"I need to start eating healthy, but first I need to finish all the junk food in the house so it's not there to tempt me anymore."
~ the internet

OUR CO-OP HAS RAISED THE BAR TO $15/HOUR WAGES!!!

Enough said, right?!?!?  Click on the image above to watch the full interview or google News Channel 2 or 8 for additional coverage.
The main question that we keep getting is:  "Does this mean that prices will go up?" 
Here's a direct quote that our Co-Founder & General Manager, Amber Sallaberry, gave to the News:
"Actually, our prices have continued to decrease over the past 5 years... Think of a situation where you have 5 people who make $12/hour or 4 that make $15/hour. Work smart and efficiently and you can do so much more with less. We’ve kept almost all of the same labor benchmarks that we’ve always used (labor $$ as a % of sales) and I say almost because we actually lowered 3 departments benchmark for 2018. None of our prices will go up. we did this by working hard and smart and creating efficiencies that you just can’t achieve in a corporate setting, with corporate payouts being the only end game. Our team is motivated to work hard for our farmers, our values and knowing that if they do, rewards come to them and their community as opposed to a second beach house for the shareholder. It’s called a co-op and currently, we’re the only grocery Coop in Nevada. 
Take any of our items that a competitor sells and see the difference. No corporate payouts mean more capital to have better prices and pay our people well. Every manager on our team just did a price audit in November and we beat Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, and Sprouts on over 92 percent of the items that we all carry in common. “Apples for apples” comparison is important here as ALL of our produce is organic and/or local and we are the only retailer to sell local organic pastured eggs, grass-fed and finished local meats, local Nevada honey and so much more."

NESTLE GOBBLES UP SMALL COMPANIES

The largest food company in the world, Nestle, just bought the Garden of Life brand of supplements that have in the past featured prominently in our store. What’s more, they have also bought Chameleon Cold Brew and Sweet Earth vegetarian foods. This is a super sad turn of events. If you don’t know much about Nestle, here’s a quick synopsis of how they operate (a full account of their practices would require more paper than we can afford):

1. They aggressively pushed more expensive, less healthy infant formula onto mothers in impoverished nations, resulting in malnourished children and frequently, death.
2. They continue skirting laws restricting advertisements and promotions of infant formula to new mothers.
3. They deplete water sources in the cheapest areas to fund a $7.7 billion bottled water industry, often right next to communities (like Flint!) that don’t have clean drinking water.
4. Their former CEO once said that declaring access to water a basic human right is “an extreme solution.”
5. And in an advertisement they once said that “"Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world." Yes, you read that correctly.
6. All while pumping water from a National Forest on a permit that expired 25 years ago…in the middle of the worst drought in California history.
7. Oh, and they also deforested national parks in Africa to illegally plant cacao trees.
8. …and then regularly used child labor and slavery to produce their cocoa, arguing in court that because the slavery didn’t happen in the US, they can’t be sued in America. 

In other words, if you were to approach a Hollywood screenwriter with a script about an evil multinational corporation, they would do their research by reading about Nestle. And they would most likely fail to match the sheer greed and evil of such a corporation.
 
Goodbye, Garden of Life. Goodbye, Chameleon Cold Brew. Goodbye, Sweet Earth.
 
The food movement is fine without you. We know you started out as wonderful small scale healthy and often organic alternatives for people who needed access to good foods, and we’re sorry to see you give up the dream in favor of profits-at-all-cost. Rest assured, we won’t be giving up on that dream anytime soon, and as such, we will immediately begin phasing out all of your products, encouraging other stores to do the same, and spreading the word to our vibrant community that still dreams of a better world.

99 CENT ORGANIC MANGO BUST!
We recently sent out a postcard for the month of January offering 99 cents Organic Mangoes.  Late on Sunday, after the postcard was well underway and out of our hands, we got word that the entire pallet would not be delivered.  HUGE BUMMER, we know.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the sweet little gems make their way to Reno, but no promises.  The special was set to run for the entire month so please continue to check in with us to see if fortune did indeed arrive.
 Don't fret too much over the mangoes...we are currently selling the cheapest organic apples in town - ORGANIC FUJIS FOR $.99/lb until the end of January!
REGIONAL MANDARINS, TANGELOS & LEMON ARE NOW IN SEASON & BACK AT GBCFC
Gary Romano of Sierra Valley Farms in Beckworth, CA has been working Bill of Citrus Norte (Chico, Ca) since the early days of the co-op and each year he brings GBCFC fresh citrus in the winter months.  YES - THIS IS WEST COAST CITRUS SEASON :)  Well, the tail end of it...we have tangelos and Meyer lemons left at the co-op and they are BRIGHT like the sun, both visually and flavor-wise.  Citrus Norte is in its third year of transition and will be able to obtain Organic Certification next year.   


CAFE UPDATE!
We are making the final steps towards opening our upstairs cafe - many of you have likely heard the hammering and banging of new construction going on upstairs. We're developing new recipes, planning menus, and beginning work on installing enough plants to freshen the air and create a green haven in the middle of the desert to sit and enjoy a coffee and a made to order burrito. 
A big thanks to everyone who contributed feedback to the menu creation! We are hoping to have a comfortable seating space and simple coffee line up and running by February - stay tuned for further updates!

SALE! NEW YEARS
JUICE CLEANSE!

Welcome to the New Year! This is the beautiful time that everyone makes resolutions to better their lives and embrace the liberating power of newness. As a co-op, our resolutions are to find new and creative ways to educate our member-owners about the crazy food system we live in, and even more importantly, to (finally) open our upstairs cafe!
No matter what your resolutions are, or even if you're making any, this is a great time of year to try out a juice cleanse. These cleanses are one to five day fasts where you drink only fresh organic juices to keep your body supplied with essential nutrients while giving your digestion a break and allowing your body to repair damage, reduce inflammation, and clear out the buildup of toxins that inevitably happens during the holidays.
For the month of January, the Love Your Farmer cleanse is on sale for $29.99!
If you are interested in detoxing with us please email juice@greatbasinfood.coop for more information about our cleanse packages. 

Dayton Valley Aquaponics

Living in a desert is hard. Especially for farmers, where water is scarce and carefully allocated year to year based on widely fluctuating winter snowpack levels. So what's a farmer to do? Well, for our year round tomatoes, we turn to local farm Dayton Valley Aquaponics, who have reduced their water usage by

90%

by building efficient greenhouse systems focused on recycling water AND nutrients. 

Local bottle reuse program
takes Reno by storm!
Conscious Container is a new Northern Nevada start up focused on reducing waste. They are working hard to get craft brewers and brew-lovers alike on board with reusing those perfectly good glass craft brew bottles! Check out one of their events, or just start bringing in your used bottles to one of their drop-off sites. Tiny actions can have big consequences, and this is a great way to start making a difference.






EVERYONE IS WELCOME!  Open every day from 8am-9pm
Our mailing address is:
240 Court St Reno, NV 89501
775.324.6133
info@greatbasinfood.coop
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