Decaf
Q: I am hoping to have some input of the stocking level of Just Coffee's decaffeinated coffee in bulk at the Middleton store. Nearly every time I have come in to shop in the last 6 months my attempt to purchase a pound each of Just Coffee's decaf dark and decaf light in bulk has been met with empty bins. Is it possible to contact Just Coffee and address what seems like a very consistent out of stock issue. Granted, coffee outages, especially decaffeinated coffee, are not as critical as missing produce or cheese but it seems like it might be easy to fix. Thanks for your help. We love the Coop.
A: Thank you for your comments and questions. I appreciate you letting us know about this problem. I am going to reach out to Just Coffee and ask them to do a better job of keeping these Bulk decaf coffees in stock for you. I am sorry you have been making the trip to Willy West and the Just Coffee decaf coffees you would like to have there have been missing. Hopefully letting them know about these out of stocks will solve the issue. -Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Bulk Mushrooms
Q: When will you be bringing back bulk button mushrooms? I don’t want to buy my mushrooms in a plastic container. Seems like this isn’t a COVID issue since you’re selling crimini mushrooms in bulk. Thank you.
A: Thanks for writing! We did actually bring back bulk button mushrooms for a time, from August of 2021 until October. The sales were very very low at all three stores, and because button mushrooms deteriorate and turn brown very quickly in the bulk displays, we found that we ended up throwing out or discounting more than we were able to sell. The crimini mushrooms sold much better, so we have kept those, but unfortunately we had to discontinue the bulk buttons.
Yours is the first customer request that I've gotten asking for the return of the bulk buttons. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more requests and bring them back if it seems like there's enough interest to make it a viable offering. Thanks! -Megan Minnick, Purchasing Director
Wild Rice
Q: Do you carry wild rice that has been harvested from tribal sources?? I wish to make gifts to Native American speakers and would like to have the wild rice tribally harvested. Thanks
A: Thank you for your question and comments. We have carried wild rice from White Earth, but we have not been able to get any since 2020. I talked with our supplier from the Intertribal Agriculture Council and he said that the U.S. Government has been paying Indigenous people a great price for their rice to help feed people, thus the lack of supply. I am sorry we do not have any wild rice that fits your description.
I appreciate you letting us know what you are looking for at our stores! -Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Girl Scout Cookies
Q: A couple of years ago our Girl Scout Troop held a cookie booth at your store. Are you doing those this year? If so, how do we signup? We had a lovely experience the last time we were there!
A: Thank you for reaching out to the Co-op with your inquiry. You can find our tabling policy here: www.willystreet.coop/about-us/store-policies. Please look it over and let me know if you have any questions that I can answer for you. As you can see, each troop is allowed two "tabling" opportunities per cookie sale season. I would be happy to help you find some dates that might work for your troop and get those dates and times scheduled for you. Take care, Katie O’Connell-Jones, Owner Resources Coordinator
Bulk
Q: I have read that sales of bulk items is down. Bulk is one of my favorite categories at the co-op because it saves me money, I can get the quantity I want, and I can consume less packaging. There are not many places that bulk is available, and it is one of the main reasons I shop at that co-op. I would hate to see it reduced or removed.
I like to take advantage of sales, but also limit my time in any store, so I do my research and make a list at home for what I'm going to buy and try to remember to bring my containers with me.
I've noticed when I'm in the store that there are usually a few bulk items on sale. However, those sales rarely show up on the Owner's Rewards or Co-op Deals listings. For me, I would like to know about the sales before I come. For others, maybe having sale bulk items listed would bring more attention to the area and bring more sales. Just like there is a section for Produce and Grocery on the Owner's Rewards sale flyer, perhaps there could be a Bulk section, too.
I've also noticed other items on sale in the store that don't appear in the promotions. Is there any way to see those online? Since I am limiting time in the store, I usually just go to the areas of the items on my list, so I'm sure I miss some of those.
