Well, again, we have been so busy that we haven't had time to make entries into this blog--til now. Up to our necks in logistics, and expanding our markets.
Lots is happening, that's for sure! Michael A. and I have been traveling a lot and lining up brokers to hawk our simmer sauces. We have also hooked up with a large distributor which sells to many of the best food store chains along the east coast. This distributor is hosting a large trade show next week in Orlando and we'll be there exhibiting our fabulous simmer sauces. What makes this show unique is that its strictly for buyers from food stores. Its an order writing show!! No pussy footing around here my friend, so we're hoping to write a bazillion dollars worth of orders and finally start turning the corner financially.
Man, we have spent a ton of money to get this company moving. Money for displays, airfare, hotels, tolls, marketing, consultants, and when some big orders hopefully come in, we'll need to spend a s***load of money on a large production run of our sauces...like 1000 cases of each sauce. That comes to 24,000 jars of simmer sauce!!! Yes... we are in it up to our necks now. This isn't the little startup deal anymore. We are now running with the big dogs.
We have learned that the ONLY way to make money in the food biz is to sell volume. we love our gourmet retail clients--they also helped us learn a lot about the food business. But we are also focused on volume sales to finer food store chains like Whole Foods, the fresh Market and the likes.
We are now "living on the edge". Right there on the brink... of becoming a real player in this food business. These are anxious yet exciting times for us!
Orlando, here we come!! Oh, please be good to us.....please!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Going for broker!
On the brink. Yes...that's where we are. The edge of greatness? Not sure, but it's the edge of something big.
We have been meeting with brokers and distributors who handle the east coast. They all seem to want to do business. We kick around pricing, trade allowances and promotion allocations...fees, timing, expenses and listening to our consultant, John, who chats it up with whomever we are meeting with-- he seems to know every friggin person in the business!
This broker/distributor thing is the tricky part. It's also a reality check. The dreams of making oodles of cash are gone. At least for now. Michael and I have quickly realized (ugghh) that this is a volume business. The margins are slim. You have to sell a ton of product in order to make any money. It's not like making a hat in China for $0.90 and selling it in the USA for $20. Those are definitely NOT food businesses!
If you want to make gobs of money, don't do the food thing. Sell widgets. Or a goofy hat. Or the next pet rock.
We will probably end up making 10-15% profit before taxes. The hat guy will make a tad more, don't cha think!!??
But hey, it's only money (or a lack of) and Michael and I are in it for the long run. We shall press on and WILL sell volume in good time. First, a pallet. Then two. Then a pallet of each sauce. Then 2 or 3 of each. Then a truckload....
Stay tuned....
We have been meeting with brokers and distributors who handle the east coast. They all seem to want to do business. We kick around pricing, trade allowances and promotion allocations...fees, timing, expenses and listening to our consultant, John, who chats it up with whomever we are meeting with-- he seems to know every friggin person in the business!
This broker/distributor thing is the tricky part. It's also a reality check. The dreams of making oodles of cash are gone. At least for now. Michael and I have quickly realized (ugghh) that this is a volume business. The margins are slim. You have to sell a ton of product in order to make any money. It's not like making a hat in China for $0.90 and selling it in the USA for $20. Those are definitely NOT food businesses!
If you want to make gobs of money, don't do the food thing. Sell widgets. Or a goofy hat. Or the next pet rock.
We will probably end up making 10-15% profit before taxes. The hat guy will make a tad more, don't cha think!!??
But hey, it's only money (or a lack of) and Michael and I are in it for the long run. We shall press on and WILL sell volume in good time. First, a pallet. Then two. Then a pallet of each sauce. Then 2 or 3 of each. Then a truckload....
Stay tuned....
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The "WOW" factor takes hold
Well....we are back from 3 days of selling, selling selling at the DC Fancy Food Show. It was a roaring success! We "WOWED" a large number of interested companies that might be able to help our simmer sauces grow and expand in the retail marketplace. We met retailers, distributors, brokers, packaging, co-packers, food sources, internet gurus, media outlets and a slew of other companies and people who love our samples of the best simmer sauces on earth. We were even interviewed by CBS radio so we could tell our story!
What impressed us most, is that the majority of those we met "got it" in terms of seeing how unique our simmer sauces are. They understood that the glutted sauce market did NOT apply to our unique niche.
Was the show a success? We won't honestly know for a few months. You see, it takes awhile for these contacts to come back to us. Nobody was buying at the show except one new retail customer who made a pretty large order!
As for the rest of our trip-- Michael A. had a room with a busted TV, so they moved him into a frigging huge suite with living room, sauna, balcony with a panoramic view of the whole city! Im not angry about this....nawww..... but I won't forget about this either. He owes me one, since Im the guy who was able to get our rooms at half the going rate. (don't cha think he should've given me that room as a token of his gratitude for having saved the company hundreds of dollars?----no? I didnt think so....)
It was also blazing hot. 107 degrees on Tuesday. People were cursing the heat as they struggled to pack up their stuff and move it out of the convention center. The center had the worst system (none) for helping small exhibitors like us to move in and out. We had to use regular elevators to move our stuff!
The line waiting for these two---yes two..... elevators were long and the wait was over a half hour.
THEN....we had to take another elevator, which was shut down. A real mess! Oh...and the people parked outside the DC convention center waiting to get packed up were all given parking tickets!
Nice, huh?
Oh well....the show is over and now it's just about to begin for us! Stay tuned.
What impressed us most, is that the majority of those we met "got it" in terms of seeing how unique our simmer sauces are. They understood that the glutted sauce market did NOT apply to our unique niche.
