Where Did All The Groceries Go?

DEAR BLOOMINGFOODS OWNER-MEMBERS & SHOPPERS,

Although concerns about the overall health of the US food supply chain have mostly subsided, we are still experiencing longer-term out-of-stocks with some of your favorite brands. In an effort to keep you updated with the latest information, we’d like to share some of the primary factors that are creating these out-of-stocks. Additionally, we’d like to share a few of the brands and types of items with which we’re experiencing longer-term stocking challenges. 

The primary factors that have affected the availability of some of your favorite grocery items are:

• The initial stockpiling and panic buying led to “pipeline” shortages

• Transportation & distribution disruptions and delays

• Production and facility capacity is greatly reduced (production hours have changed, physical reconfiguration of some facilities for safer work experiences has slowed production and employee health concerns have altered shift work)

• At home cooking and eating while restaurants operate at reduced capacity results in increased consumer demand for in-store groceries

• Travel restrictions and agricultural distribution disruptions have curtailed the supplies of imported products (i.e. canned tomatoes)

• Shortage of raw materials (i.e. rice is harvested once annually and with the spike in demand, some reserves have been depleted until the next harvest in the fall.)

• Weather: the regional apple crop that we expected later this summer has been destroyed by late spring frosts

• The surplus of produce (fruits and vegetables) that would normally be sold to shuttered schools and restaurants is causing quality issues in warehouses across the country

• The whole agricultural sector is being affected by a shortage of seasonal workers

• State regulations regarding Hot Bar/Salad Bar/Buffet style services have dictated what we can and cannot offer (our Kitchen and Deli staff have implemented some creative solutions!)

These are a few of your favorite brands that are experiencing availability challenges:

• Amy’s Frozen foods

• Amy’s Canned soups

• Field Day (all categories)

• Seventh Generation cleaning supplies and paper goods

• Many varieties of tofu 

• Bob’s Red Mill

• Lundberg Family Farms rice

• Bubbies pickles (some varieties) and horseradish

• Applegate Farms frozen sausages

• Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

We are frequently communicating with representatives from our distributor, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and will continue to monitor product availability and do our best to provide reasonable alternatives for long-term out-of-stocks. In spite of the difficulties of this pandemic, our mission still remains the same. We will continue to do everything we can to provide healthy, high quality, sustainable, and environmentally-sound products at a fair price to our community.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Sincerely,

The Bloomingfoods Team

Thank You From Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County

Dear all our friends at Bloomingfoods,

Thank you for helping build Positive Change in our community. It is hard to put into words the emotions we are all experiencing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend our work and our daily lives. As we face the challenges ahead, we are so grateful for the impact made by Bloomingfoods’ patrons through your Positive Change program. As we restart our construction program, we will put this gift right to work helping families seeking safe and affordable shelter in Monroe County. We feel doubly blessed for the anonymous matching gift in our benefit during the first week of June - we are so happy to be part of such a kind and caring community! Habitat for Humanity has always been a community-based organization, and we will continue to offer our hand to the hardworking families in Monroe County who need it most. With your partnership, we stand ready to accelerate efforts to build strength and stability with renewed energy and commitment. Thank you to everyone at Bloomingfoods for helping Habitat families to move forward in the face of challenging times.

In partnership,

Colleen McKenna Development
Director, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County

Return of Reusable Bags

During this pandemic we have focused on continuing to provide our community with local, fair, and healthy products as safely as possible. As restrictions ease and new information arises, we will continue to modify our own safe shopping measures in response. Today we would like to provide you with an update on a changing measure -- the use of reusable shopping bags. 

Effective immediately, you can bring reusable shopping bags back into the co-op. We had been restricting their use. However, recent information released by the CDC suggests that surface to person contact is not thought to be the main way COVID-19 is spreading. This new information, combined with the negative environmental impact of using more paper bags, has prompted this change.

If you do elect to bring in reusable bags, we ask that you please plan to bag your own groceries.

We will continue to remain diligent in cleaning and sanitizing surfaces in our stores, and still highly encourage our customers to frequently wash and sanitize their hands. We also recommend wiping down your reusable bags after each use. 

Thank you again for your support and understanding. 

Response to Social Injustices: Starting the Dialogue

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

As a co-op, Bloomingfoods has a commitment to the cooperative values of equality, equity, and solidarity. We also believe in our 7 Cooperative Principles, which includes ‘Concern for Community’. Along with so many others, we want to share our collective voice and support for the Black community. Social injustice and racism continue to fester in towns across the country, including our own. This has gone on for far too long. We stand by our commitment to our values and principles. We stand with our community. We recognize that we’re not perfect individually or collectively, but we must continue to do more towards the fulfillment of our values and principles. We also recognize that we don’t have all the answers. We have started and will continue to reach out to various Black leaders, partners, and organizations within our community with the aim of listening, learning, and identifying ways we can provide support. We are also committed to providing diversity and inclusion training for our staff. We will share more details about additional ways we intend to provide support as they become solidified. We’re also open to suggestions from our community. 

