Friends,
In light of the ever-changing news and information surrounding the impact to our community from COVID-19, I wanted to reach out to you all to let you know how Good Foods Co-op is responding to protect the health of our staff and shoppers.
Thankfully, the guidance from the CDC and our local Health Department is in line with our existing policies and commitment to supporting the health of our community, so what we are doing is stepping up those efforts even further.
This includes:
- Increased attention to cleaning and disinfecting throughout the store, particularly on high-touch areas, by employees during the course of the day and by our 3rd party cleaners overnight. For example, you might see your cashier take a moment to spray and wipe down the register area more frequently than they were already doing. We don’t expect that this will have a large impact on check-out times and we appreciate your patience in the event that it does.
- We have placed additional hand sanitizer dispensers around the store, e.g. at the Hospitality Desk and café checkout areas. In addition to good hand-washing practices, we encourage staff and shoppers to use these stations frequently!
- We have also placed signage around the store with important facts and reminders, to help staff and shoppers remain aware and vigilant in our efforts to protect each other.
- We are discontinuing sampling throughout the store, including on the hot bar and salad bar. If there is a product you would like to try before you buy, please just let a staff member know and we will be happy to open a package for you!
- We are actively encouraging employees to stay home if they are sick, especially those showing symptoms of respiratory illness or elevated temperature, until they have been symptom-free (without medication) for at least 24 hours. Employees will not be penalized for taking these precautions. If an employee displays these symptoms while already at work, they will be directed to go home.
As many of you have no doubt experienced throughout our community, we are aware that we may face product shortages due to distributors running out of high-demand products, or due to reduced staff for the reasons noted above. Please be assured that we will continue to work diligently to meet your needs, and thank you for your patience with these issues.
We take our contributions to the health of our community very seriously, and will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and take appropriate steps in response to any changes based on guidance from the CDC and local Health Department. If you have any questions about our response, or if there are further steps we can take to help you remain comfortable as a Co-op shopper, please feel free to reach out to me at KatL@goodfoods.coop.
Sincerely,
Kat Luchtefeld
General Manager
