Wasted Food in Businesses Should Be Donated - But Logistics Challenges the Common Good

One thing our think tank routinely discusses is how to solve the problems with starvation and hunger. In the US we have it pretty good, very rarely does anyone in our 300 million plus population die from starvation, I'd say that's a good thing. In the rest of the world, things are not so good, thus, such tragedies are all too common. Perhaps, when you were young your mother told you to eat all the food on your plate because there were people starving in Africa, China, India, or whatever nation she mentioned, well, that was true then, and it's still true today. Okay so let's talk.

It is my sincere belief that there is no food shortages in the world for human consumption, rather there is a distribution problem, and the same is true in the US with companies wasting food at the end of the day. Not long ago, I was reminded of this by a college student who wants to start a food drive, she stated that only;

"10% of food businesses donate their unsold food items at the end of the day to local food banks and homeless shelters."

That's not good you say - No that isn't good is it - especially for a major city in the US, and a nation of abundance.

Right so we have a distribution problem! And we are mismanaging our resources, while everyone runs around asking the government to fix the problem, so they want to raise taxes, which will make it worse. You see, there are more than enough people willing to volunteer, but we keep punishing those who help.

If a business donates food, and someone gets sick, some lawyer will sue, but we keep demanding more laws and regulations. Then a common sense solution like this comes along (pick up the food not used and deliver it to the local charity) and needs to battle the red-tape, and convince small and large businesses to give again - but they've been burned so many times, and folks don't even understand why these volunteers and businesses are less than interested in helping anymore.

How do you suppose I know about such things? Simple, I've been using my company to help the common good for decades, prior to retirement, and it is amazing what you have to go through just to help people, it's really a shame, then when the government tries, it just wastes more money, raises taxes, and the whole problem is unchanged for the most part. Please consider all this.

How to Start a Gourmet Food Product Business (Or Any Product) On a Shoestring

The first issue we see nascent entrepreneurs almost universally attempt to address is the perceived need for working capital. When we ask how much investment they believe is required to get their product to market, they never can justify what they identify as their magic number. I have yet to read a business plan that can justify the assumptions that are utilized to support the capital investment being sought, ever, and I read dozens of business plans each month.

My consulting firm reviews hundreds of new product ideas every year. Many have wonderful commercial prospects. However, almost none of the entrepreneurs offering these opportunities for funding have considered all of the possible avenues available to launch their idea. Funding is the "Holy Grail" in the eye of most entrepreneurs, and yet, a capital raise is the single hardest route they can attempt to utilize.

Investors, unless family or friends, demand a very high level of due diligence before they will stage a capital investment. Strong management, a clearly identifiable Unique Selling Proposition (USP), first mover advantage and a 35% return on invested capital kicking in between months 24 and 36 of operation are the basic guidelines typically utilized when underwriting opportunities. These are standards that very few entrepreneurs and inventors can achieve.

There are many ways to "bootstrap" new products or services before seeking a financing round. They are not glamorous, more like the old parable of the tortoise and hare. These strategies require the oldest trait known to inventive man: simple hard work!

Here is an example of a product that we recently "bootstrapped" to a successful market launch, and subsequent funding relationship. I received a call from a gentleman who owned a construction business. After initial platitudes, he advised me that he had created the world's greatest barbecue sauce. We receive a lot of food products for review, and every single one is accompanied by the old bromide, " it's the best in the world". I was wary.

Mr. Barbecue Sauce sent me a box of his three sauces to sample. They were very tasty. I advised him that the taste was surely excellent and potentially commercial but that he would have to utilize more of a "guerrilla" marketing strategy than his hoped for investor funding round. We wrangled for several months. He approached other consultants and food industry experts before finally coming back to us and agreeing that he needed to utilize a "plan B".

We contracted to write and execute a business plan for the launch of the sauces. We engaged the services of a dietician, a licensed food product private label source, a graphic designer and a packaging resource. We perfected the label statements and content values of the product. Then we conducted a focus group, obtained testimonials for attribution, and prepared sales collateral.

