Know Your Board: David King

As I start my 2^nd term (3^rd year) on the Board of the Richmond Food Co-op, I am focused on opening the store. 

Our membership number (650+) shows us to be rounding the clubhouse turn, with 800 members being the next furlong marker in the financing of our grocery store.  As cooperative, we need a critical mass of members to ensure that our member loan campaign can succeed; reaching our member loan target in turn will allow us to secure a commercial loan.  We also need a critical mass of members to ensure that we meet our sales projections once the store is open.

This year, the Board will take very seriously our role as your representatives as we commit the Co-op to a financing plan for opening the store.  Nothing could be more important.  We are confident that, with the assistance of Michele and our outside consultants from the Food Co-op Initiative, we can and will get this right.

As we enter the season of planting after a long winter – very enjoyable to those of us who love snow – I get a strong feeling (in addition to the numbers) that the Co-op grocery store will soon be a reality!

-David King, Richmond Food Co-op Board Member

Know Your New Board: Annie Andrews

Like other Co-op members, I’m passionate about food. I love Saturday mornings at the Farmer’s Markets. I’ve been a member of CSAs in and around Richmond. I seek a connection to what I eat and where it comes from. And as the mom of an ADHD child, I know that the quality and purity of our foods makes a significant difference in our health and our lives. 

So when I first heard about the Richmond Food Co-op in March 2013, I immediately signed up. The idea of a local, community-owned enterprise was appealing for so many reasons. Over these next many months, I attended a few meetings, kept up with the email updates, and shared news with friends and family I thought would be interested in joining as well. But I’ll be honest, I wasn’t heavily involved. There were others with previous Co-op experience that seemed to really know what to do to get this Co-op idea off the ground. (And I couldn’t wait for them to do it!) But I wasn’t exactly sure how I could help more…until the call for new board members came out. (Way to jump right in, right?) But specifically, the call for members who have grocery and food experience caught my attention—this is how I can help!

“But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.”

You see, what makes me uniquely qualified to serve on the board is that while I’m crazy about food, I also know food, in particular the food industry. My entire working life has been the business of food. I’ve worked in restaurants, had a successful career in foodservice distribution, and am currently the Directory of Operations at FeedMore. In my career, I have negotiated marketing programs with national manufacturers, picked corn with local farmers, created recipes, managed inventories, purchased products, sold goods, and a whole lot more. I understand the logistical and operational needs to procure, transport, store, and distribute grocery products. (Move over chefs, that’s the sexy side of the food biz.) 

I believe there’s a wealth of experiences in all of us. I’m excited to share mine and learn about yours. We’re going to be owners in something together—that’s a big deal to me. If I want others to speak up with their ideas and to share their knowledge, then I recognize that I need to do the same. As the Co-op moves into the next phase of operations, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my experiences and be a voice for your ideas.

-Annie Andrews, Co-op Board Member

Know Your New Board: Michael DeLano

I have been involved with co-ops all my life starting at the Lexington Co-op in Buffalo NY doing member hours with my mom and dad, and eventually working as the produce manager there for several years. I was introduced to Credit unions there and have supported worker owned and cooperative model business since. I also am an entrepreneur. I bought out the Homebrew supplies from the co-op when I left and opened my first business Mighty Niagara Brewer, a homebrew supply. I then melded that business into Campus WheelWorks a full service Bicycle shop doing $1 million in sales per year. My latest venture is Ardent Craft ales. I am an original co-op member of the brewers guild and an investor and Board of Directors member. This brewery in RVA is located in Scott’s Addition.

My current job is my dream job. I work for the best bicycle company in the world Giant Bicycle. I am an Account Executive for the DC, VA NC territories and love to ride. Sales is my passion and it melds well with my riding passion and vision of bicycles as the alternative transportation/recreation mode for modern life. I will bring my sales training abilities to the co-op so we can compete with a very competitive marketplace in RVA for groceries.

I am excited to be a part of the early development and implementation of the Richmond Food Co-op. Growing up in a co-op environment as a child I miss the membership and destiny we have with our food source. Richmond has been lacking this vital connection since I moved here in 1999. There are many options for consumers to simply buy their good food from corporations but the voice I had in making sure my ethics and ethos in my food choices is missing. I want to bring back that voice of membership to the food experience in Richmond.

