All posts by Gary Huber

IFC Pick-up is this Thursday!

July 12, 2016
by Gary Huber

We had 230 members order 2,510 different items this cycle. Total purchases right at $14,781, which is about a 5% increase over last year’s same cycle sales. Growth is good; we really appreciate your purchases.

If you are getting this message as an email, YOU ORDERED SOMETHING that needs to be picked up (each cycle a few people don’t realize they’ve ordered because we don’t use a check-out step).

Some quick info on distribution:

1. If you are picking up at Franklin Plaza, be sure to check out products available for purchase in our Retail Center. There are lots of good stuff you can add to your online orders.

2. Specifics on times and locations for all our sites are available with this link.

NOTE: IF YOU ARRIVE BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START TIME, OUR VOLUNTEERS WON’T BE READY. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND BE PATIENT.

3. Our alternative pick up time will be from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, July 16. If we don’t see you Thursday, we’ll assume you are coming Saturday.

4. We accept EBT cards for payment ONLY AT OUR Franklin Plaza site. If you are an EBT member and are picking up at another location, please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop so we can arrange for processing your payment

Final note: It’s a good idea to check to be sure your pick-up site is correct. You can access your invoice by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice”. If it’s not right, send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop.

From the Board: Member Survey Results

July 9, 2016
by Gary Huber

Thanks to board member Susan Seitz for writing these notes about our most recent consumer survey!

Several months ago you were asked to fill out an online survey about your experiences with the Iowa Food Coop. The board appreciates the time and thoughtfulness that went into filling out those surveys and would like to share some information about the results. The following is a small snapshot of the total results. If you would like more details about these results, we can make that happen. For now here are some overall general observations of what our members have experienced while ordering from IFC.

Our membership is pretty much divided into thirds when it comes to length of time in the coop with a little over 1/3 being members for one year or less, a little over 1/3 belonging for one to four years, and a little over 1/4 of our members belonging for more than four years.

The vast majority (86%) of the respondents seem satisfied with their over-all shopping experience. Of the 86% sixty-five percent were very satisfied. Respondents also gave high marks to their pick-up experiences, using words like friendly, competent, organized, and great volunteers.

Happy Earth Day (20)

When asked their reasons for being a member of the coop, 135 responded. The word local was used 85 times, and both high quality and healthful were mentioned 50 times. Other multiple responses were good for the environment, less carbon foot print, know where my food comes from, like to support sustainable farming, and lots of support for local farmers.

Around half of our members first learned about the coop from personal contacts, i.e., friends, family, and IFC producers. Around one quarter found IFC on line, and the rest from other ways.

Happy Earth Day (19)

The vast majority of members (79% )spend less than 25% of their food dollars shopping with the IFC. Only 2% of members spend 75% or more of their food dollars with the IFC. There were 39 responses to what would increase spending with the coop. Fifteen mentioned more pickup frequency or convenience of location/time and fourteen mentioned more variety. Lower prices and quality were mentioned by a few.

The individual comments were varied, thoughtful, thought-provoking and very helpful to us as a board. We randomly picked one comment to share and it could have been a hundred or more. One person responded to her/his experience of picking up food at the Franklin site with…

“I love it! I noticed there are some staples on the shelves there. I never asked but assume these are for sale. I need to take time to look around more and see if there are last minute items I can add to my order.”

Just another reminder… this is a small part of a lot of data we learned from you, our valued customers. We will continue to process this information and use it to improve and expand IFC while keeping the quality of products and experience as high as possible.

IFC Distribution Today (Tomorrow in Ames). Note New ANK Location!

June 30, 2016
by Gary Huber

This is being sent via email to everyone who ordered this cycle. Today is distribution at our Osceola, Albia, Indianola, Ottumwa, and Des Moines area sites, and tomorrow is distribution in Ames. Our alternative pick up time is Saturday from 10:30 am to noon at our Franklin Plaza site. No need to give us a heads up if you want to come Saturday.

