Kensington Community Food Co-op is raising $200,000 to turnaround the store and save it from closing, so that we can continue to serve our community in Kensington on a whole new level. Funds are needed to keep our store open and unlock the turnaround plan.
Historic underinvestment in the store has kept our community-owned grocery store from thriving. Our sales have hit rock bottom and our costs of operating have outpaced our sales, putting us in a dangerous cash burn position.
KCFC faces a critical crossroads and needs a cash infusion of at least $200,000 to execute a critical turnaround plan.
We’ve made recent deliberate updates to improve the store and sales:
– Added more conventional, lower-priced products
– Expanded the hours of the Bottle Shop to be open 7 days a week, 12–8pm
– Beautified the patio
– Restocked the bulk section
– Paid off a significant amount of aging vendor bills
Last month we contracted with Columinate to hire a turnaround interim General Manager. Dennis Hanley started with us three weeks ago and has over 47 years in retail grocery and over 20 store turnarounds. At his last assignment, sales grew 198% — from $37,500 in sales per week in January 2022 to $111,781 per week as of October 2022.
We can drastically improve our store and grow our sales, too, but right now we don’t have the cash to do it.
Where We’re Headed (if we can fund this $200,000 plan):
– Complete overhaul of product offerings and mix, with more low-priced items and products that people need to complete their grocery trip in full
– Investment in management including new leadership positions (Assistant Manager, department leads) and security team
– Reset visual arrangements of products and store flow
Investment in the Bottle Shop
– Serious landscaping and exterior improvements (permanent signage, cameras, deep cleaning, more lights)
– Marketing & advertising
– Hot food stand
We are starting an “all or nothing” campaign to raise $200,000 to make this plan happen. We need this amount to give us a shot at being successful; less than that will not allow us to unlock the full turnaround plan.
Please pledge to our turnaround campaign here & tell friends, neighbors, & family: https://fundrazr.com/KCFCoopPlan
