3 Reasons NOT to Scale Our Business
People always say to me, “You should get your products into the major grocery stores!”
Seriously, I get this all the time.
My answer?
“Nah, we don’t want to.”
To some people, this sounds INSANE. They try our chips and think, “If you sell more, you’ll be rich! More is better!”
But in fact, the opposite is true. Trust me - we’ve thought about scaling bigger (and we totally appreciate our customers wanting the best for us!). But for us, “getting bigger” is not worth it, and here’s why:
1. It would compromise our core value: Family First. We’ve found the perfect ‘work/life’ balance with our business. We work from home, we choose our own hours, and we spend a lot of quality time with our kids. We work hard, but we also take weeks off at a time and travel with our kids. We love this flexibility. If we scaled our business to these huge levels, our balance ‘work/life’ balance would shift to ‘more work, less life’ and we don’t want that.
2. We use Australian-grown coconuts only. Our coconut supply is limited because we harvest our coconuts off our local beaches. If we scaled to HUGE volumes, we’d have to import coconuts to keep up with the demand. Have you seen the imported coconuts? They’re gross - they've been off the tree for months and are covered in chemicals. Who wants to eat that?
3. The big guys screw the little guys. We’ve heard many stories of small businesses selling to the big Supermarket outlets…. And then get screwed 6 months later. Despite the little guys investing in machinery, production capabilities, and packaging, they get dropped if their product doesn’t sell. Or, even worse, the little guys HAVE to sell their product at a loss because of contractual obligations. No thanks!
So what IS our business strategy?
It’s simple: create delicious & healthy coconut products, use Australian-grown coconuts, and cut out the Middle Man. Keep it small, keep it gourmet, make it available online.
We’ve found HUGE support with people that 1) love our story, 2) love good food and 3) love supporting Australian small business and agriculture. It’s so cool!
YOU are our tribe!
YOU are the one we love the most!
YOU are the one that keeps us going!
So thank you.
As always, you can check out our products HERE. I've just created a “Coconut Chip Sample Pack” which is great value, and I've extended our “Free Shipping over $99” anywhere in Australia.
Have a great week! I hope this post finds you well and, as always, thank you for supporting our (intentionally small) family business.
Casey
Founder & CEO, Beach Harvest Australian Coconuts