NOTE: First Family Church in Ankeny has its Vacation Bible School this week, so we’ll use the parking lot of Ankeny Sanitation, which is just west of the church on the same side of the road. Look for a sign along the road and our popup tent. It’s suppose to be a nice day, so doing it outdoors will be fun.

Also, the growing season is now if full bloom, so to speak. We’ve lots of produce coming in. We try to make sure the quality is good, but the volume make examining it all closely a challenge. Be sure to let us know if something you get isn’t of acceptable quality with an email to problems@iowafood.coop.

IFC Pick-up is this Thursday: Note different ANK pick up location!

June 27, 2016
by Gary Huber

We had 212 members order 2,114 different items this cycle. Total purchases just over $12,000. We are okay with that number. It seems counter intuitive, but summer time sales through IFC go down because of options like farmers’ markets. plus a lot of our members have home gardens. So, we really appreciate your purchases.

If you are getting this message as an email, YOU ORDERED SOMETHING that needs to be picked up (each cycle a few people don’t realize they’ve ordered because we don’t use a check-out step).

NOTE: First Family Church in Ankeny has its Vacation Bible School this week, so we’ll use the parking lot of Ankeny Sanitation, which is just west of the church on the same side of the road. Look for a sign along the road and our popup tent. It’s suppose to be a nice day, so doing it outdoors will be fun.

Some quick info on distribution:

1. If you are picking up at Franklin Plaza, be sure to check out products available for purchase in our Retail Center. There are lots of good stuff you can add to your online orders.

2. Specifics on times and locations for all our sites are available with this link.

NOTE: IF YOU ARRIVE BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START TIME, OUR VOLUNTEERS WON’T BE READY. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND BE PATIENT.

3. Our alternative pick up time will be from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, July 2. If we don’t see you Thursday, we’ll assume you are coming Saturday.

4. We accept EBT cards for payment ONLY AT OUR Franklin Plaza site. If you are an EBT member and are picking up at another location, please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop so we can arrange for processing your payment

Final note: It’s a good idea to check to be sure your pick-up site is correct. You can access your invoice by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice”. If it’s not right, send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop.

IFC Distribution Today (Tomorrow in Ames)!

June 16, 2016
by Gary Huber

This is being sent via email to everyone who ordered this cycle. Today is distribution at our Osceola, Albia, Indianola, Ottumwa, and Des Moines area sites, and tomorrow is distribution in Ames. Our alternative pick up time is Saturday from 10:30 am to noon at our Franklin Plaza site. No need to give us a heads up if you want to come Saturday.

Also, the growing season is now if full bloom, so to speak. We’ve lots of produce coming in. We try to make sure the quality is good, but the volume make examining it all closely a challenge. Be sure to let us know if something you get isn’t of acceptable quality with an email to problems@iowafood.coop.

IFC Pick-up is this Thursday!

June 13, 2016
by Gary Huber

We had 208 members order 2,250 different items this cycle. Total purchases right at $13,000. Last year’s same cycle sales were $11,698, so that’s about an 11% growth in same cycle sales.

We are happy with that number. It seems counter intuitive, but sales through the IFC go down in the summer because of other options like farmers’ markets.

So, we really appreciate your purchases.

If you are getting this message as an email, YOU ORDERED SOMETHING that needs to be picked up (each cycle a few people don’t realize they’ve ordered because we don’t use a check-out step).

Some quick info on distribution:

1. If you are picking up at Franklin Plaza, be sure to check out products available for purchase in our Retail Center. There are lots of good stuff you can add to your online orders.

2. Specifics on times and locations for all our sites are available with this link.

NOTE: IF YOU ARRIVE BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START TIME, OUR VOLUNTEERS WON’T BE READY. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND BE PATIENT.

3. Our alternative pick up time will be from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, June 18. If we don’t see you Thursday, we’ll assume you are coming Saturday.

