Lunchbox’s Post

🚀 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 Ocado Retail 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 Ocado Retail has just launched Ocado Roots, a game-changing challenger brand accelerator programme designed to offer unparalleled support to 100 small suppliers. This initiative aims to revolutionize the way new brands scale their businesses and reach consumers. 🚀 Brands in the Ocado Roots programme will receive bespoke onboarding and training, faster payment terms, and support from a dedicated team. They’ll also gain free access to data insights through Ocado’s tool, Beet by Ocado. 🤝 Ocado Roots isn’t just about individual support; it’s about building a vibrant community. Participating brands will be encouraged to support one another, share ideas, and form partnerships through exclusive events and newsletters. 🌟 New brands will benefit from guidance and mentoring from established challenger brands such as TrueStart Coffee, Biotiful, When in Rome, and The Jolly Hog. This mentorship aims to provide invaluable insights and help emerging brands navigate their growth journey. Amit Chitnis, Ocado’s Chief Commercial Officer, shares, “Our aim is to make Ocado the best place for customers to find new and exciting brands, and the best place for brands to scale their business. We will offer all those in the programme the perfect environment to succeed through a combination of rolling out a ‘purple carpet’ of Ocado support, as well as fostering a vibrant community where they can learn from each other and our constellation of champion mentor brands.” Additionally, Ocado has partnered with IND!E to support even smaller, pre-challenger brands through pop-up shops on Ocado’s platform. This initiative will allow small businesses to gain exposure and amplify their market presence. I personally love the idea and for few years already I have been pushing my clients to do similar initiatives. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gQ4YqhvU #OcadoRoots #BrandAcceleration #Innovation #Retail #SupportSmallBusinesses #CommunityBuilding #EmerceConsulting

We know he can build a brand that sells to a larger firm. But can he build a brand that outlasts him?” Marc Lore has raised $800M in capital for Wonder, giving them a leg up on Munchery Sprig and the other startups that have tried to disrupt the food production / delivery business (a different niche than Uber Eats and DoorDash which rely on #restaurants to make the food). That being said, the road ahead is not easy. Sorting logistics, unit economics, and food quality as they expand will be challenging. “There’s a lot that can fall apart going from one to 10 to 100 units. You start to get subtle inconsistencies that pop into the system, many of which require an elevated skill level to handle. You have to be willing to really invest in training and skill-building.” Sounds a lot like #retail :-) https://lnkd.in/gFw5u4nm

Here's 10 high growth, early-stage, Y Combinator backed startups in #hospitality, #retail, #SMB and #foodtech that are hiring right now. 1) Forge (YC W24) - Starbucks app for restaurants 2) BetterBasket (YC W24) - Pricing for grocers with competitive data 3) BiteSight (YC W24) - TikTok meets DoorDash. 4) Openmart (YC W24) - GTM platform for reaching local businesses 5) Intercept (YC W24) - Stop losing money to chargebacks. 6) RetailReady - AI-powered supply chain compliance engine 7) SureBright - Apple Care-like warranty for every retailer 8) Metreecs - AI-powered demand forecasting for retail 9) CoCrafter GmbH (YC W24) - B2B marketplace for contractors 10) Guac - AI-powered demand forecasting for grocery Join Paulslist if you're exploring new opportunities in hospitality, retail, SMB, foodtech and F&B.

This is a classic example of getting a supermarket listing! Well done the team and founders Hunter & Gather. So What does it take? 💪Total belief in your product 😇 Patience - their Tesco listing took 4 years (it took me 5 years Childs Farm Ltd to get into Sainsbury's) 📧 Endless calls and emails 📦 Multiple sample deliveries to ever changing buyers (we went through 7 at one grocer before we got a listing 😬) 😂 Some mad cap nonsense to try and cut through the serious of it all and get some attention 💪 Endless grit, determination and resilience. 🙌 Updates to the buyer on how you're doing: consumer reviews, press, consumer numbers, growth etc. Winning as a challenger brand is not for everyone but for those of us who have the temperament for it, it's fun, challenging, frustrating and rewarding. Never, never, never give up! #entrepreneur #challengerbrands #buywomenbuilt #femalefounder #grocery #fmcg

#qcommerce continues to evolve. Tesco’s take on it has continued to develop and now #Whoosh is nationwide and being promoted on both TV and in-store. IMO - Whoosh offers Tesco Express the revenue to support staffing levels throughout the day in store; incremental sales outside of historically peak trading hours and a chance to pass some costs across the organisation. If #ecommerce interests you please read Viv Craske post and join the discussion. If you haven’t tried Whoosh - give it a go. It’s probably at a store near you! #grocery #retail #supermarkets

