General Manager’s Report
May 12th 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members and Visitors:
Thank you for joining us here today; it is my pleasure to report the operating results, the activities, and the hopes for the future of the Mackenzie Co-operative.
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Wolf De Smet. Personal reasons brought me to Mackenzie five years ago as your Meat manager and I took over four years ago, as the General Manager of operations. I have been with FCL for over 10 years now, and this is the second Store I have managed for the CRS, I have managed other stores in my career and have worked my way up through the system of more than 6 major Retail Grocery chains, there are no avenues within the retail grocery system, that I am not experienced in. I started in this business in 1973 and I have looked forward to going to work ever since, this is a vibrant exciting industry, with challenges at every turn no two days are ever the same. Working with the staff and for our customers can be a most satisfying and pleasurable experience. ( as of late with the economy in Mackenzie it has been somewhat trying at times)
However, even in such trying times as these, there is nothing better than after a year of hard work, and long hours, to have it pay off on a note of success, that has been my good fortune once again this past year.
The Mackenzie Coop has struggled this past year in 2009, Three years ago we did $8,910,548 this past year we totaled $6,651,464 However from last year at $7,009,723 we are down only $358,259 and I believe this to be the start of a turn around.
In 2008 we finished of with sales of just over 7 million and a bottom line of $84,095 this past year we ended with a bottom line of $79,290 which is very good considering these economic times. (I budgeted to make $83,290) Being able to produce a positive bottom line at all is to the merit of the employees, and to those loyal members of the Mackenzie Cooperative.
In the past five years the Coop has climbed out of a deficit of $554,000. The coop has in this past year paid out $23,344 to all of its members that have moved away, and any estates that were in arrears. We have paid salaries into the community of $795,203, and have injected over $423,000 to other local businesses, and $7,587.00 to charitable donations, community groups, local functions, and members. The coop this year had to upgrade some of its computer equipment, we added a fresh sausage maker to our meat program, and have added new scale scanner units to our tills in order to improve our service. New this year is Central pricing, Mackenzie coop is linked to FCL Saskatoon, where our price structure is calculated in direct price check with Save on Foods, and other competitors.
Mackenzie Coop must remain cautious (the success we have incurred in the past two years is not proven ground in the retail grocery business) Operations needs a cushion to operate a 10,000,000-dollar business. (Especially in a time when, under no circumstances can we fall back into debt as we had in the past). Bella Coola Coop, (which is no longer a Coop,) will attest to this.
The Coop needs about $584,000 in capitol expenditures to upgrade our facility in the next three to five years. With what has happened to the mills in Mackenzie, and the economy on the whole in the community we have held off on paying out patronage to the membership, until such time as we can re-evaluate our financial position.
I can tell you with my years of experience in this industry and having seen times like these in the past, that the Coop will weather through this economic crisis, Having said that we have a business plan for the next five years in place, and I assure you the Mackenzie Coop will continue to working hard to give you the same, or better service as it has in the past.
I personally see great opportunities for the Mackenzie Cooperative and it’s members in future. Moving forward the coop will continue to promote four Case lots throughout the year, and will endeavor to bring our membership a high quality, low cost weekly promotion flyer as it has in the past.
The Mackenzie coop has been on hold for any changes within the store for the past five years, however there are a few immediate changes that are a necessity to the future success of the retail they include:
Floors in the Mackenzie Coop
Aging cases need to be replaced
Expansion of Frozen foods cases
New checkouts
The HVACs units that heat the coop
In the first three periods, as of April 25th our sales are only down $8,552 from last year. We anticipated this decrease and built a budget to match. So keep in mind the Coop will be tightening down the hatches, and we may have to make a few changes in order to maintain the budget. We will be dependant on our loyal customer base as always, and once again, in the infamous words of Bartels and James (“we thank you for your support”) I do apologize for any inconvenience that may occur due to the hard times, however hard times make for some hard decisions. We in the Mackenzie Coop have a hard working experienced staff, and I am confident the coop and Mackenzie will persevere.
