First let me introduce myself. I am Mike Litka, your new grocery manager here at CreekSide. I am thrilled and excited to be part of this new and evolving business and look forward to meeting many of you personally. I can tell you in the short seven weeks that I have been here I have heard and read many different things of what this coop should and should not carry on its shelf.

Just in the last 2-3 weeks we have brought over 200+ new items to the shelves, many of which are "conventional" named products. The great thing about this is that we have not eliminated any of the existing products! We have also made a major shift in the flow of the shop by moving the entire aisle of vitamins and body-care products to where the baking products were - located behind the produce department. In doing this move w e also created a new category of products which we did not have in the store--a still water set (bottled waters).

All of these things happened because of you the members and your requests!

I am here to make the grocery aisles what the members and the community call for. You are the owners and our goal is to satisfy and delight and provide the best shopping experience possible. Now there will be times when we will not be able to get certain products due to availability /price or simply because we do not have the physical space to accommodate every request. When this situation does arise the member will be notified and reason will be given. This is my promise to you.

Last Tuesday we started carrying cans of popular sodas, including Coke and Diet Coke, in the cold drink case by the community room. I look forward to working with everyone connected with CreekSide. Keep the product ideas coming.

Mike

CreekSide will continue the celebratory atmosphere of an open-air farmer's market with special events for CreekSide Sundays. Every Sunday, beginning on April 14 CreekSide will have:

• Brunch from 9 am to 1 pm. Our hot/cold bar will be piled with breakfast meats, pancakes or French toast, fresh fruit, yogurt, and cereals. And we will serve simple eggs to order from the kitchen. 
• There will be numerous product tastings and demos throughout the store.  

To this end, we have met on several occasions with the Township Manager and Police Department to make them aware of our concerns, and are pleased to report an increased level of enforcement in the area.  We are aware of police stops and citations for speeding and stopping violations.  A monitor has been placed near the store and there is a generally increased police presence.  We are very grateful for the Township's responsiveness and will continue to work with them and you to ensure the best possible shopping experience!

Members at the meeting on January 24 were overwhelmingly in favor of the Co-op adding beer to its product mix. All agreed that it would give the Co-op a unique product not available in competing stores and add to gross revenue.  Preliminary financial information indicates that beer sales would be profitable.  It is expected beer sales would also drive increased food sales, but that it was difficult to predict by how much. 

Discussion included interest in the Craft Beer movement and how it fits into the Co-op product philosophy. Craft brewers are defined as “small (less than 6 million barrels/yr), independent (less than 25% non-craft-brewer-owned) and traditional (50% or greater malt ingredients unlike mega-brewers that use rice and corn).” Craft beer was likened to artisan bread and hand-crafted specialty cheese.  There were questions whether or not sales would be limited to only local brewers and only craft beer.  As with other  products, the type of beer the Co-op sells would depend on member demand, but the emphasis would be on products from local craft brewers. 

If you are interested in attending the Township meeting in support of the Co-op Economic Development E-license or otherwise want to be kept in the loop as things progress, please sign up here.

A topic that keeps coming up is choice.  That's no surprise since the co-op is about all kinds of choices.  With 6,500 square feet of retail space, and limitations on what we can buy at decent prices, we simply can't carry every brand.  So the staff makes choices.  We have member-owners with some very specific ideas about what we should sell - yes, some push for organic, but plenty also push for lottery tickets and diet coke, and the staff and board listens to it all.  Members want to have choices in the store.

Where we started just two months ago was simply that - a starting place.  We started there based on recent member surveys (less than a year ago) as much as possible, but also based on what was easiest to buy in a short period of time, what were best-sellers from our first distributor, and what sells well at other co-ops.  And anyone who has been to the store both in the first week and now can see a tremendous difference in what we carry and how much it costs, with many more changes to come.  Having only expensive pasta sauce and cottage cheese, as folks in the forum brought up, was unacceptable.  Now there are many pasta sauce selections in the $3-4 range, and cottage cheese for just over $3.  And many other familiar brands and/or familiar prices.

