We’re delighted to introduce you to our brand new Community Partner in Saskatoon. . .
Saskatoon Co-op is a member-owned co-operative which serves its members with products and services that help build, feed and fuel individuals and communities, making sustainable investments in local communities. We are honoured that Saskatoon Co-op (Attridge) has agreed to distribute CSF member shares in Saskatoon beginning this year!
Skipper Otto’s CSF didn’t always delivers sustainable seafood to Saskatoon this way. From 2011-2014, my husband and fisherman, Shaun, would fish all summer, rent a freezer truck and drive across the Rockies to deliver CSF shares to our members in Saskatoon and other western cities, hoping to make it there and back before the snow hit too hard. He would set up shop in a member’s driveway and people would line up to get their fish. Members had to decide what they wanted on the spot, Shaun would weigh it all out and write it down, and members would head home with their seafood.
We really loved meeting everyone and there was something charming about the whole experience, but it also came with its challenges: it was hard on our family personally, and it came with a lot of additional costs, uncertainty, and headaches. We needed a better system.
In 2015, I had the idea that, if we could just find the right people who shared our vision and our beliefs to work as distribution partners in our member cities, we could hit upon a more flexible, more affordable distribution system that would make everyone happy. I reached out to members in Saskatoon and soon, one of our members introduced us to Grant, the General Manager of Saskatoon Co-ops. We flew out to Saskatoon in November of 2015 and Grant sat down with us, chatting about the logistics of how it would work, gave us a tour of the store, and introduced us to Troy, the store manager. We were delighted when Grant and Troy agreed to give it a try for 2016!
Our Community Partner distribution model has been working so well in our other cities and we’re eager to see it unfold in Saskatoon at our first Community Partner pick-up at the Saskatoon Co-op, Attridge starting in March of 2016! This new model means Saskatoon members will now get several pick-up opportunities each year and will have a whole week during business hours to come and collect their orders. We can’t wait to see how it goes and hear feedback from our members!
Check our event calendar for details of all our Saskatoon pick-ups!
