A Message from our Chairperson Sarah Weate:
Last year’s financial report i’s published now as the board were in the throes of the move when we would normally do it.
So much has changed since then that it is now somewhat of a historical document. The period the report covers could be described as turbulent times, encompassing the fundraiser to save your Co-Op from insolvency, a complete change in board and countless changes made to work towards long-term viability. It’s worth noting that the large profit figure for the year is due to the fundraiser and, in that period, your Co-Op made a small loss in normal trading activities.
Here a quick summary of what’s happened since the reporting period and some plans for the future. Since the report period, as you all know, we’ve made a couple of really large changes: we’ve moved to a much busier location with the associated higher costs and slashed the membership fee. We’re really happy with the results of both those decisions so far and now we’ve been in this location for more than two months and have a clearer idea of actual costs we can resume the financial traffic lights. For our new members this is a red/amber/green traffic light in the weekly newsletter to let you know how your Co-Op is going financially.
And I can’t resist taking this opportunity to remind you that every time you shop at your Co-Op you’re helping us keep prices low and food really fresh. 🙂
The board’s plans for the rest of this financial year and going into next include:
- Consolidating our financial position
- Providing more packaging free products for you in yet another battle in our war against waste
- Aiming to reduce margins on products for you, our Co-op members, and
- Working to help supply local community groups with the products they need