5 ms·

Using the restaurant's name seems to be the only issue. Otherwise, what's the big deal if a middleman sells pastries ?

vector_spaces 4y ago
If you're a producer, you are only as good as your last loaf of bread, or your last croissant. On the retail side, storing, rotating, and transporting fresh baked goods is actually nontrivial, and consumers by and large have difficulty discerning whether their croissant sucked because it wasn't stored properly, or because it was just a crappy croissant. So for the producer, trusting someone to sell their products literally means trusting them with their brand. What many startups trying to disrupt this business don't understand well is that the food industry is built on relationships -- moreso than most other industries. To succeed as a retailer, you need to have excellent relationships with your vendors. If I don't want to sell you my bread right now as a baker, that's my perogative, but if you try to go behind my back, that shows me that #1 you're not respectful of my boundaries and #2 that you're willing to lie to get what you want e.g. by sending me an order pretending to be a retail customer. There's no way I'll want you to succeed if you treat me like that. And both of these behaviors guarantee I'll never want to work with you, and that my contacts will think twice before working with you too. And trust me, if I've been around for more than a few years as a business, I probably have many contacts. On the other hand, when you have good relationships with your vendors, lots of doors open, and people will want to help you succeed. They'll work with you on pricing so you can be competitive, produce vendors will save decent looking product for you when the drought hits hard, and a dairy vendor might send an extra truck out to you if you miss an order deadline or someone clears out all your milk. This holds if you're a small corner market or a larger regional chain -- or if you're a grocery startup Another reason I might not want to work with you: if I'm a producer, you probably want to work with me on terms, meaning I'll invoice you for the bread I'm selling you today, and you'll pay me in 30-45 days. This requires me to trust you're going to pay your invoices on time. I will run your credit, but unfortunately, with lots of grocery delivery companies coming and going bust -- and leaving their vendors in the lurch -- lots of producers are thinking twice before taking that bet (see [1], [2], [3], to name a few). Source: ran grocery buying teams in e-commerce and brick & mortar stores for a decade [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/zero-food-grocery-closure-bay-area-17029183.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/zero-food-grocery-c... [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/01/28/munchery-closes-unpaid-bills-food-delivery.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/01/28/mun... [3] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2022/02/15/garten-oh-my-green-startups-debt-lawsuits-ppp.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2022/02/15/gar...
- bubblethink 4y ago
  >consumers by and large have difficulty discerning whether their croissant sucked because it wasn't stored properly, or because it was just a crappy croissant. Which is why I said that as long as your name is not on the product, it is just some croissant that the app is selling. I get that this may not be ideal, but what is someone to do to bootstrap a business ? The app maker won't get the "official" deals and contracts until they prove something. This is them proving out their potential.
  - vector_spaces 4y ago
    There are plenty of vendors who will work with you, even if you're new to the business. Some might need persuading, and some might say no. That's fine. Someone else will say yes. Once you've found folks who will work with you, earn a reputation for treating their products and livelihoods with care, and treating them like people and not like APIs. Then the deals will follow, and maybe some of the people who said no at first will reconsider It's a hard business (to put it very mildly), and none of this guarantees success, but not treating people like people almost guarantees failure.

If you're a producer, you are only as good as your last loaf of bread, or your last croissant. On the retail side, storing, rotating, and transporting fresh baked goods is actually nontrivial, and consumers by and large have difficulty discerning whether their croissant sucked because it wasn't stored properly, or because it was just a crappy croissant. So for the producer, trusting someone to sell their products literally means trusting them with their brand. What many startups trying to disrupt this business don't understand well is that the food industry is built on relationships -- moreso than most other industries. To succeed as a retailer, you need to have excellent relationships with your vendors. If I don't want to sell you my bread right now as a baker, that's my perogative, but if you try to go behind my back, that shows me that #1 you're not respectful of my boundaries and #2 that you're willing to lie to get what you want e.g. by sending me an order pretending to be a retail customer. There's no way I'll want you to succeed if you treat me like that. And both of these behaviors guarantee I'll never want to work with you, and that my contacts will think twice before working with you too. And trust me, if I've been around for more than a few years as a business, I probably have many contacts. On the other hand, when you have good relationships with your vendors, lots of doors open, and people will want to help you succeed. They'll work with you on pricing so you can be competitive, produce vendors will save decent looking product for you when the drought hits hard, and a dairy vendor might send an extra truck out to you if you miss an order deadline or someone clears out all your milk. This holds if you're a small corner market or a larger regional chain -- or if you're a grocery startup Another reason I might not want to work with you: if I'm a producer, you probably want to work with me on terms, meaning I'll invoice you for the bread I'm selling you today, and you'll pay me in 30-45 days. This requires me to trust you're going to pay your invoices on time. I will run your credit, but unfortunately, with lots of grocery delivery companies coming and going bust -- and leaving their vendors in the lurch -- lots of producers are thinking twice before taking that bet (see [1], [2], [3], to name a few). Source: ran grocery buying teams in e-commerce and brick & mortar stores for a decade [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/zero-food-grocery-closure-bay-area-17029183.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/zero-food-grocery-c... [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/01/28/munchery-closes-unpaid-bills-food-delivery.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/01/28/mun... [3] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2022/02/15/garten-oh-my-green-startups-debt-lawsuits-ppp.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2022/02/15/gar...

bubblethink 4y ago
>consumers by and large have difficulty discerning whether their croissant sucked because it wasn't stored properly, or because it was just a crappy croissant. Which is why I said that as long as your name is not on the product, it is just some croissant that the app is selling. I get that this may not be ideal, but what is someone to do to bootstrap a business ? The app maker won't get the "official" deals and contracts until they prove something. This is them proving out their potential.
- vector_spaces 4y ago
  There are plenty of vendors who will work with you, even if you're new to the business. Some might need persuading, and some might say no. That's fine. Someone else will say yes. Once you've found folks who will work with you, earn a reputation for treating their products and livelihoods with care, and treating them like people and not like APIs. Then the deals will follow, and maybe some of the people who said no at first will reconsider It's a hard business (to put it very mildly), and none of this guarantees success, but not treating people like people almost guarantees failure.