Was the show a success? We won't honestly know for a few months. You see, it takes awhile for these contacts to come back to us. Nobody was buying at the show except one new retail customer who made a pretty large order!
As for the rest of our trip-- Michael A. had a room with a busted TV, so they moved him into a frigging huge suite with living room, sauna, balcony with a panoramic view of the whole city! Im not angry about this....nawww..... but I won't forget about this either. He owes me one, since Im the guy who was able to get our rooms at half the going rate. (don't cha think he should've given me that room as a token of his gratitude for having saved the company hundreds of dollars?----no? I didnt think so....)
It was also blazing hot. 107 degrees on Tuesday. People were cursing the heat as they struggled to pack up their stuff and move it out of the convention center. The center had the worst system (none) for helping small exhibitors like us to move in and out. We had to use regular elevators to move our stuff!
The line waiting for these two---yes two..... elevators were long and the wait was over a half hour.
THEN....we had to take another elevator, which was shut down. A real mess! Oh...and the people parked outside the DC convention center waiting to get packed up were all given parking tickets!
Nice, huh?
Oh well....the show is over and now it's just about to begin for us! Stay tuned.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What a week!
Won't go into details, but we had a verrry promising week! We met with some heavy hitters in the food biz who were willing....even eager to possibly do business with us. John, our consultant, said that these meetings were some of the best he had ever sat in on. (and he's been in the business for something like 30 friggin years).
I think we're right there....right on the cusp of something big. I feel it. I just hope whatever it is, it makes us money. We aren't even close to paying off our investment capital and it will be awhile before we start paying ourselves something. But hey! You gotta pay if you wanna play.....!!
We're off to the Fancy Food Show in DC today. Michael has been running around like a lunatic, and so have I --however in a far more relaxed and "everything is cool" kinda way. "We're making a list and checking it twice.....gonna find out who's......"
We'll load up Michael's SUV and barrel down I-95, set up in the convention center this afternoon. It's going to be a friggin zoo! A bazillion exhibitors fighting for parking spots at the center to unload their foodie stuff. Sweating... cursing.... short nerves... sounds just lovely, doesn't it? Show starts tomorrow. It will be interesting. Three days of who knows what. It will be exhausting. It will be a true learning experience....and it will be expensive.
Gee......wonder what we're forgetting?
I think we're right there....right on the cusp of something big. I feel it. I just hope whatever it is, it makes us money. We aren't even close to paying off our investment capital and it will be awhile before we start paying ourselves something. But hey! You gotta pay if you wanna play.....!!
We're off to the Fancy Food Show in DC today. Michael has been running around like a lunatic, and so have I --however in a far more relaxed and "everything is cool" kinda way. "We're making a list and checking it twice.....gonna find out who's......"
We'll load up Michael's SUV and barrel down I-95, set up in the convention center this afternoon. It's going to be a friggin zoo! A bazillion exhibitors fighting for parking spots at the center to unload their foodie stuff. Sweating... cursing.... short nerves... sounds just lovely, doesn't it? Show starts tomorrow. It will be interesting. Three days of who knows what. It will be exhausting. It will be a true learning experience....and it will be expensive.
Gee......wonder what we're forgetting?
Monday, July 4, 2011
Whole Foods....where art thou?
Lizbeth Lane Cuisine makes the finest simmer sauces in the solar system....right? Right. That's why it's so frustrating that it's taking a long time to be approved by Whole Foods. We have waited 9 weeks so far.... three Phila. WF stores want our sauces in their stores. More will be lining up soon..... our vendor form was submitted by a local WF manager, which corporate needs to approve.
I mean, Whole Foods is a fantastic store and we are fantastic simmer sauces--a perfect marriage-- we're unique (and loved--like Whole Foods!) Our sauces are quickly becoming staples in customer households! We're not some weird, exotic glaze or marinade that might get purchased once a year. Our fans purchase our sauces 2-3 times per month! We're certainly NOT another pasta sauce (Oy! The world doesnt need another super duper pasta sauce--or another BBQ sauce...or salsa!)
So, we'll be patient and hope we get approval soon. Like within a week or two. Remember, the food biz moves sssssslowwwwwlllllyyyyyyyy.....
I mean, Whole Foods is a fantastic store and we are fantastic simmer sauces--a perfect marriage-- we're unique (and loved--like Whole Foods!) Our sauces are quickly becoming staples in customer households! We're not some weird, exotic glaze or marinade that might get purchased once a year. Our fans purchase our sauces 2-3 times per month! We're certainly NOT another pasta sauce (Oy! The world doesnt need another super duper pasta sauce--or another BBQ sauce...or salsa!)
So, we'll be patient and hope we get approval soon. Like within a week or two. Remember, the food biz moves sssssslowwwwwlllllyyyyyyyy.....
Yikes!
First, Michael and I are getting excited about the upcoming NASFT Food Show in DC. We have a ton of stuff to drag down there: food, cooking equipment, displays, simmer sauces (duh) and our cool new shirts with our logo on them. It's either going to be great or it's gonna be a bummer. I think we'll be verrry successful! I know one thing for sure.....we're going to be exhausted when it's over.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
DC bound
Hey, all you foodie folks out there... this is just to let you know that the greatest simmer sauces on earth (ours) will be in Washington DC for the NASFT Fancy Food Show. We will be set up in the new products pavilion and will be demo-ing the hell out of our all natural AND GLUTEN FREE simmer sauces. They are so delicious. You'll love them all at first bite. So, if you are in the food business, be sure to stop by. Looking to be represented by brokers and handled by distributors, too. We will have order forms ready to fill in and will also have some tasty little discounts to offer new retail customers as well.
See you soon!
See you soon!
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