January 19, 2010 Rainbow Natural Grocery Board Meeting Minutes by Charlotte Lundemo

Charlotte Lundemo took minutes for the meeting. The meeting started at 6:10pm

Board Members present: Irene Scotta Brady, Gen Barbour, Irene Jones, Leo Huddleston, Charlotte Lundemo, daniel johnson. Also present were, Steve Whitlow, Bruce Frazier and Luke Lundemo.

The board minutes from December 15, 2009 were approved.

Steve Whitlow’s report: Sales in December were up. This December was the second best December on record. The grocery and supplements departments set new records. High Noon set a new record with the biggest December ever only losing about $400. The replacement flood gates arrived. Rainbow now has their own Comcast service and so far no problems have occurred with credit cards or login from the software people. Payroll bonuses were given out before Christmas. Total payroll is about the same as last year. The new software that controls discounts is saving us thousands of dollars. There is an auction of a grocery in Bassfield, MS coming up and we’re going to look at things for the café, deli, bakery, a backup generator and a produce stand. The water filtration system should be up and running tomorrow. With that we will be fully recovered from the city water crisis.

Bruce Fraser’s Financial Report: Although our cash on hand dropped by the end of December, The value of our inventory was up and our short and long term liabilities decreased. Our debt to asset ration made good improvement. The final part of the accelerated payback from the chapter 11 five years ago involves the State of Mississippi and will be completed in about a year. Developing a profit sharing plan for the employees that will need to be approved by the board. Rainbow needs at least $20,000 profit in any given quarter to do this.

CEO Report: Tom Lowe working on the business structure conversion on the Mississippi side. Waiting to hear from Hope Credit Union about the next step in the building loan process: The store in the front retail area paid full rent in December and is still in the process of expanding its inventory. The Tougaloo-Rainbow Sustainable Garden is benefiting from a grant that brought in Americorps volunteers. The forest nature trail has been completed and more work is being planned now for the garden and composting operation: We are taking suggestions for movies for a Dinner and a Movie: Rainbow email group is now up to 1,100 people.

New Business:

Suggestions for an outing to get employees together for a fun day. Some ideas were a riverboat ride out of Vicksburg or canoeing on the Mississippi River with guides.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40pm.