A: Thank you for your comments and questions! While it is true that our Bulk departments have shown a decline in sales over the past few years, we have no plans at this time to reduce or remove the section from our stores. I agree that we all use less packaging when shopping in Bulk, which is a great reason to do so.
Unfortunately, we do not always have many promotional opportunities coming our way on Bulk items, so creating a mini section for them in our sales flyers has not been feasible. Many of the products we have on sale do not make it into our promotional flyers, since there is limited space.
It is understandable that you want to make your shopping trips as efficient as possible. One way to see the items on sale that might work for you is using shop.willystreet.coop to look them up. If you hit the Shopping tab up top on the left, between the Home and Recipes tabs, that will take you to a different view, which has filters in the left column. There is one there to click on for "All promotions" and that will take you to a section that has Bulk Food listed as an option to choose from.
The only caveat to using this search tool is that our e-commerce shopping is done out of our North store, so the items listed would be carried there. It looks like you shop primarily at Willy West, and although our North and West stores have a lot of overlap on what they carry, it will not be a perfect match per se. I hope this helps! -Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Dryland Rice
Q: I love rice, but haven't bought any in years, to avoid paddy-grown rice, because of the methane emissions. I'd love to buy dryland rice (also known as upland rice), but I can't tell which of the rice offerings are dryland. My guess is that red rice and black rice are grown without paddy cultivation, but the bulk section does not include this information on the labels. Please help me choose a dryland rice.
A: Thank you for your comments about our rice selection! We do not carry any dryland or upland rice to my knowledge, but one of the companies we work with, Lotus Foods, has been doing something very similar. They call it More Crop Per Drop and it is based on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) that was originally developed in Africa.
The cooperative growers for two of the rices we carry from them are using this method for cultivation. Those rices can be found in our Bulk section at Willy West and they are: PLU 2907 Organic Brown Jasmine Rice and PLU 2906 Organic White Jasmine Rice.
I appreciate you reaching out to let us know what you are looking for at our stores! -Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Five Stars
Q: I am giving you, the store and your personnel, five-stars for the way you have handled, and are handling, the Covid stresses on the store. I shop at your North store. I am very happy to be a member. -A Happy Customer
A: Thank you for sharing your positive feedback with us! I've passed it on to our entire workforce to enjoy. Take care! -Kirsten Moore, Cooperative Services Director
Dividends
Q: Someone mentioned to me that I should be receiving dividends, but I never have, even though I am a long-time member. No big deal, but can you fill me in on this? She said that over the years, it ended up paying for her owner fee. I think I have FOMO.
A: Great question, thanks for asking. The patronage refund is something that the Co-op has only had the pleasure of offering to Owners three times in its history. It is possible that the Owner you talked to shopped enough that the times they did receive patronage made up for the cost of their equity payment. The last patronage refund was back in 2014. We are only in a position to offer patronage refunds when the Co-op is more profitable than expected in a given fiscal year and we are not currently working on projects that reinvest in the cooperative. By Principle 3, Owner Economic Participation, the economic benefits of a cooperative operation are either returned to the Owners, reinvested in the Co-op, or used to provide Owner services. Since 2014 the Co-op, by vote of the Owners, has remodeled its East location, added our North location, and expanded our West location. Shortly after, the pandemic began, which has also changed our financial landscape over the last few years. For these reasons, we have not been in a position for the board to approve patronage refunds. -Kirsten Moore, Cooperative Services Director
No Hate
Q: You have flyers for Sisters 4 Sisters, a trans-exclusive radical feminist gathering (www.sisters4sisters2022.com/), hanging on the notice board on at least one of your locations. (I have photos, but can't attach them here.)
It was only a year or two ago that TERFs were harassing trans people outside your stores. At the time, you stated a commitment to protect trans people as valued members of the Willy Street Co-op community. So this is particularly distressing to see.
Is trans-exclusive hate speech in line with your values as an organization?
Do you regularly allow hate groups to flyer at Willy Street Co-op, or is this an oversight?
What do you view as your commitment, practically speaking, to trans members of our community?
