DUCK SOUP COOP

Board Meeting

May 5, 2005

Minutes

Present: Peggy James, John Naples, Tania Nezrick, Ruth Peterson, Mary Helen Polensky.

Absent:  Jim Neale, Cynthia Nelson, Kathy Stelford.

The meeting was called to order by Naples at 6:34 p.m.  Since there was no quorum, the following is merely a summary of the discussions.  No business was conducted.

The minutes will be posted as circulated.  Naples noted that he did not find any corrections or errors.

The next meetings will be on June 9 and July 14 in the Board Room unless otherwise indicated.  (Ruth Peterson will be absent on June 9)

Manager’s Report

The first quarter financial sheets show that sales were 4% over budget and 15% over the first quarter of last year.  The gross margin held the line at 33%.  Expenses seem to basically remain constant but sales are up resulting in a $7000 + operating profit.

Some variances over budget are as follows:

• Office supply expense reflects the replacement of ink and toner for all office machines and printers.
• Small equipment expense reflects the purchase of the bulk bins, Toledo scale, and shopping carts from the Menomonie Co-op mentioned at last month’s meeting.
• Store supply expense increases as sales increase.
• Bank charges increase with increase in credit card use.

(January 2005 -  credit/debit cards paid for 31% of sales

February 2005 -  33% of sales

March 2005 -  32% of sales)

• Education expense represents the cost of the Produce Marketing and Reset Seminar attended by the Assistant Manager.
• The member contribution line includes the $5000.00 anonymous donation made to seed the Point of Sale purchase fund.

James has contacted the person who will install the doors for the cooler.  There is also a need to check cooler drainage.  This must be done before we pursue working on the floor.

A signage person will come in the next ten days to give an estimate on a new outside sign and two sandwich board signs.

James is waiting for an estimate from an insurance company from the east coast that works extensively with cooperatives.  The anticipation is that our yearly cost will be considerably lower than what we now pay.

The intent to replace floor tiles in specific places may be dropped since it seems that the entire floor really needs to be replaced.  This probably will be done at the time of reset.  James will investigate the cost and other details.

The Point of Sale system business owner has promised to respond to some of the questions the board posed at the last meeting.  Naples asked how difficult it might be to integrate the results of a once a year “hand done” inventory with the computer generated numbers.  James says that others have done it and that they did not seem to find it problematic.  There are a number of intervention points at which this can be accomplished.

Committees

Nezrick asked for confirmation that we will be part of the August 13-14 Energy Fair in Oregon.  James reported that Equal Exchange called asking to partner with DSC at the fair.  All present were delighted at the prospect of such a partnership and agreed this would be a great added dimension. James informed us that Equal Exchange considers DSC their largest customer in this area.

The meeting came to a close at 6:05 p.m.

Ruth Peterson

Secretary

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