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Store and Department News | Wheatsville Co-op
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The Latest News from Wheatsville

South Lamar Store News

Plant Sale and Sustainability Fair

Join us Saturday, March 2nd at our 4001 South Lamar location from 11 am to 2 pm for our 2nd annual Plant Sale and Sustainability Fair. Our parking lot will be filled with a wide variety of local, organic plant starts from three vendors. All Wheatsville starts are buy 5 get the 6th one FREE. While you are here connect with master gardeners, permaculture experts and sustainability organizations. Visit the vendor village to pick up handcrafted tie dye and candles. Load up on free samples from Rambler GoodPop and Fara Coffee and be sure to check out the interactive Mobile River experience from our good friends at the Colorado River Alliance

Follow the event here!

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A message from the General Manager




Howdy Wheatsvillagers,

It’s been a few months since we first announced Owner Extras, our new exclusive benefit for Wheatsville owners. We officially launched the program with the start of our new fiscal year in June, and we’re excited to share that owners are now reaping the benefits with each and every shop!

In case you missed the prior announcement, this program grants owners an additional 10% off all sale items marked with our green Co+op Deals signage. As our flagship sales program, these deals were already some of the best and most numerous sales in our stores, with more than a 1,000 SKUs marked down in any given week. With Owner Extras, they now offer even better savings for co-op owners! If you haven’t taken advantage of this program yet, I would encourage you to check out our latest sales flyer to explore some of your opportunities to save this week.

The success and long-term sustainability of this new owner benefit hinges upon the participation of our ownership. In modeling the cost and impact of this program, we determined that it can pay for itself if each active owner—defined as those who have shopped within the past year—visit our stores just one more time per year on average. We hope that this day-to-day benefit will encourage you to come and see us just a little more frequently. As Board President Brandon Hines notes elsewhere in this newsletter, the strength of our shared cooperative enterprise depends heavily on the regular participation of our community of co-op owners. We literally cannot do it without you!

In addition to highlighting this new program, I also wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who participated in our recent shopper survey. Because this was sent to a random sample of owners and shoppers, many of you reading this may not be aware it was conducted. Nonetheless, we appreciate the candid and insightful feedback of those who participated. We look forward to using your feedback to continuously improve the co-op shopping experience and to further refine our products and services with the goal of better meeting your needs. Serving as the heart of this community is our highest purpose, and your feedback is critical to that process.

And finally, I would be remiss not to highlight the many events we have undertaken at both co-op locations as yet another reason to come and see us. If you haven’t been to one yet, we would love to see you at one of our Party on the Patio events, held each third Thursday of the month on the Guadalupe patio. Come enjoy an affordable meal and beverage (adult or otherwise) along with live local music. Our Taste of Plant-Based sampling was on Saturday, July 22. We went even bigger this year, with sampling and activities throughout the store and spilling out into the parking lot.

Thank you all for your ongoing support and patronage of the only
consumer-owned grocery co-op in Texas. Take care y’all!

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Wheatsville Sustainability Report

As a community owned co-op, we take our Cooperative Values & Principles very seriously. We fulfill the ideals of Principle #7, Concern for Community, in a number of different ways – one of which is being a good environmental steward. Through thoughtful, small daily actions – such as sorting our trash from recycling and compost after we eat – we can make a HUGE impact.

Thank you for doing your part – bringing your containers to refill, remembering your reusable bags, sorting your trash, composting, planting gardens, collecting rainwater, and for supporting your co-op!

Here are some things your co-op does to stay green:

1. We recycle metal, cardboard, plastic, paper, glass, food scraps, and cooking oil.
2. Break it Down, our local recyclers, estimate that we divert 20 tons of cardboard each month between both stores. That’s the equivalent of 3 elephants!
3 .Break it Down also estimates that we divert 100 tons of recycling (cardboard, glass, and plastic) each month between both stores. That’s the same as 50 full-grown cows!
4. Wheatsville is part of Austin Energy’s Green Choice program which uses the money we pay for utilities to build wind farms and help Austin reach its goal of 55% renewable energy use by 2025!
5. S. Lamar has 57 SolaTubes which use highly reflective fiber optic tubes to direct sunlight into our store so that we don’t have to use as    much electricity.
6.Ceiling lights at S. Lamar adjust intensity depending on the amount of natural sunlight coming in from our SolaTubes.
7.We only buy energy efficient coolers, refrigeration units, and equipment.
8.We offer bulk refills of wellness products like     Dr. Bronner’s soaps and lotions!
9.We use noVOC or lowVOC building materials and paint in order to have an odor-free store.
10.Our waterless urinal at S. Lamar saves 1.5 gallons of water per flush! 12 flushes per day saves 6,552 gallons of water per year!
11.Our rainwater collection tanks at Guadalupe give us enough water to irrigate all of our landscaping!
12.Our paper bags are made with 100% recovered fiber, minimum of 85% post consumer content, and are printed with water-based inks.
13.Lots of bike parking, showers for staff at S. Lamar, a bike to work benefit for staff members who ride 8+ hours/month.
14.Concrete parking lots that absorb less sunlight than asphalt and reflect less heat, light paint colors, and awnings help keep us cool through the hot summers.
15.Email receipts, double-sided receipts, and no receipts option significantly cut down the amount of paper register tape (BPA free) we have to buy.