This post will serve as a resource for our community to become further educated on racism and social injustice. This is a live page that will continue to be modified over time. 

What Can YOU Do to be Allies of the Black Community?

• Educate yourself. Read books and articles, watch movies and documentaries, and listen to Black and Brown people to hear their stories to better understand what racism is, it’s effects, and how you can help dismantle it. Check out the resources below for steps you can take to improve racial justice and equality in the Black community.

• When you hear or see injustice or racism occurring, ask your friends of color how they’re doing? Just that question goes further than you know.

• Donate or volunteer for an organization led by people of color that is committed to advancing social change in Black and Brown communities. Some examples below.

RESOURCES:

Books: 

Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults

31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

Articles:

PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month

Food and Land Justice for Black Americans

Local Links: 

Minority & Women Owned Business in Bloomington

Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center

Where to donate:

Black Lives Matter - Bloomington

American Civil Liberties Union

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

And so many more! Please reach out if you would like to share more resources for us to post to this list.
info@bloomingfoods.coop

A Note from our Owner-Member Connection Committee

The Owner-Member Connection Committee’s purpose is to ensure that the board of directors remains connected to the values, goals, and interests of the Bloomington Cooperative Services owner-members. This committee is open to any Owner-Member in good standing. For questions or more information on the OMCC please contact Corbin Baird at corbin@bloomingfoods.coop.

Missing Bloomingfoods
by Maggie Sullivan

I think March 13 - April 12 was the longest stretch of time in the last five years that I did not go to Bloomingfoods. Given all the disruption and weirdness of living through a global pandemic, it is a minor detail and yet staying away from the co-op was one of the biggest changes I made. No lunchtime hot bar trips? No meetings in the cafe? No "quick" stops for an onion and a carton of eggs that somehow took an hour because I had to catch up with four different friends? No embarrassing struggles to keep my five-year-old out of the bulk bins?

I missed it.  And when I finally ventured in, I was both comforted and saddened. So much is the same and yet so much is different. I am grateful that both staff and customers are wearing masks to protect all of us, and yet it is a change that is hard to embrace. At least I can still see the eye crinkles when people smile. There may not be hugging in the aisles these days but I still heard laughter and saw gestures of love and community. 

Several articles have come out recently about the importance of casual encounters and weak connections. The barista who greets you by name. The co-worker who compliments your shoes. The neighbor who smiles and waves to your children. We tend to overlook these moments and take them for granted. Now many of them have disappeared from our lives.

For me, Bloomingfoods is a place where for many years I have refilled my tank with friendly smiles and nods but also a place where I have experienced deep connections. Running into an old friend and laughing about the "good old days." Getting a hug that I didn't know I needed. Venting about the stress and chaos that is life. Listening to a story of struggle and despair that reminded me of all the blessings in my life. Yes, these conversations can happen anywhere but for me they happen frequently at the co-op.

While I can still count on having my spirits lifted when I visit Bloomingfoods, I don't pop in as often as I used to. To make up for the missed opportunities for connections, I'm trying to make community connections in other ways. A fun new game is to contact people beyond my circle of close friends just to say "Hey, I'm thinking of you. Hope you are well." Often I reach out via e-mail or on Facebook. I am also rediscovering the joys of phone calls, chatting with my neighbors (from a distance), and old-fashioned letters.  

These days I find it hard to think about the future. I can not wish for a return to a "normal" life when it has become clear that our old "normal" was a disaster of inequity and precariousness. I can not quite muster up the energy to envision a new and improved future when so much of my attention is focused on survival. So I do what I can to stay sane and play my very small part in helping others do the same.

I hope that some day I can return to sharing a meal from the hot bar with a group of friends, old and new. Until then, I invite you to join me in rebuilding community however feels safe to you. If you'd like a letter or postcard of encouragement, please let me know. Seriously.  

Maggie Sullivan

maggie@greencouple.com

Addressing Meat Shortage Concerns

Dear Bloomingfoods Owner-Members & Shoppers,

Over the past few weeks, concerns about the US food supply chain have made national news as several large meat processing and packaging plants suspended operations due to COVID-19 outbreaks within their workforce. With this uncertainty, we want to take a moment to share what Bloomingfoods is doing to maintain a safe and stable meat supply.     

We Value Local!

Most of our meat products are sourced locally. By local we mean that these products are sourced within the state of Indiana. This results in less miles traveled and fewer handoffs between farms and your table. This also means that we have largely been unaffected by the closures of these large processing and packaging plants, because we work primarily with local producers who in turn work with local processing and packaging companies.    

Our Suppliers

Our two biggest suppliers are Miller Poultry for poultry and Fischer Farms for beef and pork. Both are local. Throughout the pandemic we have been in close contact with both producers, along with our other producers and distributors. All have indicated that they’ve added new protocols to further protect their workforce, their products, and their customers. Thus far, any shortages that Bloomingfoods has experienced have been attributed to inflated customer demand and not to the closures of large packaging and processing plants that have been featured in national news stories. 

