2023 Annual Report
Letter from the Board
Much of this past year has been dedicated to conducting a national search to find a new CEO for the organization. To that end, the best candidate was already working for New Pi, Cedar Rapids Store Team Lead Patrick Brickel. Read the official announcement here.
As a business, New Pi is in a different and better space than this time last year. Our sales and finances have improved, our prepared foods department has reintroduced catering (now with delivery from our Coralville location) and we have plans for improvements in our stores.
Co-op Member Savings
10,472
Free Loaves Earned by Members
2,097
Free House-made Bowls Earned by Members
2,058
Free Hot Coffees Earned by Members
1,772
Free Gallons of Milk Earned by Members
61,080
Dollars Saved in Member Coupons
186,809
Total Dollars in Member Savings
Meet the Locals
We purchase from over 130 local farmers and food producers year-round to bring you the best Iowa has to offer (Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, too) – even for the ingredients in our prepared foods! You can find goods from the growers and local businesses you love right here at your Co-op, every day of the year.
Rainbow Roots Farm
Starting small on an unused hay pasture owned by a friend's parents, Rainbow Roots Farm now operates on 6 acres just 5 miles from our Iowa City Co-op. The farm boasts 6 greenhouses to help extend the growing season from March to December, and employs 8 workers to help run the operation.
Hedge Apple Kombucha
With their 2020 move to Fairfield to start a small family homestead, Kyle and Lindsey were ready for a change to fit their growing family. After word spread of their delicious homemade kombucha, they were given an opportunity from Breadtopia Food Collective to rent a kitchen and Hedge Apple Kombucha was able to scale for a larger audience.
Marmalade Sky
Malak Nour, the founder and baker, talked with us about how she first began baking when she was growing up in Paris, “steeped in the French traditions of bread baking, pastry making, and season-based cooking.”
Treasurer's Report
The dramatic effects of the pandemic are behind us, but retailers are still having to adapt to long-lasting changes in supply chains and customer patterns. New Pioneer is no exception to this; and these challenges are reflected in the Co-op financials.
New Pioneer is still very much in rebuild and recovery mode, but there are several reasons to be optimistic that we are trending in the right direction. We ended Fiscal Year 2022/2023 with a loss of $573k. However, that is nearly a $50k improvement over FY 2021/2022.
Additionally, we saw a 5% ($1.1m) growth in revenue over the past year. That mark by itself is reason to celebrate, and it is even more promising that we saw nearly 10% revenue growth across all locations May 2023 – July 2023 compared to the same period last year.
2023 by the Numbers
We balance environmental, social and economic goals while reducing environmental impacts and giving back to the community and our staff. This comes to life in many ways, such as supporting our staff and their career aspirations; improving our stores to have green standards just as high as the products on our shelves; providing for our neighbors and larger community through donations and sponsorships; and offering fun and educational resources through events and local partnerships.