Westby Cottage Cheese
Why did you discontinue carrying the pint size of Westby Cottage Cheese? The large size often goes bad before I can use it up.
During covid many companies went through packaging changes and were unavailable for long stretches of time. Westby Cottage Cheese was one of these. My buyer at the time informed me he found the new codes for the large sizes so that is all we ended up adding back and onboarding new brands to fill the gaps. I just checked and saw that the pints are available again. I will look into adding one or two as space allows since this is a local creamery we have a long history of supporting. -Nate Groth, Willy North Grocery Manager
GreenBox Compost
Wondered if you could start a Greenbox compost program drop off option. Greenbox provides greenbox containers. The customer pays $19 per month- able to compost meat etc. Customer drops off compost every two weeks and provides a fresh one. Greenbox.com
Thanks for your comment. Our three retail stores, production kitchen, and Central Office have worked with three local composting businesses for the last several years (Green Box, Curbside Composter, and Earth Stew Composting Services) for managing “back of house” food waste from our food production and produce prep areas and for “front of house” waste from foods purchased for consumption in our retail commons. We also collect staff generated food waste in the break room at our Central Office and the classroom kitchen at our community space, Aubergine. As much as we would love to consider expanding these services, we simply do not have the economic means, space, labor hours, nor expertise to build and manage a drop-off food composting program for the Owners or neighborhoods we serve. We also do not wish to compete with composting programs and initiatives that already exist (and we support). The City of Madison lists some resources and guides for dealing with food scraps on these Streets and Urban Forestry webpages: www.cityofmadison.com/streets/food-scraps and www.cityofmadison.com/streets/trash-recycling/waste-reduction/home-composting-resources. Here are links to the service providers we work with: www.withgreenbox.com, www.curbsidecomposter.com, www.earthstew.com. -Amanda Ikens, Owner Resources Coordinator
Trash Signs
I wear bifocals. The signs about what to put into the different disposal bins in the eating section at Willy Street East are in such a position that I cannot read them. When I look down & under, I’m looking through the wrong part of my glasses.
Thanks for your customer comment! We will be making some changes to that area in the next few months and we’ll keep this in mind as we make new signage for that area. -Brendon Smith, Marketing & Communications Director
Fresh Spinach and Salad Mix
I have been buying fresh spinach and salad mix from the co-op for ages. I have noticed a major decline in these products to do with water – water in the boxed ones and water in the bulk ones. We just bought the salad mix yesterday and already I am having to throw 1/2 of it out because it’s wilted and just threw out half a box of Earthbound spinach because it was so soggy half of the spinach was muck before I could use it all up and I use in my morning omelet everyday! One problem I see is this whole misting the cr.. out of everything in the produce section, which I am against, but the boxed stuff is also soaked when you open it ( both organic girl and earthbound,. I put paper towels in the box to soak up the water, doesn’t help. I have no idea what to do, but we can’t afford to keep buying boxes or bags of these items and have to throw half of it out. Are some people using their box or bag up in one go? I can’t imagine that.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m not sure what exactly is happening with the salad items you mentioned, as I don’t think the misting of the produce would impact these items: they’re in sealed containers, and the bulk spinach and salad do not get misted. There may be some level of ‘drift’ for the salad containers to the far right side nearest the automatic misters, but the 90% of these salad items have no contact with water in the display case. There are a couple of “transition” periods when we sometimes see quality concerns with product. In the fall, California farms transition production from the central valley to the south, and then in the spring, back into the central valley region. Maybe this is what you are seeing? It’s also possible the product could have been exposed to temperatures below 32 at some point in transition to our stores. This would certainly cause the product to deteriorate into a mush mess! Because you mentioned products that do not come into contact with the misters, it seems likely one or both of these scenarios is the cause? Misting produce is a best practice in the industry. More so than refrigeration, hydration helps keep certain produce items fresh and helps to reduce loss and food waste. Our display cases at all locations are set up so that items (lettuce, leafy greens) that need hydration get misted, while others do not (eggplant, peppers, cucumbers). I will be at our East location later this morning and will check the misting situation to ensure it is not having a negative impact on these products, and pass the info on to the Produce Manager so they can work with their team and ensure they are following best practices (rotating product, doing routine quality inspections, etc). The next time you are in the store, feel free to request a refund for the spinach and salad mix you purchased, and I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused! I know how frustrating it can be when you’re in the kitchen getting a meal ready only to find an ingredient you need and just purchased can’t be used! Thanks for taking the time to bring this to our attention! -Andy Johnston, Produce Category Manager
Mailed Newsletter
I want to thank you for continuing to mail out your newsletter. I get tons of emails every day, and if the Reader landed in my inbox, I probably wouldn’t take time to open it. But the physical copy lets me slow down on a weekend morning, have a cup of tea, and unplug after a long week in front of a computer. And I appreciate that.