However, we do want to let our customers know that on May 4th, Miller Poultry paused operations at their plant in Steuben County, Indiana. This was done for precautionary reasons as they awaited COVID-19 test results for their employees. Production resumed on Tuesday at 70% capacity and will continue at this capacity through Saturday. Full production is expected to resume again on Monday, May 11th as long as employees currently in quarantine are able to return to work.  

With that said, we will continue to closely monitor this situation and will remain in close contact with our producers and distributors. Like us, they too are focused on keeping their staff, products, and customers safe. In the event that our supply chain becomes compromised, we will quickly pivot to alternative sources that allow us to maintain our commitment to providing healthy, high-quality, and sustainable products.  

Thank you for your continued support and trust in Bloomingfoods!

Sincerely,

Jordan Maxedon, Bloomingfoods East Deli Manager & Jim Meehan, Bloomingfoods Near West Deli Manager

Grocery Shopping in the Time of Coronavirus

As coronavirus spreads globally and across the US, Bloomingfoods wants to ask our community to move through this uncharted territory with us and each other as respectfully and safely as possible. Grocery shopping is necessary and to help prevent the spread of the virus, we are asking you to help us by following the below advice:

1. Shop only when you need and for what you need.

   Limiting your exposure not only keeps you safe but it keeps our staff and other shoppers safe too. During this difficult time it’s hard to not panic but please keep your neighbors in mind, meaning don’t over buy, be kind to one another, and limit your grocery trips to once a week.
   

2. Come with a list and be flexible.

   Meal planning and list making can help cut costs but it’s also important to be flexible during this time due to any out of stock items. Trying a new alternative for your meals is a great way to exercise this flexibility too. Check out some of our favorite recipes on our website here.
   

3. Unable to prepare your meals?

   Be sure to check out our deli section! Since the temporary closure of our hot/cold bars, our dedicated deli teams have been hard at work preparing delicious, pre-made meals located in our grab and go section and our made-to-order deli menus are still available too.
   

4. Be prepared for out of stock items.

   We are doing the best we can to keep our shelves stocked and ready for you but as we have seen, panic-buying and shipping has hit most, if not all retailers hard. One more reason to buy what you need and be flexible where you are able to be.
   

5. Shop alone if you can.

   Limiting the amount of folks in our doors keeps all of us safe. If you are able to please come in to shop alone, maybe family members wait in the car while you shop or you shop for a few friends or family to help out. Help take care of each other!
   

6. Practice social distancing in and out of the stores.

   The suggested social distance is 6 feet away from those around you. Our stores are small enough that this can be a bit of a challenge but this is an important part of prevention. Keep your distance but still say hi or smile to your neighbors, we are in this together, even at 6 feet apart! We have marked x’s on the ground at the cash registers to serve as a reminder of this space for times when there is a queue.

7. Enjoy the opportunity to cook something new and support a local vendor.

   While staying home can be frustrating and scary, it can also be a wonderful time to try some new things! How about a new recipe? How about supporting a new local vendor? We’re all in this together.
   

8. Be safe, mindful, and please stay at home!

A few safety updates from our team to further limit the spread of COVID-19:

1. We are temporarily halting the acceptance of any returns to protect staff and other customers.

2. To avoid outside contamination, we are asking shoppers to no longer use outside containers -- including reusable grocery bags and bulk containers

2019 Election Results

The results are in!

We had an amazing turnout this year. Thank you to all of our owner-members who took the time to make their voices heard! Below are the results:

Board of Directors

Congratulations to our newly-elected board members:

Bobbi Boos (term ends 2022)
Corbin Baird (term ends 2022)
Guthrie Taylor (staff director - term ends 2022)
Nancy Mathews (term ends 2021)
Michelle Robison (term ends 2021)

Positive Change

Organizations were placed in months based on total vote count and respective sales totals for each month. In other words, the organizations that received the highest number of votes were placed in months with the highest forecasted sales.

Here’s the Positive Change roster for 2020:

January - Indiana Forest Alliance
February - Area 10 Agency on Aging
March - Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard
April - Interfaith Winter Shelter
May - Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County
June - Bloomington Meals on Wheels
July - Bloomington Community Orchard
August - Sycamore Land Trust
September - Hoosier Hills Food Bank
October - Shalom Community Center
November - Bloomingfoods Cooperative Community Fund
December - Community Kitchen of Monroe County

Double the Positive Change

The success of our Positive Change program has been noticed by an anonymous donor in the community, and thanks to that anonymous donor, every dollar raised in the first week of September will be 100% matched, up to $10,000!!

This is an incredible opportunity to raise huge for Bloomington Meals on Wheels from September 1-7! We are consistently blown away by the generosity of our community members. THANK YOU to our shoppers and staff for continuing to help us give back in such a big way.