by Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
HELLO Co-op friends! My name is Kristina Kuhaupt, and I am the new Customer Experience Manager. I started at the beginning of April of this year, and I will be continuing on the work of Kirsten Moore in many areas, such as our presence at upcoming farmers’ markets and Co-op-sponsored events, promoting the Double Dollars Program and our Access Discount Program in our community, addressing and making right customer questions and concerns, and continuing our class education programs with my amazing team who have been so welcoming to me. In time, this role will also be expanding our customer outreach and practices—more to come, and we’re very excited about all the new possibilities!
A Little About Me
I moved to Madison about 10 years ago from a small farming community, Slinger, where I grew up and my family still lives, after finishing my business degree in the Milwaukee area. What drew me to Madison was the unique blend of possibilities, environment, and access. Coming from a small town, all the community involvement and access to natural resources in Madison wowed me, and it still does on a daily basis. I feel very grateful to live here and be a part of such a vibrant community. My overall background for the last 10 years was working in management at a retail store in the Middleton area. If you have shopped in the Greenway Station area, I may look familiar to you, and probably have helped you and/or your family in some form or another. It has been a wonderful experience to get to know families shopping over the years, their stories, seeing their kids grow up in front of my eyes, and even over time employing them and working with these teens personally.
During my time in Middleton, I happened to stumble across Willy Street Co-op when the West store first opened. I went in on a whim during a lunch break and could not get over all the amazing quality, nutritious food that I could quickly get before I needed to head back. This experience made me curious about what Co-op ownership means, and what a Co-op actually does for a local community. I never knew what a Co-op was before or the difference between us and a conventional grocery store because I never had access to this type of resource. After understanding the process, I was hooked for years and years. I happened to see the opening for this position and knew it was the perfect opportunity to continue my customer outreach experience with an organization that does such great things in and for the community. I am very grateful for this role after being an Owner and experiencing what the Co-op has to offer over the years. I hope to serve you well, and I look forward to meeting you all as our paths cross in time.
In my down time, I love to read (I have a book club that I started a couple of years ago with friends), explore the local wineries in our area, take advantage of all the natural resources available though hiking excursions and when possible, keep exploring the Pacific Northwest—an area that leaves me awestruck every time I visit.
Up and Coming Conference 2022: Madison
During my time here, I have been able to experience many things, one being our presence, partnership, and participation at the Up and Coming Conference that took place May 19-21, 2022 at the Sheraton Hotel, which hosted 265 people from 56 startup co-ops from 30 states and Canada. The theme this year was “Shout Out Your Co-op.” It was inspiring to see so many people across the country come together to share ideas, resources, and to support each other in helping get their local co-ops started in the many different workshops that were provided to our guests.
Shout out to Delta Beer Lab, Banzo Catering, and participating local vendors (Sassy Cow Creamery, Madison Soap Company, Madame Chu, Saffi Foods, American Provenance, Four Elements Herbals, Wisconsin Grass-Fed Beef Cooperative, and Emmi Roth Cheese) for making our afterparty a successful and fun experience for all our attendees and staff!
In addition to helping at the conference, my team created an informational resource (linked here) that visually and auditorily walks guests through the history and transformation of Willy Street Co-op over the years. It provided a way to explore our stores if the attendees wanted to take a break from the conference and tour our stores in person, or see what we have to offer virtually if they preferred the comfort of their own hotel room. Shout out to Liz Hawley, Amanda Ikens, Katie O’Connell-Jones, and Ros Murphy for making this digital content and live tours happen during the conference!
Summer Farmers’ Markets and Double Dollars
Although the Double Dollars season has concluded at the Co-op, starting June 1 folks using FoodShare/QUEST can participate in the program at our local Dane County farmers markets. The City of Madison has information at cityofmadison.com/mayor/programs/double-dollars on upcoming markets and how to use the program. In addition, the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin has a rich amount of information on program details at www.cacscw.org/services/food-security/double-dollars/ that are very useful when shopping during both seasons.
When you’re shopping at Willy Street Co-op, you can support the Double Dollars program by using the $1, $5, $10, or $25 scan cards at the cash registers or by packing your groceries in reusable bags. With each reusable bag used per transaction the Co-op contributes 10¢ to the Double Dollars Fund. It is a win-win system—the Co-op saves money on bags, we help the environment, and funds get distributed to the community for nutritious foods. Thank you for helping this program thrive!
Fun in the Sun: Summer Festivals
As Anya mentioned in the May Reader, we are changing the date and location for our Annual Meeting, so our presence at various festivals throughout the surrounding areas will look different but will still be just as fun. We wanted to make sure more of our Owners experienced the perks of being an Owner. We are excited to announce that we will be offering up to 1,500 Festival Perks Passes for each of three festivals: Fete de Marquette, Good Neighbor Festival, and the new Northside Festival. (So 4,500 Passes total.) The Passes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and will only be applicable to the one festival it is associated with. We will start to hand out the Passes for Fete de Marquette on Saturday, July 2 at 11:00am at Willy East only. (Good Neighbor Festival Passes will only be distributed at Willy West, and Northside Festival Passes at Willy North.) With the Pass, Owners will be able to get half-priced meals and beverages during a three-hour span at the following festivals:
- La Fete de Marquette (Owner perk valid: Thursday, July 14, 4:00pm-7:00pm)
- Good Neighbor Festival (Owner perk valid: Saturday, August 27, 2:00pm-5:00pm)
- Northside Festival (Owner perk valid: Saturday, September 10, 2:00pm-5:00pm)
Learn more at www.willystreet.ccop/owner-festival-perks. Once each festival is complete Owners who wish to recycle their Passes can drop them off at the front desk at any of our stores.