Remember when I said, “we’re all startups now”.   I even offered a short (30 minute) video (that is the link you see above) for those who needed to learn how to ensure we’d survive the pandemic quarantine.

Today, we’ll talk about two companies who did just that.  They looked around- and realized that the business model they’ve been using- very successfully- no longer could sustain their firms.  The only thing they could do was pivot- and adjust to the new reality.

Both of the firms we’ll review today were in the food distribution business.  The WHOLESALE distribution of food- to restaurants, hotels, catering halls, etc.  So, their offering was bulk distribution of food- not one-offs like consumers would normally purchase.

ProFish has been a DC-based entity for a while. For those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while, the name will ring a bell.  Because I mentioned them way back in 2013.  Because so many (and it’s still true) fish vendors and restaurants provide us fish that doesn’t pass the smell test.  OK- the fish really isn’t spoiled- but it’s not what they claim.  Instead, it’s some other, lower cost, lower value fish for which they expect us to shell out the big bucks.  ProFish announced way back in 2013 that they’d perform DNA testing on all the fish they sold- so we (actually, the restaurant or catering hall) could be confident that they’d be providing the proper fish.

Actually, it’s not just the fact that they are providing the fish we order (by checking its DNA), ProFish is also following the principles of sustainability.  As expound by Oceana (also back in 2013), we should only fish those species that are relatively abundant not those that are overfished- not to mention that the fish we eat should be free of mercury or PCB’s.

Up until the end of February 2020, ProFish used its fleet of 24 truck to provide the best fish to restaurants, catering halls, and hotels from New York City to Virginia Beach.  By then, ProFish was 32 years old, having grown from supplying two restaurants (those owned by the founder and President, Greg Casten) to become the premier regional supplier.

Obviously, time and refrigeration are critical issues involved in the purveying of fish.  Which is why ProFish stressed same-day delivery, to ensure the freshest fish they could supply.

And, then, in 2020, their business dried up overnight.  Restaurants were closed.  Hotels lacked customers.  No one was having a big party.

So, ProFish had to reconsider it’s business model.  It needed to find customers- fast.   So, they pivoted to the consumer market.

However, they used their strengths in distribution (and avoided those customers who wanted only one dinner) to do so.  They rearranged their website to enable consumers to log in and purchase fish (and now some meat products, to boot).    And, chose 19 locations (each with a constant, specified day and time for pickup) around the DC region where folks could meet those ProFish trucks and get the best fish around.  Oh- and we consumers are also able to go to their DC offices and pick up an order on almost any day of the week.

(ProFish also has a very, very select area to which they will deliver to one’s home.  The cost for that service is just an additional $15.  Otherwise, we can pick up our minimum (or more) $ 50 order from the 20 locations mentioned above.)

Which is almost what Soft Stuff Distributors did.  This wholesale food distributor was 30 years old when the pandemic hit.  And, then, sales of desserts, savory foods, hor d’oeuvres also dried up.  (Their base were restaurants, hotels, convention centers, schools, and prisons.)   Business was down 20% when compared to the year before- which was even harder felt, since the first 9 weeks of 2020 had demonstrated a 20% increase in sales from the previous year.

One of the key points that enabled Soft Stuff to pivot easier was that it adopted a business intelligence (BI) software platform in 2019 to enable the growth plan the husband and wife team (the Gamermans) had envisioned.

The BI software demonstrated that their B2B (business to business) wholesale operation was failing- and they needed to become a B2C (business to consumer) business- right now!  After all, many a consumer had wanted to get their products- but the Gamermans were a B2B company- and consumers weren’t their target market.  (The Gamermans, like we do, understand that the ‘new normal’ is going to be here a long time- and it’s unclear if we ever will return to the ‘old normal’.  And, they haven’t abandoned the B2C market- they are supplying those customers who remain.)

(Actually, SoftStuff entertained the idea of using their freezer trucks and warehousing space in a completely different fashion.  If, indeed, COVID-19 was going to kill us at an accelerated state (to the tune of 1 million, as a few of those unreasonable models predicted), it wouldn’t just be hospitals that were overwhelmed.  Nope- the morgues would be overwhelmed. So http://www.midatlanticmorgue.com might just be the ticket to continued business. Thankfully those models are wrong- and the Gamermans chose the B2C business model.)

Another key factor was their BI system already had a list of folks who wanted SoftStuff- but were turned away since they were consumers and not among the wholesale target market.

Still, even with the pivot, business is down- way down.  (Like 40% of previous year’s turnover!).  But, it’s on the upswing. (Yeah, from 20% of previous year’s turnover when the pandemic first hit.)  The hope is that they will be at 80% of 2019 gross revenue soon enough.

They’ve expanded their bakery goods line to include kosher food, fish, and dairy-   as well as non-kosher beef, poultry and other items.  And, to minimize their costs (and maximize their profits), they offer free delivery for orders of $ 99 or more. (They also offer curbside pickup.)

Now, it’s your turn.  What are you doing to grow your business in 2020?