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Here for You

We understand that our shoppers and owners are rightly concerned about the Novel Coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, and have asked how the virus is affecting the Co-op. We wanted to share how we are responding to the COVID-19, as well as provide updates as they become available. 

The Davis Food Co-op is committed to the health and safety of all of our employees and customers during these challenging times. We showed this commitment by receiving our Green Check Program Certification. The Green Check Program is a program from Yolo County that certifies that we are in compliance with state and local guidance regarding COVID-19 policies and precautions. We will continue to provide a safe shopping experience for both customers and employees by minimizing worker contact, maintaining 6 feet distances as best possible, wearing masks at all times, constantly sanitizing all areas and conducting pre-shift symptoms screenings.

1/29/21

The Davis Food Co-op continues to sanitize carts with a designated clean cart area. Staff members regularly tend to the carts in the corrals and sanitizing them before returning them to the designated area. We continue to monitor customer count based on sales per hour and front end supervisors ensure county and store guidelines are upheld for staff and shopper’s safety. We station a staff member at the door when possible.

1/21/2021

On the evening of Thursday January 21, 2021, we were notified that an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The employee most recently worked a shift on Wednesday January 20th and had been sent home after mild symptoms developed halfway through an early morning shift. The employee also worked on Monday and Tuesday with Monday qualifying as the beginning of the “infectious period”, which is 48 hours before symptoms occur. It is important to note that the employee passed their pre-shift screening on all days which includes a temperature and symptoms check. All employees who were identified as having been in direct contact with the infected individual have been notified to self-isolate and get tested. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to release updates as necessary.

1/7/2021

The Davis Food Co-op remains committed to full transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday January 7, 2021, we were notified that an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The employee most recently worked a shift on Monday January 4 and had been sent home after mild symptoms developed halfway through an early morning shift. The employee also worked on Saturday January 2 which qualifies as the beginning of the “infectious period”, which is 48 hours before symptoms occur. It is important to note that the employee passed their pre-shift screening on both days which includes a temperature and symptoms check. All employees who were identified as having been in direct contact with the infected individual have been sent home to self isolate and get tested. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to release updates as necessary

12/6/20

In accordance with new Yolo County guidelines, we are only allowed to operate at 20% capacity. We will have an employee stationed at the front door at all times to monitor customer count.

8/14/20

As of 8/14/20, we have been notified that a second employee that works out of the office located in the Davis Food Co-op Teaching Kitchen building has tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test results remain confined to the Teaching Kitchen building and the Health Department has advised that there is still no need for a store closure. This employee’s last day of work was Friday 8/7/20. All staff who have been in direct contact with either employee who has tested positive have already been advised to get tested and self-quarantine. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to release updates as necessary.

8/12/20

The Davis Food Co-op has always been a community institution led by its values and integrity. As such, transparency and information sharing are key components of our day-to-day operations. The trust that our staff, Owners and community as a whole have placed in us to remain open and honest is of the utmost importance and something that we will always work hard to maintain.

On Wednesday 8/12/20, we were informed that an employee of ours has tested positive for COVID-19. This employee works out of the office space attached to the Teaching Kitchen across the street from the Co-op.

Per CDC requirements and our in-store positive test protocol, we immediately called the Yolo County Public Health Office to notify them of the situation. We have followed standard guidance for closure of that space and a deep clean with disinfection of the entire Teaching Kitchen and adjacent offices. Any Co-op staff from the Teaching Kitchen building who have been in direct contact with the employee have also been sent home to self-isolate until they reach the end of their quarantine period, a total of 14 days.

The Co-op has been proactive and continuously committed to providing a safe shopping experience by minimizing worker contact, maintaining 6 feet distances as best possible, wearing masks, and constantly sanitizing all areas of the Co-op that workers and customers access. We take pride in our commitment to the safety of our store and community, and will continue to review and adapt our standards to best serve everyone in Davis, and beyond, that visit the Co-op.

8/10/20

The Bulk Department is open. All scoop bins have been prepacked. Customers have the option of a small paper bag or larger plastic bag for the gravity bins. The gravity bins are sanitized frequently. Outside bulk containers are still not permitted in the store. We are currently exploring compostable options for our bulk packaging.

6/22/20

We have reopened our full-service meat counter.