Thanks for taking the time to write in about the paper Reader. We are hoping many people make the switch to a digital Reader but are happy to continue our tradition of mailing the paper version. Thanks for tuning in! -Caitlyn Tompkins, Marketing Manager
Thank You Co-op and Owners
Dear Willy Street Purchasing and Owners, First, thank you to Melissa Reiss for her recent article on Inclusive Trade Vendors. As a local organic and sustainable herb farmer and producer, you and your owners sustain many craftspeople beyond your imagination. I have been offering my herbal wellness made from herbs grown on our farm in the Baraboo Bluffs since 1987. Your stores are always in the top three most successful customers we service throughout the country. From that wellspring, I can employ seven very happy and team-oriented women, with good pay. Our local North Freedom community benefits from our presence, and this keeps a purpose for cultivating these precious healing plants on our farm year after year. I applaud your owners and your purchasing department for their support of local producers, understanding quality, and, of course, good taste! To see this farm in action, we offer a free Open Farm Day. This year, on June 6 from 12-5. Sincerely and with LOVE, Jane Hawley Stevens Four Elements Organic Herbals
Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment! It was shared with both Melissa, who wrote the article (and said you made her week!) and Caitlyn, our Reader editor who was also delighted to receive your message! We love being able to highlight and support vendors like you; it’s such a huge part of why we are all here doing what we do. I’ll make sure to share the Open Farm Day info with the rest of our team as well, thanks for the note about it! -Liz Muñoz, Director of Purchasing
Coca-Cola
I wanted to reach out about why Coca-Cola products are being sold at Willy Street. I came down the aisle the other day and saw the section of Coke and Sprite and seriously thought I was in a different store. To me this seems completely against Willy Street’s principles of concern for the community and sustainable practices. The social and environmental problems with Coca-Cola products are well known. From plastic pollution (top contributor of branded plastic waste), depleting water resources, especially in poorer cities and countries, to forceably displacing farmers and little accountability on working conditions of its suppliers. I really hope you reconsider selling Coca-Cola products. If these are acceptable, it seems that the principles and values need to be changed.
I appreciate you sharing your concerns about us carrying Coca-Cola products. We have been selling Coca-Cola and Pepsi products at our stores since just after we opened Willy North in August of 2016. We changed our product policy at that time to better serve our growing community and to reflect a more inclusive perspective as to what we would be willing to carry. We are both a natural foods store and a neighborhood store, so excluding products that our Owners want us to provide felt inconsiderate. I can see how this would appear to be in conflict with our goals around sustainability and community health. We have been leaning into this tension for years. I believe our principles and values have changed to be more accepting and less judgmental of other people’s choices. I appreciate you voicing your opinion. Many might not know about Coca-Cola’s operations and practices. Thank you! -Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Co-op Mug
Several many years ago I got a Willy St coffee mug at the East store. It was ( 😮 ) marroon. You don’t still happen to have them, do you?
While we have had a few versions of Willy Street branded mugs over the years, we do not currently have one. Thank you for asking! -Tim Ruddy, Willy East General Merchandise Manager