-Michael DeLano, Co-op Board Member

Know Your New Board: Kristin Klein

Hello!  If you are reading this post, it is because you share my passion for quality food and bringing a member-owned grocery store to Richmond (our first!)  You are also reading this post because you are concerned about doing what is best for the co-op and our future direction.  I want to give you an idea of what I will do for the co-op, and what values I stand behind in bringing this organization forward.

First let me address my values. Richmond needs an affordable, high quality, accessible, organic-minded grocery store (I say organic minded because I am a firm believer in local farmers who do not pay for the organic certification, but still practice all natural food production.)  I think those points are important to highlight – affordability (we need to be able to price our items correctly so that we can keep our doors open, but still be affordable to the majority), high quality and organic-minded – well, keeping pesticides out of our foods and bodies is so important to staying healthy.  

Second, in order to get to the point where we can open our doors, we need two things: 1) more members, and 2) more capital.  I have been working hard to get more members in the door, and continue to be an advocate of the Co-op to my friends, neighbors, and colleagues.  Two of my friends bought a membership to the Co-op as my birthday present! For the capital raise, we are planning to raise capital through a member loan campaign. With my background in Finance – 14 years in the financial services industry - I can help guide the Co-op through the process, and help foresee and prevent possible pitfalls.  

Third, and most importantly: I have been committed to the Co-op for well over a year, and have already planned and executed two successful community events.  Our first event brought more than twenty people to a tour of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and our second event was a fun happy hour at the Cask Cafe.  I have been out there helping in whatever way I can.

-Kristin Klein, Board Member

Know Your Board: Kelsey Miller

The reason the Co-op's vision resonates with me is simple: I see it as a way for Richmonders of all socioeconomic standings to get fresh, local produce onto their plates while keeping dollars in their wallets. If you’re on the receiving end of our monthly board updates and you attend our monthly meetings, then you know how we’re all working towards that common goal.  

So how do we live our food values until opening day? Here are three ways that I’m using my dollar to vote for good food pre-Co-op.

1. Put a Plant In It: There are few living situations that are completely devoid of growing opportunities. From Chia Pets to full-fledged raised garden beds, there’s a gardening method that’ll suit just about any house setup.

The Problem: Alas, one cannot live on basil and tomatoes alone.

The Solution:  The Co-op provides Mozzarella to make a caprese diet a little more manageable.

2. Sharing is Caring: Richmond has so many great options when it comes to community shared agriculture, making this the perfect base around which to build meals.

The Problem: The CSA calendar only gets us so far and then we’re left cold and hungry in the months of December, January and February.

The Solution: Even when winter weather necessitates buying products that are a little more preserved than fresh veggies and fruits, the Co-op means we can continue to support local vendors.

3. Breaking the Chain: Again with the Richmond love--we have so many options for restaurants that are locally sourced, making it easy to skip the chains and go local.

The Problem: These local restaurants need to know that this is what their diners want if they’re going to keep moving closer and closer to being 100% locally sourced.

The Solution: Supporting a thriving, successful Co-op--and moving away from Big Box stores--means that we as individuals and as a community can make our food values heard, continuing this move towards 100% local sourcing.

To sum it all up, you are what you eat and I see the Co-op as making all of us member/owners local, sustainable and healthy.

-Kelsey Miller, Board Treasurer

Know Your Board: David King

The vision for the Richmond Food Co-op resonates with me because at its core it boils down to two things:  a community and a grocery store. 

By a community, I mean a group of like-minded people with similar values – in this case, healthy and exciting living.  Too much of what is important to me in society has been “taken over” by large commercial interests – food, clothing, music, entertainment.  Fortunately, in recent years there is a trend back to local:  in Richmond we can again find really good local live music, theatre, and restaurants.  Co-op member/owners care about such things.  We are a community.

Sources of locally produced and healthy foods are expanding, too, which for those of us who like to cook is a promising trend.  It’s not easy, though:  “What day of the week is it – okay, Wednesday, I’ll drop by Lakeside Farmer’s Market.”  The evolution from supermarkets (with very little in the way of local foods) to specialty (and expensive) organic grocery stores to farmers’ markets to CSA’s should now be….a grocery store that sources IT ALL, every day, all day.  This is a an important component of the vision.

If you are reading this, here’s the most important thing you can do this week:  find one person and invite him/her to join the Richmond Food Co-op.  Thank you!

-David King, Board Secretary