GA Food Hub Meeting Minutes - 11 Jun

GA Food Hub Meeting – Thu 11/06/2015
Present: Andrea, Christa, Joy, Rachael, AnnMarie… Apologies, I didn’t write these down and can’t remember!
Apologies:

Carried over Action Points:
• make clear signs outside coop
• update handbook
(many missing – will update from AGM minutes)

Containers
o What kind? Cost vs sustainability
o Criteria for choosing containers:
o Ability to clean
o Closes well to keep food fresh and safe
o Food safe (i.e. not plastic which degrades)
o Allows you to see product inside
o Price
 Secondary criteria (desirable but not necessary):
• Made sustainably
• Made locally
o Should need around 40 – about ten of which would change regularly, the rest of which would always contain the same thing
Action point: Andrea and Joy work out how much money available
o Find 3 or 4 large containers to replace the muesli/oat bins – need to be closeable
Action point: find suitable large containers
o For liquids in shop, continue using current containers – could start to order bigger containers with taps to reduce waste
o For products without jars (tea, coffee, chocolate) we will discuss labeling and display at a later date
Action point: set this to a future agenda

Container labels
o Laminated whiteboard labels with a template that could be filled in
o For regular stock could have printed labels where price could be changed
o Create a product list to have at the front of the shop
o Label system could have tick boxes on them (e.g. locally produced, fairtrade, EU, UK) so reasons for stocking easily visible
o Could have a special green or gold star to indicate ‘Green Action Supports’ for especially good/sustainable products
o Back of container – recipe/cooking/usage labels
Action point: Organise action day to create labels for backs of containers and to sort containers
AP: Do stock list to work out which labels we’ll need

Cleaning
o Could set a scheduled week once a term or a schedules shift on the rota to clean, or big cleaning days
o Could try to invite members without a shift to help clean – one-off cleaning slots
o Create cleaning rota for small groups to clean
o Could create tick-list in the style of those found in public toilets and put near door for good visibility
o Could create reminder on wall to clean
Action point: create a system/rota
Action point: organise a cleaning and organising day before start of term
o Water can be accessed from Hidden Café sink or toilets
o Should have a place for cleaning products so they’re more accessible
o Could use recycled/reused cloths etc
Action point: create area for cleaning products
o What needs doing:
o Fridge
o Sweeping/hoovering
o Shelves
o Tubs
o Counters
Action point: find someone to mobilise cleaning

Communication
o Asking new head of union for mural on shutters
Action point: Ask new head of union
o Clearing the posters from the walls and re-organising them:
o Next to till as ‘GA Wall’ with ‘about us’ things, including but not limited to:
 Weekly routine
 About us
 “don’t like something? Come to a meeting – as a coop we make decisions together!”
 Link to important documents and website
 Products we do and don’t stock and why (and a link to traffic light product lists – see below)
Action point: please suggest ideas of things to go on the wall! There’s a loomio topic on it 
Action point: Arrange a day to meet and put together this wall. See loomio discussion for date discussion.
Stock and product lists
o Hodmedod’s offer British and organic alternatives to much of our stock
o A stock list has been compiled according to ethics of products: Green = will stock, orange = stock because no better alternative and red = will no longer stock
o This stock list includes several suppliers – makes ordering easier and simpler
o It will be available online too
Action point: Put the document on the website, and use a link-shortening site like bitly.com to create a shortened link which can then be put on the new ‘GA Wall’ for easy access
o Individuals who want products we don’t stock can still order them individually through Lembas etc
Action point: Make a physical stock list on excel from this new stock list which can be put on the wall and ticked off when things need ordering – then, before ordering, whoever is ordering would also check what is empty and tick these on the list
o If anyone wants to add something to the list they will need to do this at meetings
o New alternatives stocked in store could include information like “an alternative to…”