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Apple Butter Recipe

The Best Fall Condiment is Apple Butter

The falling leaves and golden grasses may be more from the dry heat of summer than a signifier of chilly autumn temperatures, but as the first cool mornings arrive, I am ready to celebrate fall. The first local crops of apples will be showing up in produce soon, and apples are one of the most versatile and delicious of fall fruits. Apples are satisfyingly crunchy eaten out of hand, or soft and gooey sweet baked into a pastry. There is so much potential in an apple and one of my favorite autumn recipes is apple butter!

Apple butter is a humble but delicious condiment. A richer spicier version of the more ubiquitous apple sauce; it relies on heat and time to develop its signature smooth velvety texture. I like to make mine from a variety of apples but I usually skew towards the tarter varieties like Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Cortland. One perk of apple butter is that it does not require perfect apples. If you have a few apples that returned in lunch bags or backpacks a bit jostled and bruised. They are perfect candidates for cooking down into apple butter.

Peel and core the apples, then slice them into rough chunks about ½ inch in size. You can compost the scraps. My chickens enjoy the peels as a treat. Combine the chopped apples and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a steady simmer and cover. Occasionally stir and mash until the apples are soft and broken down. They will reach an apple sauce consistency. You could stop here and have unsweetened apple sauce, but I strongly recommend adding sugar and continuing to cook the apples further.

Add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar. The exact amount will vary based on the sugar level in the apples and your personal preference. I usually end up with between ½ to one cup of brown sugar to three pounds of apples. Further seasoning is up to you. I like to add one tablespoon of molasses, ½ teaspoon of vanilla, and ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Any warm spice will do in this recipe. Use what you like and have on hand. Continue cooking on low for several hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes to keep the bottom from browning too quickly. Your kitchen will be filled with the most delightful spicy sweet fall aroma. It will put you in the mood for a hot beverage and cozy scarf, even if it is still 90 degrees outside!

Eventually the apple butter will turn a uniform deep shade of brown and take on a glossy sheen. At this point it is ready. Turn off the heat and do a taste test for sweetness and seasoning. Resist the urge to eat it all straight from the pot! Once you have your preferred sweetness and spice allow the apple butter to cool slightly. The sauce will thicken up as it cools from the pectin in the apples.

I store my apple butter in a large ball jar in my fridge. Apple butter can be spread on toast, or dolloped on yogurt, or ice cream. It also adds a punchy, flavorful filling for homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee cake. It needn’t all be used on sweets; apple butter makes a fabulous partner as a glaze on pork or chicken. I usually find myself scraping the bottom of the jar within a month of making a batch. Happy Fall Cooking!

Apple Butter


INGREDIENTS

•   3lbs apples - peeled, cored,
     & roughly chopped
•   2 cups water
•   ½ - 1 cup brown sugar
•   1 Tbsp molasses
•   ½ tsp vanilla extract
•   ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
     (any warm spice is fine)
•   ¼ tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

1.  Simmer the apple chunks and water in a covered pot, stirring occasionally until the apples turn into apple sauce.
2.  Add ½ cup sugar and the molasses, spices, vanilla, and salt. Mix well and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens and turns dark brown. It should take about an hour and a half.
3.  Adjust seasonings to taste and allow to cool.
4.  Store in a container in the fridge.

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State of the Co-op

By Bill Bickford - General Manager

Among the most basic responsibilities we hold in common as Wheatsville owners is to remain informed regarding the state and health of our shared community asset. As we wrap up our annual audit and finalize financial statements for our 2021-2022 fiscal year, it seems an appropriate time for a general update on where your co-op stands and where we may be headed in the future.

Strong Financial Year
As Board Treasurer Stephanie Wong notes within the Audit & Review Committee’s report, Wheatsville produced very favorable financial results in our 2021-2022 fiscal year. We generated our strongest net income in many years, increased our cash balance, and reduced our liabilities. This could not be said in recent previous years, so we are very pleased to be in a much stronger financial position today.

