Since Antiquity, roses have been associated with the goddess of love. Profess your love old-school style with Rose Petal Petit Fours from one of America’s most acclaimed confectioners.
Chocolate is the muse of this triangular truffle bar, hand-painted and infused with strawberry and orange liqueur. Delight your flame with a twist on the conventional.
We like to measure the performance of everything at Foodoro. So when we heard that San Francisco—our hometown—was going to mandate the composting of all waste, we were curious if it would be worthwhile to separate our trash into yet another bucket (the law already requires that we recycle).
The results were quite surprising:
Foodoro's Waste: Composting, Recycling, Trash
Over the course of 15 weeks, we composted half of our waste! Coupled with the 33% that we recycle, our true waste output was 18% by weight. We’re not quite at “zero-waste” like some companies (see related NYT article), but our goal is to get above 90% by the end of the year.
On a personal note for Foodoro, we were thrilled to find out that our compost actually goes to growers and gardeners around the Bay Area, including some of the farmers actually selling products through our marketplace!
A wonderful thing, to go full circle.
Note 1: The two biggest weeks of compost output was a result of watermelon rinds and corn husks. Ah, summer!
Note 2: Our methodology was simple. One of us stood on a scale with the bag of composting/recycling/trash. Sometimes messy but effective.
In recent years, Amazon.com has been adding products sold by other companies to its Marketplace. This is great because it means more product selection and better prices. And the purchase experience is consistently good; it’s not much different whether you buy a product from Amazon.com directly or from a third-party.
The biggest difference is the emails received post-transaction. I recently made a purchase from Amazon.com that resulted in 9 follow-up transaction emails. Yikes!
These are the emails:
Order confirmation for 3 products from 3 different vendors (from Amazon)
Shipping notice from Vendor #1
Shipping notice from Vendor #2
Shipping notice from Vendor #3
Shipping notice for Vendor #1 (from Amazon)
Shipping notice for Vendor #2 (from Amazon)
Shipping notice for Vendor #3 (from Amazon)
Rate Your Transaction (from Amazon)
Review your purchases (from Amazon)
It’d be great if Amazon didn’t send 2 different emails for each product shipment, and even combine the “Rate Your Transaction” and “Review Your Purchases” into a single email. This way, 9 emails would be cut down to a more manageable 5.
(On top of these transaction emails, I’ve gotten 15 marketing emails in the last 30 days from Amazon. This just adds to the email clutter I get from Amazon. I know I can opt out of the marketing emails, but I actually like some of them.)
Email is a critical communication channel for Foodoro’s own marketplace, and we’re trying to be careful not to flood our users’ inboxes (we hate spam, too!). Currently, a purchase from 3 different foodmakers would result in 4 emails:
Order confirmation
Your Order Has Shipped (Foodmaker #1)
Your Order Has Shipped (Foodmaker #2)
Your Order Has Shipped (Foodmaker #3)
We are considering sending a follow-up email asking about the product and user experience. Any thoughts if this would be too much email?
The new ABC reality show “Shark Tank” has seen everything from flatulence control underwear to fashion face masks to hi-tech sports bras – and a whole slew of great food ideas. Many passionate food entrepreneurs have braved dipping into the shark tank, and versus their competition (i.e., non-food related entrepreneurs), they are performing shockingly well. Let’s look a bit closer.
The basic premise of the show is this - each entrepreneur is given a few minutes before 5 potential investors (venture capitalists, or “VC’s”) to pitch their business idea, offer a % equity stake in their business in exchange for capital (i.e., cash as investment):
Of the 30 ideas aired over 6 episodes, a total of 12 ideas, or 40% were funded. Of these, 5 were food-related, and 7 were non-food business ideas. Here are some interesting facts:
71% of food-related business ideas were funded (5 of 7) vs. only 30% of non-food related business (7 of 23).
Food-related businesses were seeking less capital than non-food: average of $217K vs. $278K.
Food-related business actually secured more capital than non-food: average $239K vs. 194K
Shark Tank Businesses Ideas
How did these food entrepreneurs do it, let alone seemingly even better than their non-food competitors? Here are some of the top takeaways from the first 6 episodes:
Have a track record – be able to demonstrate a proven interest through sales or commitments to buy your product. Someone, that is, other than yourself! This was the absolute first and foremost question asked by investors to every single entrepreneur and small business owner. Without this, you only have an idea, not a business.
Have skin in the game – prove that you have heavily invested yourself, your time, and your money in your businesses. Have you really used every means to capital available to you, and if not, why not? Every entrepreneur has taken on some amount of risk in the initial launch of their business – you’ll have to convince investors that the chance of it’s success, however, is worth it.
Convince them as consumers first - Perhaps the first and easiest step – entice them as consumers first, and investors second. Bring product samples! Wow them is with your product - even a ‘shark’ can appreciate some good eats
Idea or Execution? Execution. – Even a brilliant idea will go no where if not executed properly. Every idea needs the nurturing of both wise business guidance and capital to grow. Be able to show that you have the basics of business knowledge to deliver results going forward.
Something’s got to give – Cash or control, you’re going to have to compromise. More of one means less of the other. For equity, be very aware that the difference between 50% and 51% ownership is more than 1%.
All the entrepreneurs who were funded had a unique business situation of financial need, and was able to come to a unique term of agreement with an investor (or two). Our very own Susan Knapp of A Perfect Pear, maker of gourmet condiments from Napa Valley, CA, was on the show and won over the sharks! Since then, she has been featured on Home Shopping Network and sales have skyrocketed – 10x (as updated in Episode 7)! See her online after-interview here:
http://www.aperfectpear.com/sharktank.html
Most every entrepreneur will come to a time and place when his/her business will need funding – just know that if yours is a food-related one, your chances of success may very well be in your favor!
