BFC Order Processes

Brighton Food Co-op is fairly unique -- at least for a cooperative buying club -- in having a rather wide variety of suppliers (or "vendors", as we call them), and at times the various order processes to support that variety can seem confusing. For the benefit of prospective and newer members -- as well as to provide perspective for longer-standing members -- here is a quick summary of those processes.

As you may know, we have 7 batchers:

However, only 5 of the batchers actually take orders directly from the membership:

  1. UNFI: Members login to the online system (what we call WOS: Web Ordering System) and build their individual orders. For that there are 2 "deadlines": The first provides a kind of "stake in the ground" so that members can see what other members are ordering, especially what items are falling short of "filled case" status. (Collectively we have to order whole cases from UNFI.) The second is when the UNFI Batcher (currently Susan McComb) consolidates the orders, figures out which items are "filled case" -- or close enough to "filled case" to complete by adding a small number for the Extras Table -- then finalizes the order for the whole co-op. For example, the July 14th 2009 distribution had an initial order deadline of Wednesday July 1st and a final order deadline of Sunday the 5th.

  2. Frontier: Frontier sells a huge array of herbs, spices, assorted items for cooking, as well as bath and beauty aids. In some cases, they have the same items as UNFI, and UNFI even sells some Frontier items. Typically, if an item is available from both, it's less expensive (at least for us) from Frontier. Members email their Frontier orders to the Frontier Batcher (currently Dana Janssen), who then consolidates the individual orders and places the coop order to Frontier. Frontier mails the filled order back to the Frontier Batcher, who repackages it into individual filled orders and brings those orders to the co-op distribution. For the sake of simplification, the Frontier order deadlines are the same as the UNFI deadlines.

  3. Outside Vendor: The term "outside" refers to the fact that these vendors are outside of UNFI. UNFI is a clearing house for hundreds of vendors, so in effect we buy from those vendors "through" UNFI. But we also buy certain items directly from a small number of vendors, mostly local. (To complicate matters, we also consider Frontier, Creswick, and Sami's to be Outside Vendors.) Members email their orders for these items (except Frontier, Creswick, and Sami's) to the OV Batcher (currently Nancy Clark), who then consolidates the individual orders and places the whole coop order with each vendor or with the remaining 2 batchers. Again, for the sake of simplification, the OV order deadlines are the same as the UNFI deadlines. The Produce Batcher (currently Nicole Brown) figures out what items will be in the produce share, then orders those items from B&B Organics (OV#6). The Nuts/Honey/Syrup Batcher (currently Diane Brady) consolidates the nut and candy orders and places the order with Albanese Confectioners (OV#7A). Albanese mails the filled order back to her. She also picks up the honey from Nectar Sweet Apiary in Howell (OV#7B), and she is storing previously-purchased maple syrup in a refrigerator in her basement. (We buy the syrup in bulk from OV#7C, a local producer, in the March-April timeframe, trying to anticipate how much will be ordered by co-op members over the next year.) She repackages all those items and delivers the individual orders to the co-op distribution.

  4. Creswick: Creswick can deliver their products (pasture-grazed beef and lamb, free-range chicken, turkey, and pork) only on Saturdays, so orders for those products are handled by Dolores Johnson (our Treasurer), who also distributes the orders at her house. The Creswick order deadline is usually the same as the UNFI unfilled cases deadline, although the timing can sometimes vary, depending on how early or late in the month the Co-op's main distribution is held.

  5. Sami's Bakery: Sami's orders are handled in a manner similar to Frontier, but the "batcher" in this case is Gina Barnowsky (who is also our Secretary). The order deadline is the same as the UNFI deadline. Members email their Sami's orders to Gina, who then consolidates the individual orders and places the coop order to Sami's. Sami's mails the filled order back to Gina, who repackages it into individual filled orders and brings those orders to the co-op distribution.

UNFI delivers most of our stuff in a big truck. Likewise, B&B delivers our produce in a big truck. The distribution consists mostly in splitting up all that stuff into individual orders/shares. As mentioned, the Frontier Batcher and Nuts/Honey/Syrup Batcher deliver and distribute the stuff for which they're responsible. Higher Grounds (OV#10, located in Traverse City) mails the coffee order to our local pickup/delivery person (currently Sally Sibula), who repackages it and delivers it to the distribution, along with the Zingerman's (OV#1) and Rosewood (OV#2) orders, which she has picked up in Ann Arbor. During the Fall, someone (typically Denise Hauk, who lives up in Fenton) picks up and delivers the Almar Orchards order (OV#3), and during the Summer Jim Brown picks up and delivers the Motave Meadows order (OV#4, just down the road from him).

In the Spring we also have an arrangement with Superior Landscape & Supplies, which gives us a substantial discount on bedding plants and flowers for orders-in-advance. Our VP, Janice Mechan, processes those orders and issues certificates that members can take to the nursery to select and buy the plants they want.

Ultimately, all this activity comes together in a relatively smooth and painless way on distribution day -- largely through both visible and behind-the-scenes efforts of Batchers, Delivery People, Board Members, and Floor Workers who are committed to getting it all right!