life in midcoast Maine. Walking through the aisles of the newly renovated Belfast Community Co-op also feels like walking through a dream. All of the heartache and struggles that have accompanied this project fade away when I see the smiling faces of our friends and neighbors filling their baskets with delicious food. As I write this, the project is not 100% complete, but I could not be happier with what we have built and we could not have done it without the support and patronage of our co-op community.
Sales are rebounding well post-renovation, and even without the kitchen being complete we are seeing the return to normal shopping patterns that were lost during the long construction project. We are still rebuilding some of our infrastructure, especially in terms of receiving and storing products before they make their way to the sales floor. Construction has returned to the Co-op basement where our receiving area, as well as our worker spaces and operations office, are housed. In the next few weeks, we will be wrapping up those spaces and moving fully into our new home. After so much upheaval for so long, it will feel good to settle in!
In late May members of the BCC management team and the officers of the Board of Directors embarked on a journey to Portland, Maine to attend the Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) annual national conference for managers of food cooperatives, members of co-op Boards, co-op workers, and cooperative allies. Organized by the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, the CCMA conference was the perfect platform for our management team to present “Who Are We Anyway”, a discussion focused on how the Belfast Community Co-op upholds its vision while strategically reaching out to ensure that everyone feels welcome in our store. This discussion highlighted the importance of co-ops expanding beyond a sole focus on food and excelling in other areas such as worker treatment, community concern, and the cooperative business model’s ability to contribute to economic prosperity in our communities. A major feature was a discussion about how we onboarded Maine WIC to our store as the first food co-op in Maine and how we are helping others to do the same. In addition to presenting, we all had an opportunity to learn from other cooperators and gain greater insight into the broader community we serve.
On June 21 we officially welcomed everyone back to the store in a grand fashion! The celebration lasted most of the day and it was so great to see so many friends of the Belfast Community Co-op come out in a show of support. We heard so many positive and uplifting reactions from our community that day and it was so encouraging to have workers past and present, Belfast Community Co-op owners, representatives from our General Contractor, our architects, and our owner’s representatives, board members, city officials and folks from the Chamber of Commerce, and tons of happy Co-op shoppers there to help us celebrate. Thank you to everyone who came out to party with us!
Soak up every summer moment! From hiking and swimming to cookouts and baseball games, get out there and experience everything that our beautiful corner of the world has to offer. While you are at it, stop into the Belfast Community Co-op and pick up all of your summer essentials. Owned by you. Food for all.
See you in the aisles!
-Doug
November 24, 2023
“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.”
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
Grab the scarves and flannels! As the temperature dropped practically overnight in our coastal town, the focus of our ongoing renovation project shifted to keeping workers and shoppers warm and comfortable. We removed our ancient furnace at the height of summer and now as the days grow colder we are scrambling to find supplemental heat until the new furnace can come online. We installed two commercial electric heaters on the sales floor and have propane heat for the basement. My hope is that those solutions will be sufficient to keep us comfortable until the snow starts to fly.
Construction work is coming together in some very concrete ways, as evidenced by the recent pouring of the patio off our new cafe. Inside, walls are going up in our new kitchen and in the new Shop for Me addition. We are finalizing the schedule for all the work that needs to be done on the sales floor and plan to start this phase after the holidays.
We recently finished our fiscal year and had strong sales growth, but we weren’t profitable which was anticipated and budgeted for. Although this stings a little bit, we’re proud of our decision to increase our starting wage to $15.75, bringing our average wage for workers to $19.24 and the median wage to $18.74. This adjustment brings over 90% of workers to a livable wage for Waldo County as determined by the MIT Livable Wage calculator. I am so proud of the work the BCC leadership, both management and the Board of Directors, have done over the last few years to make the Co-op a workplace where workers are able to meet their needs and care for their families in a safe and respectful environment.
We plan to operate business as usual during the winter holidays, so please come in and take advantage of all of the savings your Co-op has to offer, or shop online utilizing our free Shop for Me curbside program. Thank you all for your continued support of the Co-op. We are so happy you are here. Stay connected to your Co-op and track our progress by following us on our renovation page: belfast.coop/news/renovation
See you in the aisles!
