In January, NCG co-ops were invited to participate in our biennial fresh department survey. The survey includes in-depth questions regarding topics such as team size and structure, manager tenure, weekly sales, programs in place, department equipment, local definition, product sources and pricing. Response was strong, with 100 co-ops completing the survey in each of the three fresh departments: meat/seafood, deli and produce.

The information provides NCG staff and membership the opportunity to look into other co-op departments as a means of comparison, source identification and/or to support planning for growth. We were also able to extrapolate some findings into department summaries, which call out survey highlights and help paint a broader picture of what co-op fresh departments look like as a group.

Some points of interest:

• 30-40% of survey respondents have been in the manager role for one year or less
• 48% of delis are full service, as are 42% of meat departments
• Organic produce makes up 75% or more of the product mix in the vast majority of co-ops: at least half the ingredients used in the majority (75%) of delis are organic.
• Local products make up 50% or less in the majority (80%) of our produce departments and 50% or more in at least half of the meat departments

There is a great amount of information and takeaways in the data and helpful insights into peer departments. You can find the data and summary documents here: 2014 Fresh Department Survey Results.