4. We accept EBT cards for payment ONLY AT OUR Franklin Plaza site. If you are an EBT member and are picking up at another location, please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop so we can arrange for processing your payment

Final note: It’s a good idea to check to be sure your pick-up site is correct. You can access your invoice by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice”. If it’s not right, send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop.

IFC Distribution Today (Tomorrow in Ames)!

June 2, 2016
by Gary Huber

This is being sent via email to everyone who ordered this cycle. Today is distribution at our Osceola, Albia, Indianola, Ottumwa, and Des Moines area sites, and tomorrow is distribution in Ames. Our alternative pick up time is Saturday from 10:30 am to noon at our Franklin Plaza site. No need to give us a heads up if you want to come Saturday.

Also, we got a call from Bryan with IA Orchard yesterday afternoon. He said they wouldn’t be delivering the strawberries that had been ordered because they were too small to pick, so we had to go in and out the product. Not sure if they’ll be in touch with you or not, but we thought we should at least give you a heads up.

IFC Pick-up is this Thursday!

May 31, 2016
by Gary Huber

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. If you are getting this message as an email, YOU ORDERED SOMETHING that needs to be picked up (each cycle a few people don’t realize they’ve ordered because we don’t use a check-out step).

Some quick info on distribution:

1. If you are picking up at Franklin Plaza, be sure to check out the products available for purchase in our Retail Center. There’s lots of good stuff you can add to your online orders.

2. Specifics on on times and locations for all our sites are available with this link.

NOTE: IF YOU ARRIVE BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START TIME, OUR VOLUNTEERS WON’T BE READY. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND BE PATIENT.

3. Our alternative pick up time will be from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, June 4. If we don’t see you Thursday, we’ll assume you are coming Saturday.

4. We can accept EBT cards for payment ONLY AT OUR Franklin Plaza site. If you are an EBT member and are picking up at another location, please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop so we can arrange for processing your payment

Final note: It’s a good idea to check to be sure your pick-up site is correct. You can access your invoice by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice”. If it’s not right, send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop.

IFC Distribution Today (Tomorrow in Ames)!

May 19, 2016
by Gary Huber

This is being sent via email to everyone who ordered this cycle. Today is distribution at our Osceola, Albia, Indianola, Ottumwa, and Des Moines area sites, and tomorrow is distribution in Ames. Our alternative pick up time is Saturday from 10:30 am to noon at our Franklin Plaza site. No need to give us a heads up if you want to come Saturday.

Also, Good Earth Organics added some weight to the one pound bundles of asparagus they sold this cycle. They’d run short last cycle and promised affected folks extra if they ordered again this cycle. Rather than try to track who needed the extra, everyone will be getting larger bundles.

IFC Pick-up is this Thursday!

May 17, 2016
by Gary Huber

We had 236 members order 2,242 different items this cycle with total purchases at almost $14,900. That’s a 15% increase in same cycle sales from this time last year. Peachy cool. Thank you.

If you are getting this message as an email, YOU ORDERED SOMETHING that needs to be picked up (each cycle a few people don’t realize they’ve ordered because we don’t use a check-out step).

Some quick info on distribution:

1. Specifics on on times and locations for all our sites are available with this link.

NOTE: IF YOU ARRIVE BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START TIME, OUR VOLUNTEERS WON’T BE READY. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND BE PATIENT.

2. Our alternative pick up time will be from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, May 21. We use to want folks to let us know if they’ll be picking up Saturday, but that’s not necessary anymore. If we don’t see you Thursday, we’ll assume you are coming Saturday.

3. We can accept EBT cards for payment ONLY AT OUR Franklin Plaza site. If you are an EBT member and are picking up at another location, please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop so we can arrange for processing your payment

Final note: It’s a good idea to check to be sure your pick-up site is correct. You can access your invoice by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice”. If it’s not right, send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop.