SALAD BARS
Q: Will north and/or west stores ever be reopening salad bars?
A: Thanks for reaching out. We will be reopening the salad bar for West in 2023. The one we had broke down and was larger than we needed, so we have a new one on the way. However the supply chains being what they are, we are not able to actually get our equipment until the middle of next year! We are obviously really disappointed in that, so our Production Kitchen is going to start producing a greater variety of prepackaged green salads soon! That said, there are not currently any plans to reopen the salad bar at North. The last time we tried running it at North the salad bar sales unfortunately weren't hitting the budget and as a result we had to discontinue the service. This is another reason we plan to ramp up our prepackaged salad program. What kind of salad options would you like to see? Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions. Best regards, Nicholas Oconnor, Prepared Foods Category Manager
THANK YOU FARMERS
Q: I absolutely loved the recent “Thank You Farmers!” piece in the Reader. It was great to see pictures of the farmers, hear quotes from them and take note of their signature crops. What a fantastic appreciation piece! Cheers.
A: Thank you so much! I loved that article too! It's always great to see the faces behind the produce and get a glimpse of the incredibly hard and important work they do. We love our farmers! Take care, Liz Wermcrantz, Editor
COOKING CLASSES
Q: I hope you are having a good weekend and enjoying the nice weather. I have looked at your website, and am very impressed and interested in your work. We are currently planning events for a club this semester and discussing the possibility of doing a cooking class. I saw on your website that these are events you host. I would love to connect about the possibility of doing a cooking class for our club with you. Please let me know your availability!
A: We do offer private cooking classes! Our chef instructors can customize a menu to suit your needs. We can schedule a time in our teaching kitchen at Willy West or come to you
if you have a kitchen space suitable for the class. Please let me know if this is something you'd like to pursue, and we can get a class scheduled. I look forward to hearing from you! -Liz Hawley, Education and Outreach Coordinator
BROWN RICE FLOUR
Q: In the past, I was able to buy brown rice flour in bulk at Willy Street West, but I have not found it there for the past several months. Is this a supply chain issue or has a decision been made not to carry brown rice flour in bulk? It is difficult to use a measuring cup in the small bags of brown rice flour available in-store from other vendors. The small quantities in those bags don't last long and are more expensive. Thank you.
A: It looks like the one we used to carry was dropped by our distributor and we never found a replacement. I was able to find Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour in 25 pound bags and we just need to get it set up in our system. Assuming it comes in, I think we can get that out on the sales floor soon. Thanks so much for pointing this out. A lot of times, especially with the supply chain issues of late, discontinued items have a way of being forgotten on the wayside as we scramble to fill the shelves with anything that will come in. -Shannon Myers, Assistant Grocery Manager—West
FUNDRAISING
Q: Hi there—my daughter is part of the travel club and is selling Bucky Books to fundraise for Trips to D.C., Alaska, and the Galapagos Islands. Do you allow for individuals to set up outside of the coops to fundraise for things like this?
A: Unfortunately, at this time, we only allow nonprofit organizations to table and not schools and/or school organizations to fundraise. Our tabling policy can be found at www.willystreet.coop/about-us/store-policies. "The primary purpose of Willy Street Co-op's donations is to provide Co-op food and/or merchandise to local nonprofits that are working to improve our community. A secondary purpose of the program is to make Co-op funds available to not-for-profit groups for special projects and fundraising efforts. We recognize the support role the Co-op can play to encourage and foster neighborhood development." Hope this helps! Have a good day, Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
RECIPROCAL BENEFITS
Q: I thought I remembered that my Willy St Coop membership would get me reciprocal membership rights at other coops around the country, but can’t find any information on this on your website.
Is this still true, and how do I look up to see if a coop offers it? Specifically interested in PCC Community Markets in WA State
A: Thank you for your question about co-op Ownership reciprocity! Willy Street Co-op offers reciprocity to Owners of other co-ops, however co-op Ownership reciprocity is not something that we make arrangements with other co-ops to provide.
It is up to each individual co-op to decide whether they will honor the ownerships in other co-ops. I would recommend contacting the PCC Community Markets in Washington state before visiting to see if this is a benefit they offer. All of the grocery co-ops that are part of the National Cooperative Grocers network can be found at www.ncg.coop/find-co-op. I hope this is helpful. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything else I can do for you. -Rosalyn Murphy, Owner Records Administrator
EMAILS
Q: Hi there, Please send an email out when you have to close a store. Thank you!
A: Thanks for your request! So far we’ve held off on doing something like this because of the challenges of managing email lists with our current system, but we will be adding some additional capabilities in the new calendar year so that Owners will be able to easily sign up and discontinue email notifications, and store-specific emails alerting Owners to major events and disruptions would be a great addition to our list. I’ll discuss this with the Customer Experience team when we plan out how to use these new capabilities. Thanks again for the idea, and have a nice weekend! -Brendon Smith, Communications Director