Good morning,
This bits is based on conversations I’ve had with a number of you. Here are a few of the proof points on the knife sharpening dynamics from the customer perspective.
Yes, I grant the point that the worst time to decide to fix something is while you’re working on something else - cooking. That is an uphill battle. So, you realize that your knives are dull when making dinner and forget they are dull until the next time you’re making dinner when you realize they are dull. But, what if the next solution, the next generation solution, was as easy as getting the mail? You do that everyday.
Bit #1
Universal sharpness. Meh.
Bit 1.1. Most places where you can get your kitchen knives sharpened position the whole business around sharpness, not kitchen knives. That puts lawn mowers, hair scissors and the rest of the universe of sharp things as part of the set up, sales effort and “brand,” at these shops. I don’t know about you, but when thinking of kitchen knives… no thank you. I don’t want my knives mingling about with the lawn mower, hair shears or otherwise. We eat with these things. Don’t you? My knives are for food. The word “sharp” might be on the wall in big letters. They’ll sharpen anything No thank you.
Bit 1.2. These shops were typically set up under previous market dynamics - like pre-internet. The by hand paper receipts, the lack of inventory management, the one-off nature of most of it limits scale.
Bit #2
Timing. Some shops might be able to do a set of knives while you wait but those are few and far between. Many shops run queues requiring days. Maybe there is a box outside to drop knives, but not often. Maybe there are no evening hours, but not often. It’s old school 9AM to 5PM in most places. Maybe it’s easy, but not often. There is more transaction friction to the process of sharpening than there could be. This is a behavior outside routine and it is hard to remember to do.
While stopping at a shop recently I found it unattended but with a huge red sign that said “Sharp.” Upon looking in the windows I heard someone behind me say “He’s the best” only to turn around to someone sitting in their car with the window down yelling at me. That’s a committed customer/community member/family member? The driver went on to say, “Check the Google reviews. He’s really good but it’s hard to get here when he is open. Call ahead to make sure he’s here even during business hours. The last time I had to wait 7 days for my chef knife to be ready.”
So, knife sharpening is a service the majority of households need 1-4 times a year and yet it’s out of routine, you have to go during business hours (if there is one nearby) and there is a long queue. Ugh.
Bit #3
I was sharing the knife sharpening via the internet idea with a friend and he reflected that the most successful promotion of the year while working on a large hardware brand was their offer of free kitchen knife sharpening in the back of the store during the Fall. That follows the Google trends for sharpening searches before thanksgiving and through Christmas. Tons of people came in. Lots of waiting and shopping was done while knives were sharpened. There is pent up demand and more people don’t know where to go than can be served for free on a Saturday at a hardware store.
Sum
The bits above shout opportunity to my mind. Kitchen knives have a huge need for sharpening - at scale. There are ~114M households in the US with knives older than a year that have also not been sharpened in the last year. Those persons with a sharpener outside the home might love them but the service dynamics leave much to be desired and limit volume. And, when sharpening is given away lines of people show up to do the thing they have been putting off. That could be because it’s limited (only on a Saturday) or because it’s free, or because they did not have another sources. Maybe a bit of all three.
So, what holds you back?
Change
There is a new way reduce breast cancer spread by 72%! Woah!
The sale of the subs. It seemed like a meh story until I listened to The Daily where a reporter argued that this represents a multi-generational shift away from Russia and NATO and toward China. And the bigger deal is sharing the nuclear tech with Australia.
I ran a test on Insta. I guess you can say that. I was posted 6 times on Thursday night. Turns out likes in my follower group stop around 10pm. They start around 6am. There is not more likes than normal when I post more. Simple things. People sleep.
On Your Way
The sun rises around 7AM during this time of year. Consider finding yourself a bench and breathing deep. I had a dandy time last week on a walk by the lake. Enjoy some of the quick snaps here! Go make some snaps yourself. It’s 7AM. :)
I’m finding that more of my senses and alertness come alive with a camera in hand. Where is the light? What’s the subject? Foreground? Background? What’s moving? Where is the smoke? What’s in focus? What’s the frame? All of those questions bend experiences to a more present Joseph in the moment. It works by the lake. It works at the soccer game. It works. What works for you?