Happy New Year! Whether you are setting goals, making resolutions, or reflecting on the past, taking the time to reflect is important to your happiness. Knowing yourself and what’s important to you is the compass you’ll continuously use to step into the future. Being true to yourself also provides strength to say a resounding “NO!” to those things that take you away from your intentions. Messages on what we “should” want abound…..taking us in unsatisfying directions, wasting our time and resources. Learn what your strengths are, how to tap them and how to avoid them when they become overpoweri ..read more

Does your entire team support the sales division, or do they look at sales as a necessary evil? Does the accounting department harp on late expense accounts? Does the finance department complain about margin erosion and sales promotion costs? Does marketing create elaborate programs that don’t address sales input and concerns? Does the production team complain about short deadlines and special requests? Do any of these support personnel understand they wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for sales? Whatever your position, you have a profound effect on sales success in your organization. Here’s ..read more

How big is your community? Three hundred? Three thousand? Three million? What does it take to go viral? How long will the notoriety last? How does your story connect to the typical consumer? I mean that literally. If you are on the shelf in one of the 40,000 supermarkets* in the US, how does the average consumer know your story? Maybe you are lucky enough to have 3 SKUs on the shelf in your category. Is anyone going to choose you over the others in that set? Why? Because you have a great story? Because you are eco-friendly? Because you are giving back? I’m a big believer in all of these niches ..read more

As we approach “getting back to normal”, perhaps it’s time to reconsider our modus operandi regarding sales and marketing. Sales activities represent the PUSH to get our products onto the shelf, while marketing, especially brand building activities, help PULL them off the shelf. Sales examples include trade shows, trade advertising, prospecting, presentations, promotions, etc. If you focus solely on marketing, the consumer won’t be able to find the product in the limited outlets you’ve attained and will be frustrated. Marketing examples include social media, influencers, recipe development, co ..read more

This cheerful greeting at trade shows causes many companies to create new products that cannibalize their existing product sales. I challenge you to find another way of answering this question. You can have a new promotion, new labels, new certifications, a new sales manager, new display racks or a new shipper. Sacrilege, I know. There is a myth that NEW products are the lifeblood of the specialty food business. But let’s examine the assumptions and results: We think we know what consumers want. How do you market research consumer trends before creating new products or flavor profiles? First ..read more

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is a stalwart adage. “Numbers are the language of business” is another favorite. In 2020, there have been extreme winners and extreme losers. Some people have gained time that used to be spent commuting; others are struggling because they lost their jobs. Grocers and online sales are way up, while hospitality, travel and restaurants have seen their revenues decline and profits disappear. There looks to be a vaccine soon, but when will we reach herd immunity? Even then, people will be slow to return to travel by air and to attend large gatherings like con ..read more

During the Great Recession, many restaurants went under. Their business models of $35 entrees and $150 bottles of wine just weren’t working any more at a time when mortgages were failing and people were losing their jobs. But by 2010, new restaurants started to open with a new business model: $18-22 entrees, small plates, and $12 cocktails. By 2020, we had a vibrant restaurant scene. In fact, many chefs couldn’t find real estate locations to open a new concept. As restaurants were forced to close in the early days of COVID-19, there was a lot of handwringing and despair among industry veterans ..read more

Are you ready for 2020 to be over already? It seems like we keep getting hit physically, emotionally, financially, and politically. I wouldn’t blame anyone who wants to just crawl into a ball with their favorite blanket, zone out on Netflix and drink through their wine collection. Between having too much time on our hands and the changes we had to make in how we live, most of us have a new normal. Yet I’ve noticed some clients who keep saying, “when we get back to normal.” I’m advocating that “there’s no going back”. So, I decided to give you all my “f-ing” reasons. Forward: Accept that this i ..read more

Plant what you want to reap. Company culture results from the organic material you plant. What attitude do you want to have in your company? Collaboration? Results-driven? People first? Strong work ethic? Accountability? Inclusion/diversity? Innovative? Who doesn’t want all of these things? Like most things in life, it helps if you have a clear vision and a game plan to get what you want. You’ll need to be the example. How? Use this path to have a healthy company culture that retains happy employees. Take the 30,000’ view of your company. Determine your end results. Ask for feedback. Listen a ..read more

“unprecedented” “unusual” “unknown” … in this moment, typical pragmatic thinking is out the window… or is it? Using the past to predict the future: While a business typically compares year-over-year fundamentals to project and budget their future, that seems unreliable as we stare down the barrel of the unknown due to a worldwide epidemic. Instead of going back 1-3 years, I propose going back to previous crisis years. If you were in business in 2007-10, those dips and recoveries can inform your choices going forward. Even without those examples, you can research various business recoveri ..read more