In closing I would like to thank the staff and management for their dedication and hard work in this past year. The management team consists of
Andrea Lair Grocery Manager
Kathy Trapp Bakery Manager
Tammy Kennedy Produce Manager
Maxine Jensen Asst Groc Manager
Charleen Rossi Asst Groc Manager
Steve Hammond Meat Manager
And of course, the Board of Directors for their wisdom and direction. The board’s accumulative knowledge has been a constant source of reference, for making the right decisions. I would also like to thank them for all the hours they put in at the annual Trade fair.
As for myself I am confident that given a strong mandate in whatever direction the Mackenzie Coop wishes to precede, I will do all in my power to ensure a successful outcome. Thank you all for coming out, and remember my door is always open.
Wolf De Smet
General Manager
Mackenzie Consumers
Cooperative
General Manager’s Report
Annual Meeting
May 13th 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members and Visitors:
Thank you for joining us here today; it is my pleasure to report the operating results, the activities, and the hopes for the future of the Mackenzie Co-operative.
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Wolf De Smet. Personal reasons brought me to Mackenzie four years ago as your Meat manager and I took over three years ago, as the General Manager of operations. I have been with FCL for over 8 years now, and this is the second Store I have managed for the CRS, I have managed other stores in my career and have worked my way up through the system of more than 6 major Retail Grocery chains, there are no avenues within the retail grocery system, that I am not experienced in. I started in this business in 1973 and I have looked forward to going to work ever since, this is a vibrant exciting industry, with challenges at every turn no two days are ever the same. Working with the staff and for our customers can be a most satisfying and pleasurable experience.( as of late with the economy in Mackenzie it has been somewhat trying at times)
However, even in such trying times as these, there is nothing better than after a year of hard work, and long hours, to have it pay off on a note of success, that has been my good fortune once again this past year.
The Mackenzie Coop has struggled this past year, in 2007 we did $8,910,548 this past year we totaled $7,009,723 we are down $1,303,053 from last year.
In 2007 we finished of with sales of $8,312,776 and a bottom line of $265,802 this past year we ended with a bottom line of $67,450 which is very good considering these economic times. Being able to produce a positive bottom line is all to the merit of the employees, and to those loyal members of the Mackenzie cooperative.
As of January 2007 we had replaced the deficit of $554,000 that the store had incurred in the past 8 years, The coop has in this past year paid out $34,130 to all of it’s members that have moved away, and the estates that were in arrears. We have paid salaries into the community of $809,750, and have injected over $457,000 to other local businesses, and $8,701.00 to charitable donations, community groups, local functions, and members. The coop this year had to replace our rooftop condenser (refrigeration) to the tune of $65,000, and we installed a door between our receiving area and the back room costing $2000, in the hopes of reducing our heating costs. On the grocery floor a new signage program was introduced for $9500 (this program was to make our flyer program more consumer friendly)
Mackenzie Coop must remain cautious (the success we have incurred in the past two years is not proven ground in the retail grocery business) Operations needs a cushion to operate a 10,000,000 dollar business. (Especially in a time when, under no circumstances can we fall back into debt as we had in the past).
The Coop needs about $584,000 in capitol expenditures to upgrade our facility in the next three to five years. With what has happened to the mills in Mackenzie and the economy on the whole in the community we have held off on paying out patronage to the membership, until such time as we can re-evaluate our financial position.
I can tell you with my years of experience in this industry and having seen times like these in the past, that the Coop will weather through this economic crisis, Having said that my business plan is for the next five years, we will have to sharpen our pencils but I assure you the Mackenzie Coop will continue to work hard at giving you the same, or better service as it has in the past.
I personally see great opportunities for the Mackenzie Cooperative and it’s members in future. Moving forward the coop will continue to promote four Case lots throughout the year, and will endeavor to bring our membership a high quality, low cost weekly promotion flyer as it has in the past.
