PCC Sound Consumer

Your co-op
(March 2008)

• Talk to the board
• Notice of annual PCC membership meeting
• 2008 board election
• Board meeting report

Talk to the board
Saturday, March 15, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
PCC Issaquah

This month, we’ll continue discussion on these two questions:

• Would you approve having your PCC purchase information being used to alert you to product safety recalls?
• What might encourage you to participate in the board elections in the spring?

Come share your thoughts with a board member at this month’s Talk to the Board or e-mail us at

Notice of annual PCC membership meeting
Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 5:30 p.m.
St. Demetrios Hall
2100 Boyer Ave., E, Seattle, Wash.

Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. RSVP by April 22 at 206-547-1222 or online at pccnaturalmarkets.com.

Free parking • Directions are available at pccnaturalmarkets.com or by calling 206-547-1222 • Accessible by Metro Bus: http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov

Michael Funk, CEO and president of United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), will speak at the annual meeting. UNFI is the largest natural food distributor in the country.

Annual meeting
We’re very excited about our upcoming annual member meeting. We’ll meet again at St. Demetrios Hall, which was an excellent venue for us last fall.

The meeting will feature reports on the state of our co-op. You’ll also meet and have a chance to question our four board candidates for the May elections.

Our speaker for the evening will be Michael Funk, a pioneer in the natural food industry. In 1976, Michael founded Mountain People’s Warehouse and built it into the leading wholesale distributor of natural foods in the west. In 1996, he co-founded United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), to form the largest natural food distributor in the country.

As CEO and president of UNFI, Michael has led the company to sales of more than $3 billion a year. Michael is active in industry and trade groups, including the Center for Organic Education and Promotion, the Non-GMO Project, and Californians for GE-free Agriculture.

Funk will talk about what UNFI is doing to reduce its carbon footprint, identify the origin of ingredients and rid the natural foods industry of GMOs.

2008 board election

This year, in response to our members’ wish to have a bit more time to get to know their candidates, we’ll post the candidates’ information on our Web site on March 26. We’ll also post brief video conversations with each candidate. The information will remain posted through the election period — from April 29 through May 23.

Members will receive printed information, including a ballot, inside the May Sound Consumer mailed to your home.

Store visits by candidates:
In addition to the candidates’ presentations at the annual meeting, we’re planning four store visits by all the candidates to give members an opportunity to meet them and ask questions in person:

• Wednesday, May 7, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
  PCC View Ridge
• Thursday, May 8, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
  PCC Fremont
• Wednesday, May 14, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
  PCC Redmond
• Thursday, May 15, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
  PCC Issaquah

Our candidates are:

• Carol Binder, executive director, Pike Place Market
• Buzz Hofford, general manager, Seattle University dining program
• Julianne Lamsek, technology director, KCTS-TV
• Amy Pennington, owner, Go Green Garden

Board meeting report

At the January 29 meeting, the board heard a report from several management team members about PCC’s efforts in the food safety arena with highlights on procurement, training, organic certification and product recall procedures. (See PCC challenges natural food industry: Commit to full disclosure of food ingredients and sourcing, Sound Consumer, March 2008)

The Member Relations Committee summarized a management report detailing participation in our member benefit program. The report shows that an impressive 90.1 percent of our members used the discount program at least once during the past year.

Current information about board activities, elections, and other PCC membership and governance issues can always be found in our Membership area.