Tom’s Annual Meeting Notes, May 2025

Friends,

Below are the notes from the Annual Meeting on May 13th.

Quick reminders:

- Grand opening next week, June 4th - 7th! Ribbon cutting Wednesday at noon!

- As discussed below and as you hopefully saw in a prior email, the link to sign up to help (in store or at home) with the co-op is: https://signup.com/go/HHUqquN

Best,

Jes

Tom’s Natural Foods Cooperative Annual Members’ Meeting - May 13, 2025

Board Members Attending:  Pat Arcana, Jes Collett, Seth Major, Hillary Joy Pitoniak

Members Attending: (See attached sign in sheet at Minutes’ end.)

Introduction of Agenda: Seth Major, Board President

Annual Meeting Agenda

• Board Elections: Jes Collett (interim) in continuing three-year term, Hillary-Joy Pitoniak three-year term. (Current Board - Pat Arcana, Jes Collett, Jim Frederick, Seth Major, Hillary Joy Pitoniak)

• Financial and sales report

• Open Discussion: What type of co-op do we want to be? Discussion on product list, store hours, volunteers, membership, community outreach, grand opening June 5 (tentative), and grants.

Board Elections

• Jes Collett has been in interim status since December 2024, filling in for Denise Tucker Szarek’s three-year position. Jes is running for the remaining two years of the three- year term.  Vote Outcome: all were in favor, none opposed.

• Hilary-Joy Pitoniakus just completed a one-year term and is running for a three- year term. Vote Outcome: all were in favor, none opposed.

Financial Report

• Financial Report from Pat Arcana, Treasurer (available upon request).

• Expenses from 2025 include many major equipment purchases and considerable inventory buildup, much of which are one-time expenses. Overall, we are doing well and making a small profit.  

• One remaining large, essential purchase to be made is for an open air-curtain refrigerator to display and keep fresh produce. Will continue expanding inventory based on customer suggestions and product research.

• DRI Small Business application was recently submitted for large equipment purchases.

• Tom’s membership is currently 109.  Income from 2024 was almost entirely membership fees and investments, as we were only open a few days in December 2024.

Open Discussion: 

• Could we have a membership option where members do some work for a discounted membership? Work-for-membership discounts are complicated from a legal point of view, employment laws, liability insurance, etc. Currently we do not plan to pursue worked-based membership discounts.  However, we are looking at implementing more membership benefits and significantly expanding membership involvement in store.

• How Can Member-Owners Help? 

Vendor Outreach:  Do you know of a local product that you love? Board members continually contact local providers to continue adding local products to our shelves, but it would be very helpful for members who have contacts with local vendors/providers to do some of the initial outreach. Products do not have to be certified organic; we are more focused on local and responsible production.

If you do know local producers who are interested in working with Tom’s, ask them to send the following information to Tom’s email tomsnaturalfoodscoop@gmail.com :

• A list of wholesale offerings/prices

• Typical case/order size and if they can provide smaller cases/orders for a small store

• Order minimum and shipping cost
  

Volunteer Working at Tom’s: 
Board members have been spending a significant number of hours to get the store up and running. However, ongoing volunteer support from Members will be essential going forward to maintain, and expand, store hours and to ensure Tom’s financial success. The time burden on individuals should not be onerous, as we have 100+ members. Four to six hours per year from each member would go a long way toward keeping the store running, along with a core of more regular volunteers.  For those unable to volunteer time, your shopping at Tom’s and promoting our store among friends is valuable as well.

• Question: Could students from local schools get volunteer hours at Tom’s?  Parents would have to be members and present with minors due to liability insurance requirements.

Other Ways to help Tom’s:

• Leave Google reviews and photos of the new Tom’s

• Create social media (Facebook/Instagram/etc) posts about products or events you enjoy at Tom’s and tag Tom’s on the post

• Buy gift certificates for friends, family, colleagues to spread the word and encourage them to visit for the first time