When the product, packaging and sales materials were market-ready we approached independent and regional purveyors of high-end gourmet food products. These types of retailers are much easier to work with, barriers to obtaining shelf space are small and they are keen to enjoy exclusive distribution of select items. Each door that was initially opened agreed to a schedule of product samplings. We set up a table on an aisle end cap, cooked top quality sausages and asked shoppers to choose which of the three styles of sauce they would prefer on their taste sample. We had an inventory of product on the end cap gondola with a special introductory price.

The results were gratifying and confirmed our assumptions that the barbecue sauces were truly commercial and consumer acceptance would be strong. The samplings lead to strong initial sales, but much more importantly, in subsequent weeks repeat sales began to grow without the aid of sampling.

Geographically, the client fanned out to the nearest markets and repeated the same limited, controlled roll out strategy. The results were always the same, a bit of a cult product was beginning to germinate.

For most of the first year of distribution we utilized the "tortoise and hare" approach. We then identified a gourmet product trade show in Orlando, took a stand and sampled the sauces just as we had in the first local gourmet products stores in the owners hometown. The difference is this instance, was that we were sampling, and taking orders from retailers from all over the United States and internationally, key decision makers in the gourmet product industry. Also, because the product was positioned as a gourmet foodstuff, price points reflected the sauces higher perceived value and the products were not buffeted by mass market discounting.

The entrepreneur had invested some reasonable amount of his own money, but this was mitigated by the go-slow approach we had undertaken. His initial sales funded the controlled rollout of the sauces to additional regional markets. He had not diluted a single percentage of his ownership by taking on investment partners. The growing order book from new retailers and repeat purchase orders were valued by his bank and he was introduced to the merchant bank division to establish a line of working capital.

Mr. Barbecue Sauce came to us with the notion that he needed $350,000 to fund the launch of his enterprise. As we initially quizzed him, he realized that he would really need to raise more like $1.2 million to realize his goal. By being open to alternative ideas, he avoided a huge pitfall that most entrepreneurs fall in too: raising $350,000 and failing is expensive, raising $1.2 million in order to insure success is cheap.

In this case, Mr. Barbecue Sauce was fortunate that there was an alternative strategy readily available to customize for his product. He mitigated risk, limited financial exposure, test marketed the product, extrapolated market potential based on real sales numbers and enjoyed the secure knowledge that the product was commercially viable without being at the mercy of investors demanding strict performance markers be constantly achieved.

Most entrepreneurs with truly commercial projects have many more options available to them than they ever consider. It is amazing how few projects are really fundable, and yet, investor funding is almost always the preferred route they choose to undertake. "Bootstrapping" is almost always the last alternative considered. Successful inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses will always do whatever is legally necessary to achieve success. Anything less is the equivalent of dreaming.

Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.

After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.

Food Cart Franchising Is Not As Hard As Other Businesses

Given a chance, business is one of the choices of people when it comes to making money. The problem is that there are a lot of things that you need to do in order to be successful with your business. But did you know that with the help of food cart franchising, you will be able to create a small business that can generate a passive income for you. The only thing that you need to do is to make sure that you have a good company, location, and food.

The main reason why food cart franchising is advisable for everyone is because a more successful company will be helping you with it. You will be able to use the name, trademark, and logo of the company where you will be getting your franchise. Aside from this, you will also be able to use the business system that they have, ensuring that food cart franchising will be a successful business for you. The company will also be providing the supplies, equipment, uniform, and machines that you need for your business.

Unlike starting your own business where you will be figuring out the things that you need to do, and the system that should be followed, food cart franchising is basically a business-in-a-box. If you have an extra space in front of your house, where hundreds of people are passing every day, you can already get into food cart franchising, and be sure that you will be successful with it. Heck! There are even some companies that will provide your crew, so you don't have to worry about anything.

You may be wondering why there are a lot of companies that are offering this kind of franchising business, right. Well, this method will help them make more money and make their products more accessible to everyone. If you are going to get into food cart franchising, you will be purchasing everything that you need from them, resulting to an increase in their income.

Another reason why food cart franchising is an easier business is because you won't be spending a lot of money just to start making money. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of companies that will allow you to get a franchise of their company for as low as $500, which is a very small amount compared to the amount that you will be spending if you are going to start your own business.