Building Social Capital

Building Social Capital:

1) Jason Miller currently serves as the special and bulk orders coordinator at Costco Wholesale in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I contacted him as a supplier for my industry as Costco serves as a wholesale grocer locally. I found this person specifically by calling the store and asking for the manager of the special ordering department, I did not know him by name but I figured there would be a coordinated for large purchases who could explain the ways that these are done. 

Jason explained various aspects of the purchasing process for business to business sale and how these differ from traditional member sales. These businesses can order with special ordering as long as they reach the $1200 minimum for orders placed. Interestingly, Jason described that there really is not a bulk discount on merchandise, either on food or non-food items, until the volume reaches an entire semi-truck full. The Costco Wholesale prices that are available to members, are extended to business orders as well up until this point. This process requires 7-10 day notice and, Jason described, is predominantly used for dairy items or dry goods, as many clients want to select their own produce as needed more frequently. He says that they often have local restaurant owners that come at night or early in the morning to purchase fresh produce in fewer quantities to ensure freshness. 

Jason’s advice was invaluable, as far as ensuring quality food and the timing of purchasing. Prior to speaking with him, I was under the impression that all could be realistically pre-ordered and while he said, yes, they would operate a fresh food order for a business, he would not recommend it. Buying frequently protects the purchaser from both low-quality product and potential food waste. 

2) Kimberly Jackson works as the prepared foods directer and catering coordinator for Papa Joes Gourmet Market in Birmingham, Michigan. I contacted her as a domain expert, as Papa Joes is a local specialty grocery store in my area that does a large volume of prepared foods everyday at this location. I reached out to their administrative phone line and I was transferred to Kimberly.

Kimberly was incredibly helpful in deciphering buying habits of people in my community locally. She identified that in their store, more so than their other locations around the state, prepared foods make up a great total of a customer’s purchase and they often select many different things to bring home throughout the week. Although some customer’s purchase only a few days at a time and make frequent trips, plenty of customers will purchase 3 or 4 prepared dishes to take home on their weekly shop. This implies to me that there is a market for prepared foods, even those that need reheating, outside of restaurants. Kimberly explained that with regard to food waste, their demand is pretty traceable and they have been able, with trial and error, to reduce food waste down to very little. Their food is perishable of course and can only sit for at maximum two days once prepared, by company policy. Often this is not an issue and regularly they will sell out of popular items before the end of day, alleviating the stress entirely. Kimberly suggested that their menu items that are most popular are side dishes rather than entrees, such as maple crusted butternut squash and eggplant rollotini. 

5) Kimberly was explicitly helpful in identifying menu planning for my start up idea. Kimberly encouraged that a rotating menu can be helpful to try new recipes and get started but customer’s are often pretty habitual eaters. She notices that many regular customers pick up the same items, with little variation every week. She encouraged that selection can be good but it is important to be very conscious of how customers respond to each and refine it down to a smaller list of classic items. 

1) Jill Saxon is the owner of The LoCal Kitchen, a delivery meal preparation service in Metro Detroit. This is a new startup as of 2018 and is very similar to the model that I was interested in  starting. I was researching meal prep service, looking for a meal prep style cooking class that used to be offered locally when I came across this business in my area. I called the shop and spoke to Jill directly, explaining our course and my ideas for a similar business. This is a business model that is incredibly comparable, and is serving as my market aspect. 

In describing how their business came to be, Jill described that they began to filter their meals to target the health food community, with explicit health information printed on each meal and specialty meal plans for athletes and those trying to be cognizant of macro nutrients. Jill explained that interestingly during quarantine many elderly customers have been reaching out to ensure proper nutrition during a time where food shopping is otherwise difficult for them. I thought this was interesting, and very unexpected. I described my target market, as professionals eating midday, and said that plenty of customers eat their meals for both lunch and dinner but predominantly her customers do order for mid day meals. She suggested that, even if not marketed as health food, it is important to involve dietitians in preparing your menu in order to ensure that the labeling is appropriate and you are able to honor and disclose ingredient lists. 

Jill was incredibly helpful in exploring the motive of customers in this industry, both for the elderly and for those who are explicitly tracking food to reach fitness goals. Although these were not my target demographic exclusively, she made a good point that having options that do commit to a fitness goal and then some meals that don’t, allow you to tap into both markets and ideally attract more customers.

Reflection:

This type of focused networking was still intimidating, as all networking seems to be a bit, but was much more impactful than networking I had done prior. Because I knew explicitly what I was looking to ask for, these interactions avoided much of the "fluff" or small talk of normal networking. To me, this served as more of a mentorship opportunity to learn about people that were working in the industry and learn from their prior experiences and endeavors. I also didn't realize quite how willing people would be to talk to me. Interviewing for this class prior was usually customer focused, as my product is B2C, but many businesses were surprisingly willing to talk with me and give great detail about how they operate.