It’s important to recognize that co-ops do not exist for the purpose of generating profit. It is also true, however, that operating profitably is a necessary prerequisite to increasing the positive impact we can have on our community. What ultimately sets co-ops apart from other businesses is how we use our profit.

I was delighted this past summer to pay our first staff bonus since 2015. We were also able to increase both our starting wage scales and available raise ranges. Our staff have persevered through some challenging years to work in the grocery business, so it has been gratifying to share our success with the folks who helped make it possible.

In addition to taking care of staff, we were also able to raise $130,580.10  for our Community Action partners, invest in needed fixtures and equipment, and have our first real conversations about patronage rebates to owners in several years. I’ll definitely take that as a win!

Caution: Bumpy Road Ahead
Despite the many positives of last fiscal year, we are nonetheless likely to face tough headwinds in the year ahead. Sales remain in decline at both stores, a trend your co-op has now contended with for several years running. With wages increased and pressure to raise them further likely in the future, profitability in the current fiscal year is far from guaranteed. In fact, your co-op posted a loss in our first quarter (June through August), consistently our most challenging quarter of the year.

Need for Growth
Our most critical challenge moving forward is to grow store sales. We must not only reverse the current negative sales trends; we must grow sales at a rate that can outpace current wage and cost inflation, which is no easy task. We are currently developing and implementing a variety of strategies to do so, perhaps the most important of which is improving our food service operations, discussed elsewhere in this newsletter.

That said, improving our current store operations—while critically important—is not the only avenue to increased market share and sales volume. As I shared with owners during a recent GM Connect event, your co-op is actively exploring growth opportunities for the first time since opening our Lamar store in 2013. Despite sales decline and wage pressures, our balance sheet is in its strongest position in several years. We have a higher cash balance and lower debt-to-equity ratio today than at any point since opening South Lamar, which may present an opportunity to grow our organization beyond the current locations.

Any plan to add locations would require the support and engagement of our community of more than 27,000 Wheatsville owners. We quite literally cannot do it without you! While there is not yet one specific opportunity we are committed to pursuing, your board and management do hope to reach alignment on a feasible growth opportunity over the next several months. When that time comes, I look forward to earning your support in furthering our founders’ vision of a robust community “that will grow and promote a transformation of society toward cooperation, justice, and non-exploitation” 

After 23 years connected to this co-op, I truly believe that Wheatsville sits at the heart of this Austin community. It is that community’s support that has sustained and nurtured the co-op to this point; and it will be your support again that ultimately sets our course moving forward. We shall endeavor to earn that support each

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Message From The General Manager: Bill Bickford

As this newsletter goes to print, we have just concluded our 2021-2022 fiscal year. Annual reports will be made available in an upcoming issue, following completion of our audit, but what I can confidently share today is that your co-op has had its most favorable financial year in at least a decade. After a number of years spent treading water financially, store operations have now produced positive cashflow for several consecutive quarters. This is an enormous improvement over our performance just a few years ago.

While the co-op was also profitable in each of the past two years, it was only minimally so—and not enough to do anything particularly exciting. This year, we get to make the kinds of energizing choices that are only possible with strong financial performance.

For starters, we plan to pay our first staff bonus since 2015. It was difficult to impossible to pay year-end bonuses when the co-op was not operating profitably, so I am very excited to be able to do so this year. Our staff has absolutely earned it. The operational and staffing challenges of the past two years have not been easy to work through, and our financial performance this past year is a direct result of our staff’s combined efforts. I am optimistic that this will mark a return to the regular staff bonuses of years past based on continued profitability moving forward.

Additionally, I anticipate the board having the opportunity to consider issuing a patronage rebate for the first time since 2013. The ability to pay a patronage rebate back to owners based on their purchases is a privilege unique to cooperative businesses. Much like staff bonuses, patronage rebates are only possible when the co-op is financially successful. While the authority to issue a patronage rebate rests solely with our Board of Directors, I am excited to be able to explore this option for the first time in several years. At minimum, your board and I will have an opportunity to discuss how best to invest this surplus toward our co-op’s future.

While the above is exciting news to share, it’s important to remember that strong financial performance is much more easily lost than achieved. Last year’s performance was strong, yet the co-op still faces several financial and operational challenges moving forward—all the more reason to invest this surplus wisely.

Most importantly, sales and customer count continue to decline year-over-year. That fact, combined with high cost inflation and the continual need to increase staff wages, will ultimately either reduce or eliminate financial gains or force us to operate with fewer staff, which in turn will impact service. The only mathematical way to avoid that outcome is to increase sales, which must be our focus in the year ahead in order to produce similar year-end results.

To that end, if you have feedback on how we can better meet your needs or those of your friends and neighbors, we would love to hear from you. What can we carry that you have to go elsewhere to get? What could we do to make it easier for you to visit your co-op over a competitor? We would appreciate an email to info@wheatsville.com with your thoughts!

