Rainbow Whole Foods Grocery,
Inc.
Board of Directors Meeting
5:33pm November 21, 2006
Board Members Present: Luke Lundemo, Ann Herlihy, Barbara Scobee, John McNeal,
Nicole Jenkins, Amy Breckenridge.
Absent: Karen Parker (Karen was present
immediately before the meeting was called to order but was called away on a
medical emergency)
Also present: Steve Whitlow.
A quorum was present.
Minutes: October minutes were approved without changes.
Member Input: none
Managers Report: Steve
Whitlow reported. Sales for the first
fiscal quarter did not meet expectations although November is going well and
will probably reach its target. Some of the causes of falling short of
expectations appear to be: 1) Last year there was increased sales due to so
many Katrina evacuees in Jackson, 2) We now have significant direct competition
from Wal-mart and Kroger, 3) we had very little bakery goods to sell while Amy
was in New York getting training and 4) there are not enough parking spaces for
more customers. Concerning rental space, Cano will be vacating his space and
catching up on past due rent.
Rainbow has doubled it’s insurance coverage to now include the whole value of
the inventory, fixed assets and emergency payroll to keep the staff together if
the building us unusable for a time.
Financial Report: Barbara
Scobee reported. Sales for October fell
about $10,000 short of expectation. Expenses were cut back as well, allowing
Rainbow to essentially break even for the month. Cash flow is down just
slightly ($1,200) from the beginning of the fiscal year. Amy asked for a report
that showed departmental sales per square foot and Steve said those numbers
could be generated and available next month.
Old Business:
General
Manager Evaluation Procedure: Steve and Luke presented the results of their
meeting on evaluation criteria for the period ending in April, 2007. The agreed
upon criteria are as follows:
Financial:
1.
Sales Growth. We
expect total sales of Rainbow Grocery to exceed the sales of the previous year.
2.
Profitability. We
expect expenses to be controlled so that Rainbow Grocery is profitable in this
period.
3.
Meet All Chapter
11 Obligations. We expect that all financial obligations arising out of the
Chapter 11 procedure be met or exceeded.
Membership:
1.
Total Membership
Number Increases. We expect the total number of Rainbow members to increase in
this period.
Staff:
1.
Staff Wage and/or
Benefit Increases. We expect the average wage of Rainbow employees to increase
toward the industry average. We expect job benefits for Rainbow employees to
increase.
2.
Lower Turnover
Rate. We expect the Rainbow staff turnover rate to decrease or at least be
lower
Steve has outlined more
aggressive goals for himself. Luke pointed out that all these criteria are
quantifiable and suggested that for the March meeting we look at the beginning
and ending values for each of these criteria. The board unanimously approved
these evaluation criteria.
Parking: We are in the
process of getting agreement from all store owners on a limit to employee parking.
There are four more businesses we need to get signed on. Navarro-McLean
Interiors will not sign on at least until some issues with the alley are
addressed. We will be posting a sign and telling recyclers to park to one side
of the alley to allow other vehicles to be able to pass. We will be giving
other shop owners a schedule of when the big trucks are scheduled to unload.
And we will do all we can to speed the process of getting the trucks unloaded
as quickly as possible.
Regarding finding more off lot
parking for employees, we are still waiting for an answer from St. Luke’s about
getting access to more parking spaces in their lot and we are pursuing getting
more access to parking from the Dinkins behind the Conoco station. There is
also ample free parking on
Regarding support for the
Fondren Trolley, we are trying to get businesses to cooperate on a joint ad. We
have gotten the price of the ad reduced but it is still a difficult sell for
some business owners. The trolley can bring 300-500 more people into Fondren
each day without adding to the traffic and parking congestion.
Plaza Improvements: Work is
scheduled to start on Saturday at 5:00pm with wall cleaning and taping. At
7:00pm we will begin painting and removing the steel posts. More volunteers are
needed. Daniel is helping recruit help through his emails.
Next week we will explore a
contract with Foliage Design to maintain large plants in the plaza. Also next
week we will be working with a sound abatement engineer to improve sound quality
initially in the restaurant but also later in the plaza.
Board Development: Nicole
will compile the results of the SWOT (Strength, Weakness,
Board Assistant: To further
explore the idea of hiring a board assistant, Luke prepared and distributed an
outline and job description for a possible part time position that would assist
the board in accomplishing its goals.
High Noon Promotion: Luke
distributed two pages of links to websites that list restaurants and let
viewers add reviews. High Noon is now listed on nearly all such sites and has
at least one positive review at each site. It was suggested to get the list to
Daniel and have him pass it along to his email list.
Annual Meeting: Steve and Ann
were asked to find a date that would work for an annual meeting at the Cedars.
Probably in late April.
Energy Consumption: Luke
asked Steve to get with Bruce and compile a baseline of energy use for the past
two years. For electricity, gas and water we would need both the monthly amount
consumed and the cost. This would be the first step in a comprehensive energy
audit to save money on utilities. This led to a discussion about incorporating
alternative energy. Amy and Nicole will research sources for grants and grant
writing to help in obtaining a solar rooftop array to provide some of our
energy needs.
Meeting adjourned at 7:03. Minutes are submitted by Charlotte Lundemo.