6/15/20

Per guidelines set forth by the California Department of Health, we are allowing the use of reusable bags. Customers must bag their own groceries and we encourage anyone using a reusable bag to frequently wash it. Cashiers will continue sanitizing the bagging area after each use.

6/4/20

Our Bulk department has been transitioning to prepacked items, instead of scoop-style bins, with the exception of the gravity bins. We are currently exploring more sustainable options for packaging.

Thank you for you patience

5/8/20

We have introduced Curbside Pickup for a contactless shopping experience. Click here to place a Curbside Pickup order.

4/27/20

Following Yolo County guidelines, all shoppers must be wearing a facial covering in the store. We have a staff member at the front entrance to ensure this is followed. The staff member also sanitizes all carts and baskets as they are returned.

Thank you for you cooperation

4/20/20

Measures Your Co-op is Taking to Keep the Community Safe:

• Frequent sanitizing of all touch surfaces (doors, card scanners, etc.) and restrooms with a medical-grade virucide.
• Hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes and gloves available to all shoppers upon request.
• Staff member assistance in bulk.
• We are supplying and requiring all staff members to wear masks or facial coverings. 
• Prohibiting outside containers and bags in the store.
• Adhering to social distancing guidelines and signage in-store. We are here to help you, please be mindful of employee’s space.
• Store Signage reminding shoppers to only touch what you intend to buy.
• Plexiglass shields and bright yellow social distancing reminders at registers.

4/16/20

Hello Co-op Shoppers!

We are now requiring staff members to wear masks. We hope that you will do the same!

4/13/20

We are currently not allowing reusable bags in the store. If you like to use your own bags please leave them in your car or at the exit, when you have paid for your groceries, refill your cart and transfer your groceries to your bags at your car or on our brown bench.

Bulk Mochii has been moved to aisle 2, where a staff member can assist you!

Thank you for your understanding!

4/9/20

Co-op Shoppers and Owners,

For a few weeks, we have not been collecting bottles but due to a request from Straus, we are changing our policy. The folks at Straus creamery have asked us to keep collecting bottles for them. We will be giving bottle returns to you when you check out and all you have to do is place your bottles in the crates by the exit. This way the people in our store do not come into contact with any outside containers and we can help Strauss keep their milk moving.

Thank you!

4/7/20

Our meat department is fully stocked in the grab and go prepackaged section, but we have closed our meat counter.

In our bulk department, we currently have plastic bags and small paper bags for your items. We are working on getting larger paper bags for our shoppers who wish to limit their plastic waste! Than you for your patience!

4/6/20

Dear Owners and Shoppers,

In order to keep our high-contact surfaces sanitized for you, we are changing the operations of our Bulk Department. Starting this Monday, we will not be permitting the use of outside containers in our Bulk section. There will now also be staff members present in each of the bulk aisles to help you with your shopping. We thank you for your cooperation and understanding. 

3/27/20

Hello Co-op Owners and Shoppers!

We are not currently accepting returns, refunds or exchanges.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

3/25/20

Our Valued Owners and Shoppers,

With the retail environment shifting rapidly, we are continuing to balance how we serve the community while taking care of the staff. The changing nature of this virus is making it difficult to balance both. Our goal is to continue to nourish our shoppers, support both our staff and shoppers at this time of need and provide calmness in the face of uncertainty. You might have noticed that supply levels in certain areas such as dry grocery and bulk are still bare and it will take some time to level out the supply chain. We are working closely with all of our partners along the supply chain and are confident that there is a sufficient level of product available to meet the needs of consumers over the next few months.

Staff Appreciation 
We shared with all staff that effective immediately, every single employee will receive an additional $2 per hour to recognize their hard work, positivity and courage as we work to meet the needs of the community.

Stocking the Store
We currently are unable to take bulk or special orders with the exception of our Wellness department. Our Co-op, similar to other stores, are getting a limit placed on what we are able to purchase due to the warehouse experiencing an unprecedented amount of pressure put into their system. We realized that the distribution system is not prepared for the extreme demand that stores are experiencing at the moment. Therefore we ask that you kindly purchase only what you need to get by. When all of us work together, we will have enough items for everyone to purchase.

