***New Updates Page Added***
We'll be adding information and updates as they happen. If you want the latest news on events, media, and more, please check this page.
We'll be adding information and updates as they happen. If you want the latest news on events, media, and more, please check this page.
Final Election Results!
Gina Dennis – 1,202
Marissa Joe – 1,044
Chad Jones – 903
Elise Wheeler – 887
Courtney White – 592
Ariana Marchello – 550
John Kwait – 533
Django Zeaman – 250
Carlos Pantera – 237
James Glover – 194
Ian Colburn – 164
Silda Mason – 128
That means that our new La Montañita board members will be Gina Dennis, Marissa Joe, Chad Jones, and Elise Wheeler! All four were endorsed by Take Back the Co-op and all four will be strong advocates for our platform going forward.
They will be seated at the December 20th Board Meeting.
If you add up all the votes and divide them by four (since we could each vote for four candidates) it looks like 1,671 member-owners voted. In 2015 less than 300 voted. So we had a voter turnout that is over 5 times greater than last year!
Keep in mind, winning four seats on our nine member board is just the first step to taking back our Co-op. Read our updates page for the next steps.
Gina Dennis – 1,202
Marissa Joe – 1,044
Chad Jones – 903
Elise Wheeler – 887
Courtney White – 592
Ariana Marchello – 550
John Kwait – 533
Django Zeaman – 250
Carlos Pantera – 237
James Glover – 194
Ian Colburn – 164
Silda Mason – 128
That means that our new La Montañita board members will be Gina Dennis, Marissa Joe, Chad Jones, and Elise Wheeler! All four were endorsed by Take Back the Co-op and all four will be strong advocates for our platform going forward.
They will be seated at the December 20th Board Meeting.
If you add up all the votes and divide them by four (since we could each vote for four candidates) it looks like 1,671 member-owners voted. In 2015 less than 300 voted. So we had a voter turnout that is over 5 times greater than last year!
Keep in mind, winning four seats on our nine member board is just the first step to taking back our Co-op. Read our updates page for the next steps.
Radio interview
Dorothy Finnigan and Django Zeaman, two of the co-founders of Take Back the Co-op!, were interviewed on The Richard Eeds Show on KVSF 101.5 FM, The Voice of Santa Fe.
They discussed how Take Back the Co-op! is having an impact here at La Montañita and at co-ops across the country.
Find out the latest on how workers are being treated, the change in food suppliers and quality, and how profit continues to take a nosedive and endanger our Co-op's future.
Click here to listen.
Dorothy Finnigan and Django Zeaman, two of the co-founders of Take Back the Co-op!, were interviewed on The Richard Eeds Show on KVSF 101.5 FM, The Voice of Santa Fe.
They discussed how Take Back the Co-op! is having an impact here at La Montañita and at co-ops across the country.
Find out the latest on how workers are being treated, the change in food suppliers and quality, and how profit continues to take a nosedive and endanger our Co-op's future.
Click here to listen.
Introduction to Take Back the Co-op!
Our La Montañita Co-op board has been manipulated by an outside consulting group with ties to a large food corporation. We need 10% of member-owners to sign the petition to hold a Special Membership Meeting, where we will remove board members, elect new board members, and vote on proposals to Take Back the Co-op!
Take Back the Co-op! is a group of loyal member-owners who love La Montañita and are working to stop the corporate takeover of our Co-op. We have spent the last five months conducting interviews, doing research, and meeting with workers, member-owners, suppliers, farmers, former board members, and board members at ours and other co-ops.
This website summarizes that research for the benefit of the La Montañita community and for other co-ops around the country.
If you’re short on time, please read the summary below, then sign the petition.
Three major organizations that play a role in the current issues facing co-ops:
Follow the Money
You may have heard the new General Manager (GM), board, and senior staff deliver this message: due to competition from other grocery chains, La Montañita Co-op is struggling financially. If we don’t change, we won’t survive.
