Local Bounty Coshocton elects Board of Directors
Local Bounty elected board of directors at a meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Pictured from left to right are: Katie Hultz, treasurer; Rachel Hall, consumer advocate; Amy Shaw, vice president; Marissa Mullett, market manager; Robin Mullett, secretary; and Mark Reed, president.
COSHOCTON – Local Bounty had a meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. to discuss two important decisions for growing the business. After old business was discussed, the roundtable discussion turned to potential options for vending at Local Bounty. Currently, the option for vending is in addition to selling your product with 20 percent of sales going to Local Bounty, every vendor must work a minimum of four hours a month behind the register. While this solution worked for some vendors, others had a problem with working those four hours a month. It’s not necessarily that they don’t want to work at the store, but some have a long distance to drive and it’s too much of a commitment.
During the meeting, this problem was discussed and Marissa Mullett, market manager, presented two viable solutions to the problem. Before her presentation, Mullet gave some statistics about Local Bounty. Currently, it costs $15,000 a year to keep the business running with an average sale of $7,500 a month. Currently, there are 24 vendors at the market and to keep the business running efficiently, each vendor should be bring in $625 a year. Unfortunately, 13 out of those 24 vendors only bring in less than $100 a month.
“We are running this business as one big family,” said Marissa Mullett. “We have different personalities to deal with. We need to hear your thoughts to make everyone happy.”
The first solution gave the vendors an option to work the register and give 20 percent of their sales, just as they have always done, or, if they chose not to work, they would need to give 30 percent of their sales to Local Bounty. This solution also included hiring a part-time employee to work 32 hours a month. The second solution involves all vendors paying 30 percent and hiring a part-time employee to cover all shifts.
“I’m proud of us for getting this far, but it’s time to bite the bullet and be realistic,” said Marissa Mullet. “We are running a business here. We need to get serious.”
The job of the employee would include calling vendors if their stock is low, data entry fort all sales, and working cash register. A full list of responsibilities has yet to be constructed for the employee.
“The employee would be worth the extra 10 percent if they could do inventory so the vendors wouldn’t have to,” said Dick Mullett. “By the time I drive to Coshocton, check my inventory, drive home to get what I need, drive back, it would save me a trip to have someone call me.”
The two solutions were open to discussion. Concerns were raised that Local Bounty does not want to lose vendors because of inability to drive to work. The more vendors, the more people that come through the door. A lot of vendors at the meeting raised concern that they could not afford to raise their prices to cover the extra 10 percent because their products may not sell at a higher price. Some agreed that even though a part-time employee may be hired, vendors still need to be actively involved in the store for the customers’ sake.
“We need someone there to greet everyone who comes through the door,” said Mark Reed, president of Local Bounty. “Someone needs to be there to personally greet them and ask what brings them to Local Bounty.”
“If I’m meeting you, I’m more inclined to buy your product,” said Rachel Hall, vendor a Local Bounty. “They’re buying a story, not just a product.”
After much discussion, Dick Mullet made a motion to go with the first scenario, where vendors have a choice whether or not to work at the Local Bounty store and those who forfeited their four hours a month would pay an additional 10 percent of all sales to Local Bounty. Dave Losowski seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous vote.
The topic then turned to electing officials for a Local Bounty board of directors. Mark Reed was retained as president. Amy Shaw was elected Vice President. Marissa Mullett was retained as market manager. Robin Mullett was elected secretary. Katie Hultz was elected treasurer. Rachel Hall was elected consumer advocate.
Local Bounty is located at 22951 SR 83 near Lake Park. They are open Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
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