You can find CreekSide's mission statement, values statement, and product philosophy here.  The staff uses these guidelines, as well as your feedback, current buying options, sales trends, and other factors, when choosing what to put on the shelves.  While we can't promise to specifically carry Folgers and Dial soap (as one person in the forum wants), we certainly should make sure to have a familiar type of product at an accessible price, while striving to satisfy our product philosophy and our members' needs.  All the better if they are brands that members ask for.  But the answer isn't to simply sell everything anyone could possibly want - there is limited space, buying limitations, and an identity that the store needs to have to differentiate it from other options.  Neither is the answer to stick to a select set of products - it is not economically viable and doesn't satisfy enough of our membership.  It is a set of careful and at times complicated choices that the store is just beginning to get at all right.

The cooperative model has, among other principles, both democratic member control and concern for community at its core.  So this is exactly the ongoing discussion that we need to have.  The key is that we are doing this together, to our collective benefit.  

Here is what we can all do to help: 

1. Buy whatever you can at the co-op.  Has anyone done all their shopping at just one food market in at least 10 years?  It is perfectly fine to go elsewhere to get whatever you can't get at CreekSide, but please buy whatever portion of your groceries possible with us.

2. Share your thoughts.  Use the member forum.  Contact us.  Come to a member meeting or a public board meeting.  Join a committee.  Run for the board this fall.

3. Spread the word.  Let your friends and neighbors know that CreekSide is listening, evolving, and is working hard to become their store too.

The co-op isn't perfect, but it's getting better.  We need your (friendly, if you can) criticism to get it right, and we also need your support.  Many people have worked diligently on this for years - not to spread some sort of food agenda, but to provide a vibrant market and community gathering place that we can all be proud of.  We're getting there, and will keep getting better with your help.  I'm glad to be doing this with you.

See you at the co-op!

Max Minkoff
CreekSide Board President

• recognition of and great gratitude for Fred Milbert, Rochelle Sauber, Andy Schloss, and Adam Silverman who have served CreekSide since its inception and have reached their term limits for serving on the board. 
• announcement of new board members
• and an illuminating presentation from interim general manager Andy Schloss, describing the progress we made and the challenges we face in getting the right product mix onto our shelves.

You can see a PDF version of the presentation here.

Pies are 10” and cost $12.69 each. 

Available Flavors:

• Pumpkin
• Apple, with traditional double crust
• Apple, with crumb topping
• Apple Pear Cranberry
• Pecan
• Mixed Berry

Can you ever remember seeing so many happy people in Elkins Park? The feelings are palpable, and multi-faceted. 

• Nostalgia for the great Ashbourne Market tastes that we’ve restored (sorry to run out of whitefish salad last weekend - we went through 100 pounds!)
• Joy at getting to see so many friends and neighbors while shopping for great food.
• Gratitude for the efforts of so many, near and far who have made this happen.
• Satisfaction from having such a wide selection of quality, healthy food, particularly from those with dietary restrictions
• Warmth, for and from our wonderful staff who share our excitement about this special achievement and great future
• And most of all, Pride. Pride in our store. Pride in our community. Pride in co-creating what at one time didn’t see possible, and what is still to come!

However, the store is not, of course, without flaws, many of which have been addressed swiftly over the last week. Milk pricing in the first day and a half. Incomplete product selection. Products missing from our system at the cash register. What we also need to do is educate our membership about the choices that we make, both to continually solicit your feedback as well as to help you understand how we’re doing things.

To address this, we begin a series of articles on our website and in our newsletter that will hopefully shed some light on what you find in the store. See below for information on our rotisserie chickens. 

Our Rotisserie Chicken Costs More: Why?

Because it is:

BIG! The main reason is that it is bigger. Most markets roast 3 lb. birds. Ours are 25% larger, because we believe a chicken should feed your whole family - 4 generous servings or 6 standard servings. 

Humanely Raised - Fed an All-Natural, All-Vegetable Diet; Gets Plenty of Exercise and No Antibiotics or Growth Hormones.

Local & Lean - We purchase from Murray's Family Farm in Lancaster County, a group of family-owned farms that raise the only chicken in the country to be labeled 'Lean" by the USDA.

Brined - We Brine our birds for a Full Day to ensure that the meat retains all its juiciness during roasting.

Specially Seasoned - We Season our Chickens with Spice Blends created and hand-crafted by our CreekSide Chefs.

Fresh - We Run the Rotisserie Every Day and never sell a chicken that was roasted the day before.  

That's Why! This is just one good example of how we approach feeding you and your household. Stay tuned for future articles on how we make choices and how you can participate.