-Doug
August 10th, 2023
“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” – Charles Bowden
Summer is an amazing time to be in Belfast. The bay is warm enough for nightly after-work dips to wash off the day. Pick your own berries are in abundance. The sounds of live music permeate the downtown on Thursday nights. The smell of backyard barbecues when you go for an evening stroll. I wake up every day thankful to be here at this moment in time and experiencing all that our community has to offer.
As I write this we are heading into our twelfth week of construction. Since the groundbreaking, I have been filming regular weekly updates on the project and updating owners as best I am able during such a dynamic time and I hope you all feel as though you have been brought along for the ride. Much progress has been made in the basement, preparing the space for new refrigeration, electrical, and water service. We have begun building the new prep area for the Meat department and storage rooms for Prepared Foods and Grocery. Outside the foundations have been poured for our new cafe, our new Shop for Me area, and the vertical lift. We have installed a new underground propane tank and a new underground grease trap. It is amazing to begin to see the project that we have worked on for so long finally start to materialize.
Despite the construction, the store has been astonishingly busy this summer. July was our highest sales month in our 47-year history and customer count has been consistently up 10% over last year. Our Common Cents recipient for July was the Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine (SASSMM) and their total donation was the largest in the program’s history, just shy of $8,000!!! To do all of this in the midst of a construction project that often forced us to close down parts of our parking lot or to receive deliveries through the front door boggles my mind. Thank you all for bearing with us and continuing to stay engaged in the cooperative.
Get out and enjoy the sun and sea cooperators! It won’t be long before the leaves will be falling and we will be reaching for the wool caps and flannels. Stay connected to your Co-op and track our progress by following us on our renovation page:
belfast.coop/news/renovation/
See you in the aisles!
-D
May 16th, 2023
For the past three decades, our Co-op has occupied the same location at 123 High Street in downtown Belfast. On May 15, 2023, we took the first physical steps to ensure that our Co-op will continue to thrive where it is planted for decades to come. There is a bittersweetness to this stage of the construction process, seeing what has been built up over the years now be marked for demolition. I have found myself wandering in the now empty basement of our beloved old building, which will be demolished and rebuilt in the first phase of construction, imagining what it will be while also being slightly wistful for all the days I have spent in that basement since I came to the Co-op twelve years ago. When I became the Marketing Manager my desk was a warped folding table up against the far wall. When I first became a member of the Board of Directors I attended committee meetings in the old conference room, many of which were about renovation and expansion. That same conference room became my office when I stepped down from the Board to become General Manager in 2015. I wouldn’t say I have a lot of fond memories of the space, but I have many memories.
I would like to take this opportunity as we prepare to dive head first into the project to thank the over 230 Belfast Community Co-op owners that contributed to the Capital Campaign to fund our renovation. Together you raised over $1.5M in loans and donations and your contributions will allow us to fund this project without sacrificing the long-term fiscal health of the association. Being able to raise capital from our owners is one of the key differences between our co-op and other businesses and the enthusiasm and love for the Co-op that we heard from owners throughout the campaign was overwhelming and humbling.
I also want to thank our partners on this project: Warren Construction Group, our General Contractor, Woodhull Architects and Builders, and the development team at National Co-op Grocers. Thank you also to our financial partners Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Coastal Enterprises, and the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund. Together you are building the future of the Belfast Community Co-op and we will forever be grateful for your contributions.
Thank you to our city representatives for the support that you have shown throughout the development of this project. Your dedication to maintaining a vibrant and thriving downtown is reflected in the continued success of our cooperative and I look forward to the future, working together to build a stronger local economy.
Co-ops are built by the communities they serve. This Co-op has been held together over the past 47 years by hardworking and dedicated individuals that believed that the work they were doing on behalf of the Co-op mattered. Volunteers and workers, friends and neighbors, all working together towards the common goal of offering this community a radical economic alternative, a more just way of meeting their needs. As we prepare for this next stage in the life of the Belfast Community Co-op, we recognize that we are standing on the shoulders of giants, larger-than-life individuals whose contributions have allowed us to be where we are. Thank you to everyone who helped steward this organization through its often tumultuous history.
Here’s to the future of the Belfast Community Co-op. Owned by you. Food for all.
Doug Johnson, General Manager
March 17th, 2023
“It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done.”
