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The Whole Foods supply chain, which does a fantastic job of transparency, is often glossed over. It's hard to deliver the kinds of information they do at the sc
by mr_tristan 9y ago
The Whole Foods supply chain, which does a fantastic job of transparency, is often glossed over. It's hard to deliver the kinds of information they do at the scale they're at. I'm talking about things like what farm the produce came from, how was this beef finished, etc. I'm often amazed that even at farmer's markets, I don't get this information.
I sense Amazon will consider how they can build off of that supply chain to open up new opportunities. One of these opportunities might be different meal kit services.
For comparison, Blue Apron claims they have 150 farms. But I can't find anywhere, for example, what farm produced the produce for any particular meal. Maybe the information is there, but I suspect produce is mixed together in order to ensure the supply of each menu just works. So, a WF-based supply should be able to use a the "local" tag on their meal kits and create a much more distinctive differentiation.
Meal kits will be popular, but I don't sense there will need to be a large national distribution. Even Amazon will probably need to contend with regional and local providers. But Amazon does a good job of being a business platform, such that they might be the place a local business could source the ingredients and distribute to customers. I don't see how larger companies like Blue Apron could become platforms.
- sp332 9y agoI'm talking about things like what farm the produce came from, how was this beef finished, etc. I'm often amazed that even at farmer's markets, I don't get this information. Then you're not really at a farmers' market, are you? At mine I look at the sign and it tells me what farm's table I'm standing in front of.
- sweettea 9y agoMany "farmer's markets" do not prohibit resellers; it's a major problem for both customers and farmers.
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoYou would be surprised as to how much stuff sold at a farmers market wasn't grown at the farm whose stand you're in front of. At least around here, they're not cheap - there's a strong incentive to buy whatever you don't grow so that you can sell it at the farmers market. It's crossed my mind more than once to go into Shaw's, buy a bunch of stuff, and sell it at the farmers market that sets up in that very same parking lot every Saturday. Given that our supermarkets even sell local stuff, I can still call locally grown and not be lying to anyone.
- michaelbuckbee 9y agoI see this with semi-durable foodstuffs like Honey or Jam. Where _maybe_ some of it is from the local, but much of it is from elsewhere.
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoWith honey it could also be that they process locally, and call it local based on that. You really can't verify anything at all at a farmers market.
- ensignavenger 9y agoThe Farmer's Market I used to visit regularly when I lived in the city had a policy of actually visiting the farms before allowing them to become vender's, so check and be sure that they actually had an operation. Of course, that doesn't prevent them from buying extra produce and re-selling it- but nothing stops Whole Foods from mislabeling their produce, either... haven't they been accused of doing this in the past?
- jghn 9y agoI recently popped into a farm stand in NC. This was a stand sitting in front of a farm describing how you could buy their wares. I was suspicious of some of the stuff in the bins as it was out of season, and sure enough I'd see "product of Mexico" stickers on some of the produce. And that's a stand on a farm much less a farmers market.
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoI'm in Maine, so at least there'd be some ambiguity there - we have a town called Mexico! Seriously though, the idea is that people want to do their shopping in one place. If you do produce, there's a lot of pressure to stock all of the produce anyone could want, for fear that they won't stop just to buy what you grow.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]