This is especially interesting to me considering how many conversations I've had with others (Sandy Hernandez I The Retail Muse, Neil Saunders, Whitney Jordan, Richard Hammond) in the last two weeks alone about how much more advanced the grocery space feels in the UK compared to the US. And though I've not been, I know Woolworths is also ahead of the curve in this arena as well. I'll be very curious to see what comes of this! #grocery #retailinnovation Tesco #retailstrategy

We're excited to be in Inc42's latest roundup of brands reshaping the F&B space! With Indian palates craving more when it comes to brand offerings and variety, Inc42 estimates the opportunity for established businesses and startups to grow to $68 Bn by 2030. According to their analysis, the F&B industry commands a 27% share in the Indian D2C space, just after the beauty and personal care segment at 28.6% https://lnkd.in/gavDq7Ps

👋 All good things come to an end... 📖 Time to enter a new chapter… After 7 years, it’s time for me to pass the stick to the next CEO of Packaly, and announcing my switch from CEO to board member at Packaly. It all started on a Friday afternoon, just hanging out on the couch at the company I’d started before Packaly. The idea of a sustainable delivery service using bikes and couriers for city deliveries came up, and we decided to turn that rough idea into an actual business. After selling the previous business, it was time to go all-in and pursue a simple mission: make last mile logistics more sustainable. Who would have imagined that 7 years later the idea is such a successful business actually making it’s mission reality. Scaling during the COVID times, helping our customers and partners ship thousands of parcels every day while being in a crazy pandemic was a difficult and intense time to navigate the ship. But, we can be extremely proud of what’s been build in the past years. During my time at Packaly, I have learned an immense amount of new topics, from term sheets with investors to employment rules, launching an app in the App Store, building a fully automated rider onboarding flow with my companions that grew over 15.000 submissions across 50+ cities. It’s too much to mention! We can be extremely proud of the scale in we reached, the brand we build and the incredible customers we serviced. Special shout-out to the partners that trusted us their customers parcels: Inditex, Zalando, Rituals, LUSH, JD.COM, Samsung Electronics, Blokker, Kruidvat, de Bijenkorf, Nestlé Nespresso SA, Decathlon Nederland and many many others.. But we could never have done this without the immense support of our partners, customers, packers, and investors! They stood by us and helped us grow from €0 to millions in revenue. Special thanks to David Evans, Gabriel Louw, Maurits Geuze, Andy Guenthard, Lee Feldman, Sander Geels, Ivo Elshof, Leon Bakker for sticking by us, and all the partners (Netwerk Groene Stadshubs (NGS)) across the countries that helped us reach +99% on-time performance every day. But especially the team at Packaly, and in specific my co-founders Adrik E., Justin Plagis and Niels Nijhof for going the extra mile every single day making this a success, and in the last 15 months working on restructuring and making Packaly twice as strong together with Benjamin Verdoorn. Special thanks to all the team members that joined and helped make Packaly a successful business! This is not a goodbye, as my role as board advisor will keep me updated with the company and advising it in the right direction. Next to helping the search for a new CEO, I will be sharing some updates on my next steps in my entrepreneurial career soon, working on some exciting new ideas, but first time for a short break!

When you're building a new-age F&B brand, it helps to see how the premiumisation trend can help shape it. In food, too, consumers are willing to pay a premium. But how much, and for what kind of value? Here's a snapshot of how much "stretch" consumers say they'll accept across food categories. Read more about other F&B trends in our report with Thinking Forks : https://lnkd.in/gGmrpAft #fnb #fnbtrends #foodstartups #foodbrands #FiresideIgnite

☕ First Coffee Secures $1.2 Million in Funding from Beenext to Expand Store Network. First Coffee has successfully raised $1.2 million in funding from Beenext to accelerate the expansion of its store network. 💰 Funding Details: - The investment will be utilized to enhance First Coffee's presence in key markets and increase the number of retail outlets. - This funding reflects confidence in First Coffee’s growth potential and innovative approach to the coffee retail space. 🔍 Growth Strategy: - First Coffee aims to leverage the funds to improve its product offerings and customer experience across its locations. - The expansion strategy focuses on reaching a wider audience and establishing a strong brand presence. 📈 Market Potential: - The coffee market is witnessing robust growth, driven by increasing consumer preferences for quality coffee experiences. - First Coffee is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend, targeting urban centers and busy professionals. 🗓️ Future Outlook: - With the new funding, First Coffee plans to roll out new stores and enhance marketing efforts to boost brand visibility. - The company is committed to delivering exceptional coffee experiences to its customers. First Coffee's successful funding round marks an important milestone in its journey, setting the stage for substantial growth and market expansion. First Coffee #FirstCoffee #Funding #CoffeeRetail #microshots #MarketExpansion #StartupGrowth #Beenext