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THE LOCAL YOKEL BECOMES A GIANT
Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op Wrestles With Its Own SuccessBozeman's Community Food Co-op, in its distinctive metallic-silver building that looks like a retro-grain elevator on Main Street (located, interestingly enough, across from Safeway), is in the minds of its ardent patrons the very paragon of rebellion against Big Box stores, industrialization of food commodities, and material-driven conspicuous consumption. Be a Yokel, Buy Local is the catchphrase. Yet what happens when the Co-op's own startling success forces it to grow and expand its footprint and staff? Ah, a fascinating dilemma. Only four years ago did the Co-op move into its brand new space—gargantuan, then— that is already outgrown. The Co-op now has over 150 employees spread across four buildings in 10 departments, an annual payroll of $2.6 million, and a 12 percent growth rate in which 140 new members are being added to the rolls every month. In this bit of reflection, Co-op general manager Kelly Dean Wiseman ponders the fledging from a once quaint mom and pop-sized operation to something a bit more, well, supersized. Can the Co-op remain different from the food markets that it long has stood in contrast against? Can it maintain its identity?
FROM MADISON AVENUE TO THE MADISON RIVER
Former Global Advertising Guru Challenges Western Students To Think Outside BoxMike Gold is a big fish who once swam in the glittering pond of global advertising. As a Londoner and former executive with Saatchi & Saatchi, he helped define the terms of modern marketing that defies international borders and reaches living rooms in the remotest corners of the planet. But Gold also admits that he paid a high price for his success by constantly being away from his family while he was cultivating and implementing advertising deals. Today, prefering a slower paced life west of Bozeman, he is teaching students at Montana State University's College of Business about the connections between product and consumer and the things that matter in life. What inspired this Englishman to make his own life change? Answer: "A City Slickers Moment." Not long ago, writer Carol Schmidt of the MSU News Service penned this story after attending one of Gold's classes.
WHERE DOES YOUR FOOD COME FROM?
Like Many Counterparts, Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op Finds Strength In NumbersThe Community Food Co-op in Bozeman has, in many ways, become a flagship for the co-op movement inside the inner West. Thriving within an atmosphere of enormous competitive pressure exerted by national grocery chains, including Wal-Mart, Co-Op General Manager Kelly Dean Wiseman says that an emerging unified front among many different co-ops is leveraging buying power. It is resulting in lower prices, better and safer product choices, as well as giving individual stores a greater say in how organic and homegrown foods can change the way America eats and shops.
In his essay which follows, Wiseman discuses the purchasing power of the National Co-op Grocers Association which ranks second only to Whole Foods in its ability to deliver healthy food to the marketplace every day.
Talkin' 'Bout Energy
Geothermal Scholar to Discuss Renewable Energy ResourcesAt a time when gas prices are going through the roof and everyone wants a piece of the pie that is alternate energy, Dr. John Lund, director of the Geo-Heat Center in Klamath Falls, OR and president of the International Geothermal Association will speak at Fairmont Hot Springs resort on Thursday, May 18.
Entrepreneurs, Ahoy!
Montana Gets A Much-Needed Angel FundOur friend Elizabeth Marchi at Montana West Economic Development today announced an initiative that's sure to delight entrepreneurs in Montana and throughout the region: the Frontier Angel Fund, an investment group that will finance growth businesses in Northwest Montana and nearby locales.
The new fund is being created in partnership with St. Paul-based RAIN Source Capital, which has a network of 14 similar funds in rural areas in Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas. Steve Mercil, the CEO of RAIN Source, says the group is actively working on additional funds in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. As an entreprenuer who recently spent a considerable amount of time raising money for a Montana start-up business, I can testify that such funds are sorely needed, especially in areas that are far from the major financial centers on the East and West coasts.
Networking the West
TechRockies LaunchesTechRockies.com, a sister publication of SoCalTech.com, has launched - bringing a new online publication and directory of high-tech venture firms, companies and people to the Rocky Mountain region. SoCalTech has been around for awhile - I think I subscribed in '99 - and since the demise of eMileHigh back in 2001 (?) I haven't seen another all-tech publication emerge to fill the void. Recent interviews on TechRockies.com include Josh Coates of Berkeley Data Systems; John Martin of IQNavigator; Mark Davis of Creekpath; Kevin Cawley of smartFeed; Brock Blake of FundingUniverse; Kevin Santiago of Cymphonix; and Michael Stacy of Groople. You can reach Benjamin Kuo, founder of TechRockies.com and SoCalTech.com, at ben@techrockies.com. (Ben: if you need some women to interview, just let me know!) It's good to see more coverage and more momentum for tech in our region - bring it on!