In truth, our Co-op’s net income was very strong until 2013—an average of $649K in profit per year. We were not in financial trouble until we expanded three years ago. Guided by CDS Consulting, our board decided to open a new store on Albuquerque’s Westside, located in a strip mall near a Walmart.
That store loses ~$500,000 per year. Overall, it appears that La Montañita has lost between $2 million and $5 million due to an expansion that CDS Consulting, NCG, and UNFI profited from. So why are the GM, board, and senior staff blaming La Montañita’s financial challenges on something other than the real cause? Read more…
A National Takeover…One Co-op At a Time
Across the country and at La Montañita, co-ops are changing their policies, products, and personnel. Over and over again, those decisions can be traced back to the influence of CDS Consulting and NCG.
The hallmarks of their influence are a board that refuses to communicate with member-owners, an unwise expansion or remodel that drains resources and leads to significant debt, and the hiring of a GM who:
It appears that CDS, NCG, and UNFI profit from our Co-op and others around the country, while our stores lose money. Read more…
How We Take Back Our Co-op
There is hope! Once 10% (1,600) of La Montañita member-owners sign this petition, our bylaws give us the right to hold a Special Membership Meeting (SMM). At the meeting, member-owners will vote to remove current board members, elect new board members, and set direction for the new board.
That’s how a co-op in Albany, New York successfully took back their co-op. Under the advisement of CDS, their board had expanded, taken out a $5.4 million loan, and spent $500,000 on CDS Consulting and lawyers to change their bylaws and remove member-owner control. It’s been nine months since the member-owners took back their co-op during an SMM and in that time, they’ve gotten their co-op back in the black by returning to transparency, democracy, and a focus on local and sustainable suppliers. Read more…
Inside the Co-op
These candid—and often heartbreaking—firsthand accounts reveal what is happening behind the scenes:
Since publishing this website, even more workers have stepped forward to corroborate these accounts and share more details. Read more…
Our La Montañita Co-op board has been manipulated by an outside consulting group with ties to a large food corporation. We need 10% of member-owners to sign the petition to hold a Special Membership Meeting, where we will remove board members, elect new board members, and vote on proposals to Take Back the Co-op!
Take Back the Co-op! is a group of loyal member-owners who love La Montañita and are working to stop the corporate takeover of our Co-op. We have spent the last five months conducting interviews, doing research, and meeting with workers, member-owners, suppliers, farmers, former board members, and board members at ours and other co-ops.
This website summarizes that research for the benefit of the La Montañita community and for other co-ops around the country.
If you’re short on time, please read the summary below, then sign the petition.
Three major organizations that play a role in the current issues facing co-ops:
- CDS Consulting is a group of 40 consultants who advise co-op boards to outsource an increasing number of services to them: architectural plans for new stores, hiring General Managers (GMs), labor and management practices, loans for new projects, how to “handle” member-owners who disagree, etc. At multiple co-ops, Board Presidents became CDS consultants after their co-ops expanded under CDS advisement.
- NCG (National Co+op Grocers) is an association of 143 co-ops. NCG’s mission is to create a “virtual chain” of co-ops by promoting standardization and providing loans. They negotiated our contract with a major food distributor, UNFI (United Natural Foods, Inc.).
- UNFI is a publicly traded corporation that does $8 billion in revenue per year. NCG co-ops are one of their major distribution channels. Numerous influential people at CDS and NCG used to work for UNFI.
Follow the Money
You may have heard the new General Manager (GM), board, and senior staff deliver this message: due to competition from other grocery chains, La Montañita Co-op is struggling financially. If we don’t change, we won’t survive.
In truth, our Co-op’s net income was very strong until 2013—an average of $649K in profit per year. We were not in financial trouble until we expanded three years ago. Guided by CDS Consulting, our board decided to open a new store on Albuquerque’s Westside, located in a strip mall near a Walmart.
That store loses ~$500,000 per year. Overall, it appears that La Montañita has lost between $2 million and $5 million due to an expansion that CDS Consulting, NCG, and UNFI profited from. So why are the GM, board, and senior staff blaming La Montañita’s financial challenges on something other than the real cause? Read more…
A National Takeover…One Co-op At a Time
Across the country and at La Montañita, co-ops are changing their policies, products, and personnel. Over and over again, those decisions can be traced back to the influence of CDS Consulting and NCG.
