Elisa Jordan knows the real deal when she sees it -- she's the manager of our Meat Department

Last week we somewhat humorously alerted our customers to the presence of a Co-op counterfeit — a person going door-to-door under the name “Prime Time Meat” and claiming to be a “division of the Co-op” (mayhaps the Nut Department?).  The imposter had even gone so far as to put a Boise Co-op decal on his rig, just to give it that “official” look.  After posting a heads up on our Facebook page, with a link to an old SNL sketch featuring Will Ferrell as “Shaun Mondavi”, we asked you all to report any sightings of this individual to the police.

At the risk of going all “corporate branding” on you, I’d like to take a minute to tell you why, despite the initial humor, we take things like this so seriously.  Protecting our brand goes well beyond the nearly 40 years our management, employees, and board  have put into building it.  It even goes beyond the quality of the experience we try to deliver when you walk through our doors.  The fact is that a huge part of that experience comes from hundreds of relationships we’ve created over the years with the people who supply the products we sell — the people whose individual brands make up that uber-brand we call the Boise Co-op.

Many of our suppliers are small, local companies– artisan food providers, family farms and ranches, dairies, crafts people — many of whom have limited resources to invest in marketing.  For these folks, association with the Boise Co-op is an important component of getting their brand message out into the community — and we have an obligation to them to ensure that nothing diminishes what our brand stands for.  After all, they are the ones, along with our employees, whom we depend upon for the experiences that keep you coming back to the Co-0p.  When brand cheats show up, they dishonor the many great folks who have joined their brands with ours — and that is no laughing matter.