I enjoy shopping at the co-op and I want to believe that trans people are welcome there, and that your stated values are not talking points. I don't want to have to shop elsewhere. Thank you.
A: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We absolutely do not allow hate speech to be posted on our Community Posting Boards. We did not see the flyer during our regular check earlier this week, and it was not on the board at Willy East this morning. Posters are not required to be approved by staff, but we do monitor the board to make sure community members are following our Community Posting Board Policy. That said, we can remove discriminatory messages from the community posting board faster when we are alerted to their existence in person in the moment. You can always go to the Customer Service desk and ask to speak with a Manager on Duty to inform them when people post inappropriate things on our property.
Thank you again, for bringing this particular flyer to our attention. -Liz Hawley, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Chipping
Q: I am so proud to be a member! I always chip because I regard this as a small part I can do to support our community. The article in the newspaper today showed just how powerful these contributions can be. We need to spread the word about this. Every time I hear someone say they won’t chip I wonder if they understand the benefit for just a few pennies. Maybe more in-store information would be helpful.
A: Thank you for the thoughtful feedback. I have shared it with our Communications Director Brendon Smith. All new Owners are given information about Community Shares of Wisconsin, the umbrella organization for 70 local nonprofits that benefit from the Community CHIP program, and in addition to having brochures about Community Shares in store, we also frequently run slides at the registers and ads in our Reader about the organization, as well as share stories about their work through our social media. People have different reasons to CHIP or not CHIP, and we consider those both personal and financial choices for our customers to make. We certainly appreciate all the people who consider the work of Community Shares and their member nonprofits a worthy cause to support whenever they have the means to do so. Thank you so much for your frequent contributions! -Kirsten Moore, Cooperative Services Director
Have a Good One
Q: Please work with cashiers to say “thank you” instead of “have a good one”—that is too low key and doesn’t satisfy after spending lots on groceries. Thanks!
A: Thank you for your thoughts, I have shared them with our Front End Manager at West and our HR Director. In our current customer service training we talk about how to end a transaction with a customer, and how expressing appreciation for a person’s choice to shop with us or wishing the customer well when they leave is important. We talk about how to express gratitude or well wishes in our own words instead of using a script, because we want to put a personal touch on the service we provide. We have always considered “have a good day” or “have a good one” an acceptable form of closure because it wishes the customer well. We will certainly keep your feedback in mind for future consideration. Take care. -Kirsten Moore, Cooperative Services Director
Shout Out
Q: This is a shout out to the central kitchen and its forthcoming seventeenth anniversary on Main Street. The first day of production was on April 8, 2005, and the kitchen staff had time for an open house on the same day. An online archival report added an interesting note about the events of the day that just might now be little known. The Wisconsin State Journal published an article on April 7 stating that one function of the kitchen was to serve as a processing facility for the Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Program. That meant the kitchen staff was processing fresh vegetables from area farmers for local school and hospital lunch programs.
That was the first and last online archival report on the kitchen's participation in the Wisconsin program. Now I'm curious. What happened to the kitchen's involvement? And to bring the history up to date, how is the central kitchen expressing its support for school and hospital meal services in the pandemic era?
A: Thanks for the shout out! When we opened the Kitchen we planned on it serving at least two Co-op stores, although the second store did not open until 2010. We wanted to use the Kitchen to its full capacity and so we offered to process local produce for institutional use at a price reasonable for a small operation such as ours. A few schools took us up on our offer and we prepped vegetables for school snacks. The REAP Farm to School Snack Program took over the operation and Kitchen production time was taken over by serving two stores and a growing catering program. Our Kitchen, like the stores, has been affected by labor challenges over the course of the pandemic and has focused on keeping the stores stocked with prepared foods. As we recover from the effects of the pandemic, we will once again be open to partnerships like these as long as they do not endanger the consistent delivery of products to our stores.
If you have any other questions feel free to reach out. -Dustin Skelley, Prepared Foods Category Manager