Store Hours
Starting yesterday, we changed our store hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We designated the first two hours for our most vulnerable members of our community, which include seniors that are 65 and older, pregnant or otherwise at high risk of infection. We ask that you allow our older and immunocompromised community members the time and space they need to do their shopping as safely as possible. If you do not fall into these categories, we invite you to shop with us from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day.  The change in hours provides us the opportunity to serve both our community and the staff. Many of our staff are seeing the fear first hand in our customers and experiencing fear themselves due to the uncertain state of this pandemic. We are supporting our staff in all ways possible, while we maintain a limited crew of staff who share these concerns but are willing and able to put themselves at risk to serve our community.

Store Sanitation
These additional hours also give us the opportunity to clean more frequently, and to adhere to social distancing when we are stocking products in the store. The Co-op has also hired maintenance personnel who are ‘patrol sanitizing’ the entire store, including the carts, hand baskets, fridges doors, tongs and scoops, and other highly touched surfaces. We are currently unable to supply wipes at the entrance or hand sanitizer throughout the store due to limited supply. We have placed orders for these items, but again we are being limited by our suppliers on quantity as well as shipping delays.

We have made a number of operational changes in the last few weeks, which you may have seen throughout the store and social media: 

• Installed Plexi Shield at the front lanes to provide an additional barrier to staff and to shoppers.
• Put up signage in the store to remind shoppers to self distance and to only touch products they intend to purchase.
• Made single-use gloves available for our shoppers, by the deli area when you enter the store.

Continued Communication
We will continue to share any other store updates via social media and through email. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve the community when we need it the most. We appreciate the overwhelming love and support we have received for coming to the front line when we are called to do so.

At the store level, we continue to shift and prioritize on a daily basis. Everyone has been so appreciative and have been amazing letting us know how valued we are in the community. Our store team has been working tirelessly to ensure that we have products on the shelves. It has been so amazing to see the camaraderie that everyone has shared and how the entire staff has stepped up to take care of the community in the time of need. Heros come in all forms and they have truly represented themselves in that capacity during this time.

In cooperation,

Prasanna Regmi, General Manager

3/23/20

Effective March 23, 2020 the Davis Food Co-op will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We have reserved 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. for those most at risk. 

In order to remain available to the most vulnerable members of our community we are reserving these first two hours for those who are 65 and older, pregnant or otherwise at high risk of infection. If you do not fall into these categories, we invite you to shop with us from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day.

These new store hours will be in effect until further notice. Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to make our store safe and accessible to everyone.

In Cooperation, The Davis Food Co-op

3/20/20

We are currently working on systems to keep our community healthy and safe, along with keeping our shelves stocked. We will have more update soon! Please stay up to date on Yolo County COVID-19 updates: https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019/shelter-in-place

Thank you for you patience!

3/17/20

Dear Davis Community,

Effective March 18, 2020, we are limiting our store hours from 8am to 8pm. This will allow us to focus on stocking our shelves so that we can serve our community and give us the extra time to focus on more cleaning. With this change, we also wanted to provide our senior shoppers with an exclusive shopping hour from 8am to 9am. This first hour would allow them to shop with minimal foot traffic in the store.  At this time, we will not be asking for IDs to validate age, but will remind people to come back during the 9am shopping hour if they are not a senior. 

We are reminding our staff and asking our shoppers to practice the following: 

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. 
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Stay home when you are sick
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue (sleeve if necessary), then throw the tissue in the trash, and wash your hands
• Practice social distancing when in public. 

Prasanna Regmi, General Manager

3/17/20

We appreciate the tremendous trust our community has given us over the years and this past week. We appreciate your kindness, your patience and you just “checking-in” in with us and thanking us for keeping our doors open.  We take the role that we have given very seriously and continue to evaluate operations to keep up with the ever-changing situation we are facing with the COVID-19. 

As we continue to stay close to Yolo County COVID-19 Guidance for Food Facilities we are staying in line with following their advice on how to keep our member-owners, shoppers, and staff safe. The county has advised that Buffet, Serving Lines and Self-Service food formats discontinue whenever possible. So, out of an abundance of caution, we have voluntarily closed self serve prepared foods areas including our Hot Bar, Salad Bar and Soup Bar. We will revisit these areas and re-open when it feels responsible to do so. We will keep our Grab N’ Go area along with the bakery area still open, since each item is wrapped individually. We truly apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to our shoppers.

We appreciate the community being nimble with this situation and being flexible with the changes that are facing together. 

Davis Food Cooperative

3/16/20

Dear shoppers, 

Due to high demand for products, like other retailers, we are starting to experience a shortage in our store. While we are tirelessly working to find different sources to meet the demand, this shortage is affecting different areas such as bulk, grocery and produce. 

