1. Attendance and Apologies

Attendance (MC): Caroline Brakewell, Stephen Catt, Kelly Dent, Bruce Diekman, Catherine O'Keefe.

Attendance (Members): Maurice Cabrera, Cameron Burgess, Peter Coyle, John Schembri, Ran de Silva, Yue Ajioka, Diana Harris, Laurel Parker, Judy Tonkin, Cornelia Appio-Slezak, Anna Mackiewicz, Vidit Mathur, Katherine Lustig, Karl Coombe, Kylie Wiebe, Jann French, Estefania Fontealba, Stevie Bee,Tallulah Ebbs, Anthony Taylor, Mariko Everett, Adrian Gimenez.

Apologies: Jenny Millman, Tom Bartels.

Guest: Nancy Rossi

2. Approval of Agenda

That the agenda be approved.

Moved: Catherine O'Keefe

Seconded: Bruce Diekman

Carried by consensus

3. Adoption of Previous Minutes

That the minutes of the 2017 AGM be adopted.

• AGMs

Kelly Dent proposed we accept the 2017 minutes.

Moved: Catherine O’Keefe

Seconded: Katherine Lustig

Carried by consensus

4. Directors' report

• Directors report 2018 AGM.pdf

Bruce Diekman spoke to the Members’ Council Report 2017-2018 – printed copies were provided to members.

Kelly Dent proposed we accept the report.

Moved: Catherine O’Keefe

Seconded: Stephen Catt

Carried by consensus

5. Manager's report

Maurice Cabrera spoke to his Managers Report.

Workshops

Q -Do workshops encourage membership?

A – Some people who participated are non-members, and some have transitioned to members.

Report Timescale

Q: Curious about the timescale. Why was it only until June?

A: The finance report is only covering the financial year, so the Manager's report covered the same period.

A: You could have reported from AGM to AGM. Only the Finance Report is restricted to the financial year.

Kelly Dent proposed we accept the Manager’s Report.

Moved: Catherine O’Keefe

Seconded: Stevie Bee

Carried by consensus

6. Finance report (Interim Financial statements)

Catherine O’Keefe spoke to the interim financial statements. It was noted that these statements are not complete as the notes are not included. It is planned to have the completed report signed off next week when the accountant is available.

Highlights included

Profit and Loss

• Revenue 4% lower $50K than a year ago
• The increase of $30K against a year ago is from the grant used for the new fridges
• Purchases flat against a year ago
• Employee benefits are up 8% and $26.8K
• An overall loss of $17.2K

Balance Sheet

• Cash assets decreased by $48.1K
  • This is partly due to the introduction of the new POS which is expected to bring efficiencies in staffing and purchasing as we become more automated and the data on the business is more visible.
• Inventory flat.
• Non-current assets value increased by $32.3K which is the new fridges.

Kelly Dent proposed we accept the 2017-18 Year-End Financial Statements, pending the receipt of notes and additions, and sign off by her and Catherine O’Keefe next week.

Moved: Anthony Taylor

Seconded: Katherine Lustig

Carried by consensus

7. Election of returning officers

• All Directors resigned from the Members’ Council.

Catherine O’Keefe was nominated as the Returning Officer and was elected.

Moved: Kelly Dent

Seconded: John Schembri

Carried by consensus

8. Call for nominations to Members' Council and election

Formal nominations on paper were received:

• Bruce Diekman, nominated by self. Cameron Burgess seconded.
• Stephen Catt, nominated by self. Catherine O’Keefe seconded.
• Caroline Brakewell, nominated by self. Catherine O’Keefe seconded.
• Kelly Dent, nominated by self. Catherine O’Keefe seconded.
• Tom Bartels, nominated by self. Catherine O’Keefe seconded
• Cameron Burgess, nominated by self. Catherine O’Keefe seconded.

There are only six candidates and a maximum of seven positions on the Members’ Council. Catherine O’Keefe, as Returning Officer, declared Bruce Diekman, Stephen Catt, Caroline Brakewell, Kelly Dent, Tom Bartels, and Cameron Burgess elected to the board of directors of Alfalfa House, leaving one casual vacancy.

Catherine O’Keefe informed the new Members’ Council that their next MC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 28 November 2019.

9. General business and discussion

New Rules – Discussion brought by Bruce Diekman

• Alfalfa House rules are out of date and problematic.
• 2014 model rules have been issued by Fair Trading.
• Plan to get a new set of rules by mid-2019 before the end of June.
• One anomaly is a current rule that requires a financial audit of our accounts, yet in the new Model Rules this is not required for a co-op of our size.
• At this stage, there will no change to our objects, just focusing on getting the new technical parts correct.