The hallmarks of their influence are a board that refuses to communicate with member-owners, an unwise expansion or remodel that drains resources and leads to significant debt, and the hiring of a GM who:
- Cuts hours and benefits from workers while management expenses grow
- Creates toxic working conditions, leading to the loss of valuable employees
- Displaces local and organic suppliers
- Increases revenue, but decreases profits
- Hires lawyers and consultants to “fight” member-owners and workers
It appears that CDS, NCG, and UNFI profit from our Co-op and others around the country, while our stores lose money. Read more…
How We Take Back Our Co-op
There is hope! Once 10% (1,600) of La Montañita member-owners sign this petition, our bylaws give us the right to hold a Special Membership Meeting (SMM). At the meeting, member-owners will vote to remove current board members, elect new board members, and set direction for the new board.
That’s how a co-op in Albany, New York successfully took back their co-op. Under the advisement of CDS, their board had expanded, taken out a $5.4 million loan, and spent $500,000 on CDS Consulting and lawyers to change their bylaws and remove member-owner control. It’s been nine months since the member-owners took back their co-op during an SMM and in that time, they’ve gotten their co-op back in the black by returning to transparency, democracy, and a focus on local and sustainable suppliers. Read more…
Inside the Co-op
These candid—and often heartbreaking—firsthand accounts reveal what is happening behind the scenes:
- A culture of fear and intimidation
- Gross incompetence and financial mismanagement
- Unprecedented food waste
- Attempts to deceive and mislead member-owners
Since publishing this website, even more workers have stepped forward to corroborate these accounts and share more details. Read more…
The Dirty Fifteen
The “Clean Fifteen” is a marketing gimmick to sell conventional produce. In fact, the “Clean Fifteen” produce uses 26.2 lbs of pesticides per acre while the “Dirty Dozen” produce uses 29.8 lbs of pesticides per acre. Not only does the "Clean Fifteen" expose consumers to pesticides, it endangers farm workers, rural residents, and the people who handle it.
La Montañita’s GM recently ended our two-decade relationship with Veritable Vegetable, a values-based B corp that only works with small and mid-sized organic farmers. He replaced them with Robinson Fresh, a new subsidiary of C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 trucking company, with whom our GM has a personal connection. Read more…
Whistleblower Letter
Mimi Yahn, the first person to connect CDS Consulting, NCG, and UNFI to what is happening at co-ops across the country, urges La Montañita member-owners to take action now! Read more…
Take Back Your Co-op!
We outline the four stages of infiltration by CDS Consulting and offer suggestions for how you can organize and Take Back Your Co-op! Read more…
FAQs
We answer questions that aren't covered in the other articles. Please send in your questions below and we'll continue to add to the FAQs. Read more…
The “Clean Fifteen” is a marketing gimmick to sell conventional produce. In fact, the “Clean Fifteen” produce uses 26.2 lbs of pesticides per acre while the “Dirty Dozen” produce uses 29.8 lbs of pesticides per acre. Not only does the "Clean Fifteen" expose consumers to pesticides, it endangers farm workers, rural residents, and the people who handle it.
La Montañita’s GM recently ended our two-decade relationship with Veritable Vegetable, a values-based B corp that only works with small and mid-sized organic farmers. He replaced them with Robinson Fresh, a new subsidiary of C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 trucking company, with whom our GM has a personal connection. Read more…
Whistleblower Letter
Mimi Yahn, the first person to connect CDS Consulting, NCG, and UNFI to what is happening at co-ops across the country, urges La Montañita member-owners to take action now! Read more…
Take Back Your Co-op!
We outline the four stages of infiltration by CDS Consulting and offer suggestions for how you can organize and Take Back Your Co-op! Read more…
FAQs
We answer questions that aren't covered in the other articles. Please send in your questions below and we'll continue to add to the FAQs. Read more…
