Date | Wednesday 6 January 2021 |
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Time | 7.00 PM |
Location | via ZOOM Meeting |
Meeting opened at | 7.05 PM |
Meeting closed at | 8.35 PM |
Facilitator (Moderator) | MC Members, Ran de Silva |
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Minute taker | To be recorded by Ran |
Timekeeper | Bruce Diekman, Ran de Silva |
Next meeting date | TBC |
Acknowledgement of Country: Before we begin the meeting, I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners, both past and present, of the land we occupy and upon which we meet — the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. It is also upon their ancestral lands that Alfalfa House is built.
The MINUTES of THIS MEETING are PROVIDED BELOW – they were edited from the recording of the event and questions & comments made on the night.
The recording of the Zoom meeting is available here if you want to revisit the meeting as it happened – the Access Passcode needed is: &M+8?aGy
Attendance (MC):
Attendance (Members):
Apologies:
Hand Raised, Hand Down facility – to speak in turn
Typing in questions for the meeting
(Ran, others)
That the agenda be approved.
Moved:
Seconded:
Carried by consensus
The Members' Council is of the view that, unless there is significant and urgent, active member support to improve Alfalfa House's declining fortunes, there will be no option but to close our shopfront doors in the near future.
This is an extremely regrettable situation, but something we must face head on and together. The best case scenario, may be that the Alfalfa House Co-op entity can still be salvaged, to rise again another day, in another form. (PLEASE note that the Co-operative is separate from our retail business which has been trading at 113 Enmore Road for over 30 years).
The success of our efforts can only depend on your energies, follow-through and support as active members.
PLEASE READ on for background which will further explain our current circumstances, and outline ways YOU CAN HELP!
We welcome your INPUT, THOUGHTS & ACTION tonight!
BACKGROUND - how we got here (from 2 years ago)
WHAT THE CURRENT POSITION IS, and why the Directors have to act the way they do
SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Breadth and capacity of MC, staff & voluntary support
Requirement to identify and build AH v2.0 immediately
Recruiting a replacement Treasurer
We urgently need a Treasurer (i.e. member with financial expertise) to fill this role for at least for the next 2-3 months. Previous Treasurer (Tom) can provide info/logins for the person assuming the role, who will be required to do lodgements (BAS/IAS, Super -quarterly), payment approvals, and MC Board/Member financial reporting.
The following spreadsheets provide a snapshot of our Financial Postion at the end of 2020:
We did extremely well in the first 2-3 months of 2020, when we were able to raise over $20k by means of the compulsory Annual Subscription Fee (ASF).
At this moment, we cannot ethically enforce the ASF again, but an optional $5 fee first quarter in 2021 will be announced asap, together with options for members to pay more if they so wish, i.e. the $20 full annual fee, or higher. We have already had several offers to do this, which won't be knocked back.
Members who paid the 2020 ASF will still be able to claim the 10% discount, at least until January 31, 2021 in line with our standard period of grace. Any extension will be advised.
Members might also be willing to voluntarily sacrifice their present 10% or 20% discount to benefit the Co-op, but this will always be an individual choice.
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...
A meeting happened this morning with our Real Estate agent, who has undertaken to approach our landlord.
Alfalfa House has enjoyed a blemish-free 32 years rental at 113 Enmore Road. In addition, the building we occupy has recognised problems, some of which impair our ability to trade more efficiently.
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...
All ideas are most welcome. However, anyone putting forward an idea has to be willing to act on it, step up, follow-through, and be part of the solution.
Please read the following notes from our preliminary members Zoom meeting on December 30, summarising our current situation & member ideas received & discussed to that date and since.
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...
Stevie Bee
• AH remains a cooperative, but operates as an extended buyers’ club.
• It is member-only; not open to the general public.
• Trading days and hours are determined by the membership and members are rostered to staff the ’shop’.
• All members must volunteer a minimum of 8 hours/month.
• Members volunteering above the 8 hours/month receive a nominated discount (maybe 10%) per shop for each 2 hours worked.
• Markups may be able to kept to around the 40% mark, making shopping very attractive.
• The Co-op is either entirely volunteer-run, or volunteer-run with a paid part-time manager to undertake purchasing and comms to members.
• Bulk-only, limited fridge items.
• Fruit and veg order for single specified day delivery.
• Members must purchase a minimum of $200/month. Must be made up in other months if on holidays for any month.
• The co-op maintains a board of directors.
• The co-op moves to a double garage (hopefully rented from a member). AH would not need a foot-traffic address.
