January 19, 2020
Dear Member Owners,
It’s been a little over three months since I arrived at the Creamery. I want to thank you for the warm welcome, kindness, and generosity you have shown me. I am continually impressed by the dedication and commitment you all show to this Co-op, and believe that together we can return the Creamery to sustainable operations, ensuring this amazing community resource is here for years to come.
The immediate priority when I started was to reduce expenses, particularly direct labor costs. This unfortunately included the elimination of three full time positions – two management positions and one cook. While these decisions were not easy, they were necessary, and have allowed for a new organizational structure to be put in place, as well as raises and promotions for remaining staff. Effective January 1st, the Creamery’s new minimum wage is $13/hour, with $1.00/hr. annual increases planned as we chart the course for $15 by 2022. With these changes, the Creamery’s leadership team is now comprised of three Supervisors – Cassie Kendall (Center Store), Kim Bode (Deli), and Noel Shears-Pennell (Kitchen), as well as the Finance & Human Resources Coordinator (Sandra Segatti), all reporting to the General Manager. This is a more efficient and cost effective structure that will be in effect at least for the duration of 2020.
Over the coming months, the new team will work together to better meet your needs, grow sales, improve operations, and better support all of our wonderful staff members.The store surveys filled out by many of you will prove invaluable as we plan the center store and prepared foods resets for the end of this quarter. We expect the changes will have a positive impact on sales as we enter our busiest time of year. Some of the changes made so far were a taste of what’s to come. We’ve lowered the price of milk, bananas and orange juice, fulfilled several new item requests, brought back several Creamery classics – black bean burgers and homemade quiche crusts, improved the cafe seating area, and we plan to continue the monthly community dinners in February. We’d love to keep hearing from you so please feel free to share your suggestions directly with myself or any staff member directly. I look forward to seeing you in the store!
In Cooperation,
Daniel Esko, General Manager