The Mackenzie coop has been on hold for any changes within the store for the past five years; however there are a few immediate changes that are a necessity to the future success of the retail they include:
Sausage maker (for fresh sausage program)
Floors in the Mackenzie Coop
Aging cases need to be replaced
Expansion of Frozen foods cases
New Scanners for our checkouts
The HVACs units which heat the coop
In the first three periods, as of April 25th our sales are down $149,000 9% from last year. We anticipated this decrease and built a budget to match. So keep in mind the Coop will be tightening down the hatches, and we may have to make a few changes in order to maintain the budget. We will be dependant on our loyal customer base as always, and once again, in the infamous words of Bartels and James ( "we thank you for your support) I do apologize for any inconvenience that may occur due to the hard times, however hard times make for some hard decisions. We in the Mackenzie Coop have a hard working experienced staff, and I am confident the coop and Mackenzie will persevere.
In closing I would like to thank the staff and management for their dedication and hard work in this past year. The management team consists of
Andrea Lair Grocery Manager
Kathy Trapp Bakery Manager
Tammy Kennedy Produce Manager
Pat Roeleder Asst Groc Manager
Charleen Hines Asst Groc Manager
Steve Hammond Meat Manager
And of course, the Board of Directors, for their wisdom and direction. The board’s accumulative knowledge has been a constant source of reference, for making the right decisions. I would also like to thank them for all the hours they put in at the annual Trade fair.
As for myself I am confident that given a strong mandate in whatever direction the Mackenzie Coop wishes to proceed, I will do all in my power to ensure a successful outcome. Thank you all for coming out, and remember my door is always open.
Wolf De Smet
General Manager
Mackenzie Consumers Co-operative
General Manager’s (Highlights)
Annual Meeting
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members and Visitors:
Thank you for joining us here today; it is my pleasure to report the operating results, the activities, and the hopes for the future of the Mackenzie Co-operative.
The Mackenzie Coop can boast about a great year in 2006, we have had higher sales than the store has seen since before 1997 @ $8,910,548 with a bottom line of $413,622 after FCL patronage.
This last year 2007 we finished of with sales of $8,312,776 and a bottom line of $265,802 This is all to the merit of the employees, and to those loyal members of the Mackenzie cooperative.
As of January 2007 we had replaced the deficit of $554,000 to the equity that the store had incurred in the past 8 years, The coop has in this past year paid out $26,169 to all of it’s members that have moved away, and the estates that were in arrears We have paid salaries into the community of $1,084,806, and have injected over $340,000 to other local businesses, and charitable donations of $6,500 to community groups, local functions and members. The Mackenzie Co-op has made an upgrade on our tills due to the new 7 digit upc codes and in order to link to the FCL mainframe in Saskatoon and for loss prevention we have upgraded our security system.
Mackenzie Coop must be cautious (the success we have incurred in the past two years is not proven ground in the retail grocery business) Operations needs a cushion to operate a 10,000,000 dollar business. (Especially in a time when, under no circumstances can we fall back into debt as we had in the past).
The Coop needs about $584,000 in capitol expenditures to upgrade our facility in the next three to five years. With what has happened to the mills in Mackenzie and the economy on the whole in the community we have held off on paying out patronage to the membership, until such time as we can re-evaluate our financial position.
The Mackenzie coop has been on hold for any changes within the store for the past five years; however there are a few immediate changes that are a necessity to the future success of the retail they include:
New Roof top condenser
Sausage maker (for fresh sausage program)
Floors in the Mackenzie Coop
Aging cases need to be replaced
Doors to reduce energy costs
In the first two periods, as of march 29th our sales are down $183,000 16% from last year. We anticipated this decrease and built a budget to match. So keep in mind the Coop will be tightening down the hatches, and we may have to make a few changes in order to maintain the budget. We will be dependant on our loyal customer base as always; In the infamous words of Bartels and James (“we thank you for your support) I do apologize for any inconvenience it may cause, however hard times make for some hard decisions. We have a hard working staff and I am confident the coop and Mackenzie will persevere.
Wolf De Smet
General Manager
Mackenzie Consumers Co-operative