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Staff Spotlight: Amy

Hi folks, my name is Amy, and I have worked at Wheatsville for just over 8 years; throughout that time, I've worked in a few different departments and collected a few skills along the way! I've worked as a bread baker, produce VAP clerk {think sliced and prepped fruits & veggies,) cashier, and now as a Manager on Duty where I help provide guidance and support to the front-end staff, and really anyone throughout the store.

Where are you from and when did you get to Austin?
I grew up in Central Texas, really the Middle-of-Nowhere during the 1980s. Where I grew up is all farms, prairie land, and big skies. I have lived in Austin for about 15 years but grew up only about an hour northeast of here, so I've been coming to Austin for years to go to local shows and be immersed in the local music scene. 


What is your favorite product at Wheatsville?
Anything from Bouldin Food Forest. They grow various kinds of basil and other herbs, micro greens, and leafy greens all right down the road in Rogers, Texas. Peppery arugula, purple basil, and herb-infused bouquets of intoxicatingly beautiful flowers are on my shopping list literally every week. Down the road a stretch in another direction in Fredonia is Buena Tierra Farms.
We get potatoes, squash, kale, and radicchio (just to name a few) from them and they are stellar quality. I'm always on the lookout for their purple potatoes--they make any potato dish instantly more magical and nutritious!


What is something most people don’t know about you?
I'm pretty reserved so I'm sure there is a lot people don’t know about me. Aside from my Wheatsville life I've worked in the past with local drag queens and theatre companies doing hair, makeup, and costume design. I enjoy slow things like birdwatching, reading, dreaming, and cloud-gazing. I'm usually obsessed with/and researching some particular facet or niche of one of my revolving doors of intense interests: genealogy (I've mapped my family tree for several generations,) history, literature (lifelong love of the Romantic poets,) philosophy, music {jazz, punk, rock n roll in its various iterations...but most recently I've been exploring the works of Liszt and other Romantics,) folklore, workers' rights, subversive counterculture throughout time, Giallo films. I'm obsessed with the ocean and dream about it nearly every night. 


Why Wheatsville? What appeals to you about the cooperative model?
To borrow a comment from one of my co-workers, where you sell your labor matters. I've never envisioned myself working for a corporation where all the money, authority, and power is funneled to the top while being built on the labor of others, and without regard for their concerns. A co-op fundamentally does not operate that way, and I appreciate that as consumers, owners, and workers we are empowered to use our voice if/when we feel compelled to do so. I like that community involvement is built into the way we operate, every day in myriad ways. Volunteering, collecting donations within the community, and donating our own time, money, and space to local organizations is a huge part of what we do.

As far as my current role within the co-op, I like that I have an opportunity to hear my co-workers' concerns and needs, and can provide support and solutions. I think that the pandemic world has made evident, more than ever, how valuable workers are, and it is one of my big aims to really show up for my peers at work in a way that allows them to feel that their time and energy is appreciated, and that they are supported in meaningful ways.

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Staff Spotlight: Chris Strahan

What’s your history with Wheatsville?
I had heard of Wheatsville long ago in Austin legends, but only started going once I moved to the South side of town. I remember the first time I left Wheatsville with my partner I told them “I didn’t hate that… and I usually hate the grocery store!” and I’ve been coming back ever since.

Where are you from and when did you get to Austin?
I was born and raised in North Austin, and I’ve lived in multiple parts of the city. I moved into a place on the South side with my partner a few years ago and I’ve been in love with this part of the city ever since. It still has that amazing, weird Old Austin vibe I remember from growing up here.

What is your favorite product at Wheatsville?
I don’t think I can pick just one! Of course, I love the popcorn tofu, the amazing selection of local & organic produce, all of the delicious vegan & gluten free baked goods… I love that it’s easy to shop at Wheatsville if you have dietary restrictions, and that it’s easy to make healthy decisions here!

What’s your favorite place to go in Austin?
This is another hard one! As far as business go, lately I’ve been obsessed with Casa de Luz, but I love Square Rut kava bar, Mr. Natural, and Bouldin Creek Café. I also love all the walking spots and nature easily accessible from the city…the Barton Creek Greenbelt is amazing, but I have to shout out Brushy Creek Regional Trail where I cut my teeth as a young’un… check it out if you’re ever that far north!

What is something most people don’t know about you?
My partner and I are currently building a tiny house and are super excited about that! We also follow a gluten free vegan diet.

Why Wheatsville?
I love how many organic/gluten free/vegan/local/fair trade options there are! Also, I don’t have to avoid brands I don’t trust or boycott like at most grocery stores...

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