We were curious about how far products sold through Foodoro.com travel, so we took a look at our sales based on ZIP code data:
We found it somewhat surprising that one-third of all products sold through Foodoro travel under 300 miles!
Yet, it also makes perfect sense because buying locally means cheaper shipping. We dug further into our data to find out just how much more expensive it is to ship beyond 300 miles:
Shipping prices increase by 25% when shipping 300 to 1000 miles
Shipping prices increase by 40% when shipping over 1000 miles
The second biggest group in the chart above is for products that travel 2400 – 2700 miles. This can be readily explained by bi-coastal purchases (e.g., CA to NY and vice versa). Many of the products on Foodoro are so unique that people will go to great lengths—literally!—to buy them.
Recently, I was speaking with a die-hard environmentalist friend who called me out on claims that e-commerce is greener than traditional shopping. I had remembered reading something about this a few months ago, so I thought I’d dig it up and write a post.
Carnegie Mellon’s Green Design Institute broke down the energy use and carbon emissions of buying something from Buy.com (an online marketplace like Foodoro) versus a brick and mortar retailer. It turns out that buying online had a 35% positive environmental impact by consuming less energy and emitting less carbon dioxide.
By far, the most important factor on environmental impact is the driving to and from a retail store by the customer, which accounts for 65% of all energy use and emissions. Yikes!
Granted, these figures in the chart above are based on a set of averages, including a 14 mile round trip for consumer driving. Traditional retail could look better if people walk or use mass transportation in major cities… then again, the line for the parking lot at our local San Francisco farmers’ market always seems to be pretty full.
So are shipping carriers that much more efficient at delivering packages to your door compared to driving to the store? Consider that delivery trucks are often carrying thousands of pounds of goods at once and that they even avoid making left turns to save on gas !
Here’s a link to the full study for those interested.
In honor of Earth Week, we’re highlighting some foodmakers and farmers on Foodoro making products friendly to our planet! It’s an amazingly array of items sourced from one of the hottest places in North America (Thermal, CA) to the depths of the Pacific Ocean and mountain terraces of the Philippines to coffee farms in South America and Africa.
These featured foodmakers have a collective passion for natural, sustainable, organic and other methods–and they all produce delicious foods!
California red abalone is spawned and grown in the pristine waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary under the care of marine biologist Tom Ebert.
Their olive oil comes from olive grown on a ranch that cares as much for its environment as it does for its customers. Their orchards are self-sufficient, utilizing their own water-driven power system and gravity-driven water systems.
Their heirloom rice hails from the famed mountain terraces of the Philippines. The fair-trade company operates in more than 18 communities, directly supporting sustainable agriculture and socio-economic development.
They visit farmers, train with their peers and are active in the global coffee community. Their reward is the opportunity to work with passionate people from around the world.
The company was founded on the belief that sustainable sturgeon farming would be a viable alternative to depleting wild sturgeon stocks. For over 25 years, Tsar Nicoulai has become recognized internationally as pioneers in sustainably farming sturgeon for caviar.
Rice farming offered Massa Organics an opportunity to do real conservation work on a farm that has installed recirculation systems to reclaim our irrigation water and does not burn any crop residue. They measure improvements to the farm not just in crop yields, but in the numbers of sandhill cranes and California quail using the land.
This company has been harvesting sea vegetables by hand from the Mendocino Coast in California in an ecologically sound and sustainable way. All sea vegetables are sun-dried in order to preserve all of its nutrients.
Their goal is to farm sustainably within a certified organic, biologically complex system. Their soil enrichment program includes a diverse cover cropping system, microbiological drenches and aged nutritional mulches. As a result, their vegetables acquire vivid color, distinctive texture and intense fragrance and flavor.
Donna’s Tamales is committed to organic farming and sustainability. Working closely with the farmers who provide the raw ingredients for their tamales, they stay attuned to the economics and environmental impact of agribusiness.
They believe that jams and jellies are only as good as the fruit, so Hurley Farms practices sustainable farming. Any produce that they don’t grow themselves comes from neighboring local farms with sustainable practices in the famed Napa Valley.
All albacore is jig-caught one at a time, near the surface of cold waters in the central and north Pacific. Their fishing method ensures that the impact on the ocean’s food chain is very targeted, and they’ve won Best Choice on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s list of seafood recommended to eat in order to save the oceans.
Their philosophy is simple: Take care of the land, and it will take care of us. They are certified organic, but practice sustainable methods that are “beyond organic.” For example, their property is almost entirely powered by solar energy!
The “Zoka Way” ensures that customers get amazing coffee by drawing a solid, traceable line from farm to consumer. They endeavor to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships towards a commitment to improve the livelihoods of our producing partners and bolstering the environment.
This article in the SF Chronicle does a great job chronicling the tension between creating sustainable food and running a business. My jaw dropped when I read this:
“But in nearly 30 years of existence, despite becoming the darling of high-end chefs and turning the brand into a household name, Niman Ranch never did turn a profit. In fact, it was broke.”
Niman Ranch beef and pork is literally everywhere in the Bay Area. There was a time when it was a name touted on menus at Chez Panisse and Zuni Cafe but these days, I’ve seen it at local burger joints, the ballpark and even sausage street carts (the nicer ones). With so much volume, I figured they found a way to turn a profit.
In many ways, this is the central tension of sustainable, artisan food businesses. The most voted-on comments in the SF Chronicle article talk about not buying Niman Ranch any more–a testament to the belief in the Niman founder’s vision.
But 30 years is a long time never to have turned a profit. It starts to defy the broader sense of the word “sustainable”…
