You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business. Today’s email was written in a cafe. Yum.
Good morning,
Bit #1 • A Backsplash. A screen. Classes. Oh My.
We’ve been open in our bricks store some 14 weeks now. The first wave was full of sharpening orders for the holidays. Then folks found the knives and kitchen goodies. The next step was classes.
Kitchen stores need shortcuts to think “kitchen.” Not much does that better than cabinets, a black splash and a sink. Those things are all in place and now also functioning as a classroom for our skills classes.
Our first wave of classes have focused on a Mango/Peach Salsa from Emily Maxon’s Every day fresh cookbook. They’re going really well. If you’re interested in more info check the .com.
Bit #2 • Hire to accelerate growth
The three pillars of the bricks business (sharpening, japanese knife retail and classes) are in place and running. It’s time to formalize processes, design for a team to run day-to-day and hire a team to make that happen.
We’re making progress there. I’m eager to continue spending time in the store with customers while transitioning toward more proactive biz dev hours vs all reactive shop hours.
Bit #3 • Product Advisory Board
“They don’t make $5 on anything.”
I’ve been thinking about this statement made by a retail veteran and wondering about ways to lower the barrier to entry for partners.
We’re now approaching partners with invitations to be part of our Product Advisory Board. There is money it in for them. We’re seeking input on key design parameters to make purchasing from us really easy.
Send me your contacts in grocery. :)
Change
We’ve refined the mission. It’s now “to improve school lunch” with our first area of focus being the elimination of unpaid meal debts. This is an issue in 44 states.
Three states offer meals at no cost to students on a permanent basis - California, Colorado and Maine.
Three states have provisions to do the same, but only for this school year - Massachusetts, Nevada and Vermont.
Many other states have similar bills for consideration in their state legislatures this session. Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington, Virginia, Hawaii and Rhode Island are among this list. The MN House passed a bill last week.
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Order kitchen knives sharpened or give the gift of sharp at Vivront.com.