Letter from Chris Dilley, GM of PFC from 2003 to 2023, dated May 2, 2026:

“Hello Ellis, Kim, Olu, Lalonie, and Noe,

I am writing as a concerned community member and PFC owner, to you, our Board of Directors, because I believe in our co-op.

For those that don't know me, I spent 20 years as the GM of PFC, from 2003 until 2023. I am extremely saddened and concerned by what we continue to see happening to the co-op that so many, including some of you, worked so hard for so long to build. It's never been perfect. But it has always been something of value to the community.

I have written feedback to this email address before, and since January 25 have not received any response. To that point, I won't ask questions, I'll just give you my feedback. 

First off, I applaud how James has brought on great staff and trained them to give great service. That said, the majority of the actions taken by James since he was appointed IGM are and have been creating conditions that put the PFC in critical danger of running out of money and closing.

I have shopped at PFC non-stop for 25 years, at least for my big weekly shop, and often several days between, knowing I could get 95% of what I needed from our store. My shopping frequency has not changed, but the amount of what I need that I can get has declined to about 70% over the past few months. The numbers presented last night let me know that this is not just impacting any single shopper.

A snapshot of the important bullet points of what was shared include:

- 20% sales decline from $197,000 in sales in January to $160,000 in March. James said PFC is on track for $1.9M in sales this year. That's down 24% from just shy of $2.5M last year. Losing sales is easy. Growing it back is very very hard.

- A rapid increase in personnel costs from $52,000 in January to $56,000 in March - stores like ours need to keep wages below 22% of sales to achieve profitability. January was at 26% (which needed to change) and March is at a very dangerous 35% of sales. AND James reported he plans to hire more people.

- Cash has gone from $320,000 in January to $237,000 last night. More than $80,000 decline in 3 months. This means that instead of $11,000 per month in cash burn (a concerning number, to be sure, and from what I understand it is part of the reason an abrupt GM change was made) has more than doubled, bringing our runway down from 29 months, to 9 months. If this doesn't change, we could easily not make payroll by the end of the year. Cash is gas in the tank. When we run out, we can't keep going.

- A note on the reported profitability - Without an accurate inventory count being done, valued, and adjusted you do not have an accurate picture of profitability. The report that the changes that being made are resulting in increased profits are not accurate, as shown by the declining cash position.

As a board, it's important to understand that what James presented is actually a picture of massive decline. It's your role to dig into this, expect accurate, timely financial reporting, understand it, and make the changes that are needed to stop the bleeding before it's too late. You don't have much time.

If discussing this further would be helpful, please let me know.

Thank you for listening.

In cooperation, and with deep care for Kalamazoo and PFC,

Chris Dilley
PFC Owner”