In our produce department,  we are starting to see a shortage in organic offerings. As we have shifted, over the last two years, to prioritize local and organic, our farmers and partners are feeling the stress of fulfilling customer requests. Farmers and distributors can not keep up with the demand and recent wet weather has inhibited harvesting of items like berries and bunched greens. While we prioritize local, organic and transitional offerings in produce, we are currently exploring conventional items to replace produce that we might have a hard time sourcing.

Keeping everyone updated with new changes is critical to everyone’s success and we are sharing this information so that our community can plan accordingly. 

Davis Food Cooperative

3/14/20

About the Virus

We realize the information related to the COVID-19 virus is changing rapidly. For most up to date and accurate information we are following information from our partners at UC Davis and Sutter Health. We are also following guidelines given by Yolo County Health Department to guide store operations.

You Tube video:

The Co-op’s Response & Sanitation

We have many procedures already in place to help protect the safety of our employees, members, and shoppers—procedures we rely on to reduce the spread of foodborne illness and seasonal colds and flu every year. With the rapidly changing COVID-19 virus, we are focused on increasing the frequency of our cleaning regiment, throughout the store. With this, we are sanitizing our frequently touched hard surfaces every two hours with a medical grade virucide. Provided that we have enough supplies on hand, we will continue to have wipes available for carts at the customer service counter. Should we run short on disinfectant wipes, we will provide virucide spray (with disposable paper towels) to wipe down carts.  You will also see hand sanitizer stations in different areas of the store. Since handwashing is the best way to combat any virus, including the COVID-19, we have set up a portable sink for your convenience to use at the front entrance.

For our Team

Over the last three days, we have spent a lot of time talking and being available for our staff. Because we truly care about our community, our practice has always been for staff to remain at home when they are sick.  All of our full-time and part-time staff accumulate paid time off to cover sick time. During this time, we are instructing employees to take any needed time off for themselves or their families either due to illness or due to other circumstances such as school closure. We are reminding our staff to follow good hygiene during this time and sharing information from both Yolo County and Center for Disease Control (CDC). 

For our Shoppers

As a community grocery store, we have always been the trusted source for your grocery needs. Our goal is to continue to provide the same service as we have in the past to serve our community. Please know that we are doing our best to keep up with high-demand items, such as hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and cleaning supplies.  We will continue to work tirelessly and to the best of our ability, to keep our shelves stocked and be present for our community. 

Working together

We acknowledge that this is a trying time and value your kindness and patience as we are learning to navigate through this ever-changing situation together.  The outpouring love and support of our community does not go unnoticed.  We appreciate each and every one of you helping us get through this together.

Serving you since 1972

Davis Food Cooperative

Calling Davis Food Co-op Owners to run for the Board of Directors!
If you are feeling like 2020 is the year for you to get involved in the esteemed democratic process and if you value a cooperative business that is collectively owned and governed by its members, then I invite you to consider running for the Board of Directors at the Davis Food Coop. We have three seats open this year.

Board Directors are volunteers for a term of three years and commit to working about 15 hours a month. In exchange, Directors receive 16.5% off all their purchases at the co-op and have dinner during their monthly Board meetings. Directors also gain skills through training and experience that support their professional and personal development. Directors also have opportunities throughout the year to attend community events while representing the Davis Food Co-op.

Acting as a Board Director is a great way to be involved with this long-standing community-owned store. Starting in 1972 this community establishment has thrived because of everyday people who worked and volunteered their time to make it what it is today. Whether you are a long time owner with a long history at the Co-op or a younger member who has an interest in what the Co-op is all about, we welcome each and every one of you.

Running for the Board is very easy and you don’t have to be a savvy politician to do so. If you are thinking about running, please visit our website for detailed information. Our Board Development Committee would be happy to talk to you about the expectations, the process, and our own experiences. If you are still unsure or have already decided to take the plunge, please join us on March 4 at 6:30 pm in the teaching kitchen where we will have an orientation for potential candidates. This is a great opportunity to hear more about what to expect and to ask further questions. Once candidates have decided to run for the Board they must submit their declaration of candidacy by March 20th.

We are excited to greet and meet this year’s candidates! Best of luck and happy campaigning to our future board members!

Cooperatively yours,
Board of Directors – Davis Food Co-op