-Matthew Arnold
The days are growing longer. Where the snow has been pushed aside we see the first signs of life returning, to our quiet coastal town, waking up from what felt like a long, dark winter. The snow came late, but it came with a vengeance, making it hard for us to keep the doors open and the lights on during the worst of it. However difficult the hardships, your community-owned Co-op made it through, and now the air smells of spring and renewal.
BCC sales for the first half of the fiscal year have been steady, up 3% from last year. We had a busy holiday season with sales in the week leading up to Thanksgiving up 7.5% over the previous year, and even without being able to offer Tide Mill local organic turkeys this year we still sold over 2100 lbs. of local turkey. Our Prepared Foods department had an epic Thanksgiving selling 123 Co-op Made pies that week, a 66% increase over the previous year! We had our single highest sales day ever ($62,367) and our highest sales week ever ($273,611) during the week leading up to Christmas. We sold 161 MOFGA-certified Christmas trees from Skyscraper Hill Farm in Brooks, ME, and another 64 Co-op Made pies during the Christmas holiday.
We closed on our renovation loan through the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast (in collaboration with Coastal Enterprises Inc. and the Local Enterprises Assistance Fund) at the end of January. We will be utilizing the funds from the loan as well as those from our Owner Capital Campaign to renovate and expand our store beginning in May. We are close to the end of our Owner Capital Campaign and all indicators point towards the campaign being a success. With those funds we will be increasing our retail square footage by 33%, increasing both our dry and refrigerated grocery department by 100 linear feet and nearly doubling our Bulk offerings. The renovation will allow us to bring back our co-op cafe while still allowing us to operate the Shop for Me program in a new, more efficient space. We will be replacing and making necessary (and long overdue) upgrades to our infrastructure, including electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, as well as a monumental upgrade to worker safety and operational efficiency by including in the project the addition of a vertical lift. Thank you to all of the owners who have agreed to loan to the Co-op to fund this project. I am in awe of your generosity and your overwhelming support. If you have questions or would like to get involved, please contact me at doug@belfast.coop
This past February we hosted our first hybridized in-person/virtual Annual Meeting. The in-person meeting was held at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast with around 30 owners in attendance and another 21 attending virtually. At the meeting we discussed the successes and challenges of the past year, the status of our Renovation Project and Capital Campaign, introduced our candidates for the Board of Directors election, and opened the floor for questions and answers. Huge thank you to our fantastic Prepared Foods team for providing food and refreshments for the meeting. We released our Annual Report for 2022 as well, you can find a copy in-store or on our website. To read more about the meeting and to watch the video recording go to belfast.coop/annual-meeting-2023.
At the Annual Meeting, we announced the patronage dividend distribution for the 2022 fiscal year. Our Co-op made $211,828 in pre-tax net income at the end of the fiscal year. Roughly 66.7% of sales were to owners, meaning that $137,900 is eligible for distribution. Of that, 20% or $27,580 will be payable back to owners based on their purchases in the 2022 FY. Similar to last year, once distributed each owner will be given options at the register of how to utilize their 2021-2022 dividend, including using it toward purchases at the Co-op, paying towards their equity balance, receiving cash or check payout, or donating it towards the Equity Assistance Fund which helps sponsor owner equity for those in need. After the deadline for claiming your dividend has passed, any full or partially unclaimed distributed dividends will be donated to But Still I Am One.
Also at the Annual Meeting, we announced that the Belfast Community Co-op is now the first co-op in the state of Maine that is able to offer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program, better known as WIC. WIC provides complete nutrition care for thousands of Maine families, helping Maine kids to grow up strong and healthy. The WIC program serves more than 16,500 individuals. Pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age five are eligible. Bringing WIC on board has been a labor of love for me and our entire operational team and I am so proud of everyone who helped make it a reality. More information about all of the programs that we currently offer to combat food insecurity in our community can be found belfast.coop/food-access.
Spring in Maine is a gift. It is a reminder of why we have chosen to put down roots in this corner of the world. Get out there and experience everything that our community has to offer. While you are at it, stop into the Co-op and say “hi”. It’s been a long winter but we made it through together. Owned by you. Food for all.
Doug Johnson, General Manager