Mel Braverman

Mel Braverman has 20 years of experience in food cooperatives, including 14 years as a general manager of retail and wholesale natural food cooperatives at Willy St. Co-op, Magic Mill and North Farm. “Throughout my career I’ve always had an operations focus. I’m a real on-the-floor person. I don’t operate from a cubicle closed off from the world,” he said. Mel works with co-ops to strengthen systems and management expertise, and his approach is very hands-on and includes significant follow up support.

Mel has a wide range of skills in retail store operations, strategic, business, and financial planning, expansion planning, and management team development. Mel also attended the Center for Creative Leadership both in Colorado Springs and Greensboro, NC and works with a variety of groups conducting leadership and management retreats.

Mel’s services include:

Management Training

• Management training and mentoring (department managers and general managers)
• Margin Workshops
• CoCoFiSt Workshops
• Improving operational performance
• Business planning (process and document)
• Facilitate management team retreats

Operational Improvements

• Margin enhancement
• Key Operational Indicator Training (margin, labor, sales and inventory)
• Labor controls
• Merchandising assessment and improvement suggestions
• Systems (ordering, stocking, receiving, etc.) assessment and improvement suggestions
• Operational audit
• Department manager goal setting and monitoring
• Management team assessment and improvement work plan

“Mel has been instrumental in the development of our managers and buyers in goal setting and monitoring and has greatly helped our store’s profitability through his exceptional operational knowledge.”
—Craig Harris, General Manager, Tidal Creek Cooperative, Wilmington, NC

“As a newly hired GM with no grocery experience, I knew I needed help. We were able to bring in Mel Braverman, who assessed our operations, trained our staff, and helped us develop an improvement plan. He has continued to work with us the past year and a half, and in 2010 we realized our first profit in 6 years.”
— Lynn Chriestenson, General Manager, Fort Collins Food Cooperative

“I can’t begin to express my gratitude and appreciation for the wealth of information, suggestions and feedback from Mel Braverman’s site visit. He was thorough in his search for margin erosion while gaining the respect and excitement from myself and my entire staff. “

—Meg Torrence, East Store Manager, Bloomingfoods Market & Deli (Indiana)