• Subscription fee of $20 pa remains.
Peter Coyle: The key asset we have is the membership list. I don't see a 'bricks & mortar' retail future, but I see an online presence using the membership base to build a warehouse/pick-up model for the future. ANY solution that does not offer an online presence - in my view - is not a long term proposition for AH. There are existing farmer direct online portals (boxdivvy.com.au) that can be utilised to get the infrastructure, and having the sourcing/packaging fully volunteer based will - I think - will revitalise the AH model to a newer generation.
Johanna Somerville: Opening Hours – now that we have reduced hours it will be hard for people to shop after work. For me, I used to come between 5-7 weekdays or on Sundays. I would suggest that it could be better to be open 12-7 rather than 10-5? And closed Monday rather than Sunday? But only you would know which times/days are busiest, so I could be wrong.
Would it be worth reaching out to our extended community to see if anyone knows a retail small business expert, or consultant of some type that could volunteer their time and make recommendations?
This is the toughest one, and no doubt will be met with opposition. BUT, I do find the produce and many of the products at Alfalfa prohibitively expensive. Because of this, I only get a small proportion of my weekly shop at the store, even though I love it and want to support it. I appreciate that it is because our items are largely organic, but what if we were more open to non-organic items? I shop at Alfalfa because produce is local, to support my local community and reduce packaging and food waste. I would certainly be open to non-certified items if the price was considerably reduced. Perhaps others feel the same?
Antonny Ivancic: I wondered if the shortfall in funds could be addressed by a special contribution from members. Perhaps $20 - or whatever might be needed - cover the leave liability? It sounds as though trading revenue is healthy and if members could contribute funds via one-off levy, then could the crisis be averted?
Jim Morris: The suggestion pointing out atmosphere being a big attraction is very important. Shopping at the current premises is a struggle at times, particularly regarding lack of space for shoppers to put bags, crowding at the sink area for washing, weighing, access to utensils and use of work bench for filling jars and storing bags. It requires special commitment. Tills are too close to produce and the front door.
Sarah Baynes: I strongly think that the new shop hours need to be re-assessed. Not being open past 5pm means people who work a standard 9-5 are unable to shop during the week. For me personally, I usually pop in 2-4 times a week, spending $100-200 over the course of the week. I'll now only be able to come in on Saturdays, but still will only be able to buy what I can carry home on that trip, so my weekly dollar spend will be a lot smaller. I'm not sure how things are looking volunteer-wise for the closing shift, but as someone who did the closing shift for about 2 years, it may also be harder to get volunteers for that shift since it now starts earlier.
Sarah Mares
1. Our wish is for Alfalfa to continue in some form as we would have considerable difficulty sourcing items we regularly buy at Alfalfa (gluten free, non-dairy, no plastic).
2. We do not have an interest in veggie boxes and shop in person. Shopping online is not of value to us as we shop on the day Mel volunteers.
3. Bulk ordering is again something that has little value to us. It would be good if there were items we could bulk order but the quatities would need to be considerably smaller (eg potatoes < 5Kg as they do not keep well at our place).
4. We do not have a car. Therefore the shop (or whatever) needs to be readily accessible by public transport - pereferably in Enmore or Newtown (we use the train)
5. We spend about $120 a week with volunteer discount.
I think we should bite the bullet and find a way to use more volunteers, have policies and procedures (and legal advice if needed) so we can use volunteers as much as possible, and put some real effort into finding new volunteers - or else give a real explanation as to why this isn't feasible.
Medium term concerns
I am not opposed to closing the shop. I think an online presence is important. I think walk-in is important.
There are many things we could do.
I do not see how the New York model could work well for us. Their shop is enormous, it is open very long hours, they are not in a safe neighbourhood.
It is impractical for everyone to volunteer 8 hours a month, when we have 2 tills, a small space for storage, etc. If the shop open is 10 hours a day, and 400 members working 8 hours a month we would have more than 10 members volunteering at any one time. And then we have customers?
I think this is important
With a member only shop and many (or all) people volunteering there should be no need for volunteer discount.
Offering a discount is either a reward to the member or an incentive to shop. If every member volunteers the reward is being a member and shopping.
Accumulating hours is not to Alfalfa's benefit (and therefore not to OUR benefit). People may want to keep their hours but if you work you get your member-only price. If you worked 2 months ago you had your opportunity to shop then. If you work extra hours then you would seem to be taking hours from another member.
FURTHER DISCUSSION ...