 Question

• Do Alfalfa House finances require an audit?
• Regarding the financial accounts, Maurice pointed that out an external accountant provides the reports.

Marketing Working Group brought by Caroline Brakewell

• Focus to work on the perception of Alfalfa House.
• Tactics include:
  • A film
    • Why shop at Alfalfa House (Alfalfa House should have some film cuts that may be able to be used).
    • How to shop at Alfalfa House (while this has been done before a refresh is excellent).
  • Philip St Window – Get painted and key features affixed professionally.
  • Special Offers – Every 2 weeks, have a promotional program.
  • Open Day – The open day earlier this year was well attended, very busy at the shop, 2019 Open Day planned for March 2019.
  • Weekly EDM (Electronic Direct Mail).

10. Information Session

How should we spend the Annual Subscription Fee (ASF)?

• The ASF collects about $20K.

Hold as a buffer

• Agreed (Jann French, John Schembri)
• We need to set aside as a buffer, it needs to be considerably higher than what we have (Katherine Lustig).

Reduce Prices

• At the moment we purchase a large number of items from a wholesaler (Honest to Goodness), would it be cheaper to go direct to the producers (Kelly Dent).

Finish the shop fit-out

Maurice Cabrera

• Alfalfa House has a good relationship with community grants.
• With a successful submission, we can get up to $50K.
• 3,000 members – exposure to a large section of the local community.

Katherine Lustig

• Maurice has access to a $50K grant, and we can contribute additional CAPEX to finish the refit.
• The issue is, we need to make being a co-op matter to people.

Marketing

• We need to market the co-op to people, and we need a budget for this. (Catherine O’Keefe)

Shop Window

• We need a budget to make this more impactful to passing trade – both the front and side windows.

11. Information Session

How can we make the Co-op more affordable?

• Affordability – it is generally felt AH prices are high.
• Maurice's proposal to have a new market, and give the project to the produce team to increase affordability.
• We need to understand our customer's needs – suggest a survey (Caroline Brakewell).
• How do markups currently work? (Katherine Lustig) – currently, all markups are standard.
• Competitors – We need to monitor and create a point of differentiation against our competition, e.g., Taste, New Woolworths format at Marrickville Metro (CatherineO’Keefe).
• We need to feature where our food comes from (Jann French).
• We need to have better buying power, so work with other co-ops (Jann French).
• We need more space. So we need to think more laterally and decide what do we want next? (Jann French)
• We need to monitor the market more fully – Aldi has gone into organics and is competitive e.g., butter $3.50 (John Schembri).
• Groceries Co-ordinator (Laurel Parker):
  • Agrees to monitor the competition.
  • Will emphasise farmer direct, how we are sustainable.
  • Need better engagement.
  • Need to capture the millennial market.
  • Even volunteers cannot afford to shop at the Co-op at a 25% discount.
• CAPEX or investment – maybe ask members to invest or provide a loan. Bathurst Co-op did several years ago, and the interest rate was 2% – most people said they didn’t want to be paid the interest (Anthony Taylor).
• Cost price products
  • People buy the cost price items (Katherine Lustig).
  • Menstrual products are at cost price (Maurice Cabrera).
  • Produce reduced to cost price helps make the co-op zero waste (Maurice Cabrera).
• Ideas to increase sales by providing additional shopper services (Jann French)
  • Investigate online shopping.
  • Expanded vegetable box delivery.
  • Bulk groceries – expand the delivery service.
• Have seasonal buys at a low price to get people in the store. If it is difficult to budget for wastage, perhaps people to pre-order (Catherine O’Keefe).

12. Information Sessions – Summary

The sentiment of the AGM to the board this year

1. ASF is to be used for:
   1. Increase the financial buffer.
   2. Marketing.
   3. Making selective goods more affordable.
2. Conduct a survey to get to understand customer needs more.
3. Emphasise the importance of the co-op and educate members, the local community, and staff.
4. Investigate co-investment options.
5. Look at combined buying power with other co-ops.

These ideas can be an ongoing discussion item at each board meeting throughout the year. The board will see what can be resourced. Key things we can do immediately.

1. Create a financial buffer.
2. Address affordability.
3. Marketing – create and use the budget.

13. Any other business

No other business – meeting closed.