selling large volumes to the USA) so money is tight. A lot of time is spent talking on the phone. But the concrete results of all that time spent
Stage 5: Adult
Most companies that hit this wall don’t successfully get past it to adulthood. Just like with teenagers, major physical and lifestyle changes tend to occur in adulthood. A manufacturer accepts that changes to packaging, or pricing models (that don’t assume European retail margins when American ones are higher) need to occur. Or they dispense with the fallacy that importers in different USA markets don’t compete. When competing to sell your product, the first thing to go in an importer or distributor’s pricing model is marketing support for your brand. If you’re supplying two American competitors (knowingly or not), why would they do anything else?
A few suggestions
A = First look at the product market fit of your products. In most cases your food is not unique, and you’re not going to be first to market. So who has gotten there before you, and why were they successful? What retail pricing do they maintain? Working your way backwards, what cost do you need to have? What about the packaging, why does it work? I’ve seen countless great labels; some were so bright your eyeballs would explode. But when you put it on an American retail shelf, they disappeared. American retailers can have 26,000 different sku’s. Imagine now that your brightly colored package suddenly became one of many colors in a unified rainbow.
B = Next look at the marketing. This requires someone who not only knows the U.S. market, but is willing to test it. That takes on average 6 to 12 months. And let’s be clear, importers don’t make money providing free consulting. They make money buying and selling your products. That’s why many of them see no reason to do this. Importers and distributors are not a charity and neither are you. We both keep score the same way in this business, by making money. If your cheese or pasta or olive isn’t already competitive, there are many other companies, Italian or otherwise, willing to take your place.
C = Lastly, what is your strategy to penetrate this market, and what are the tactics that will get you there? Do you feel that the US market is too big for any customer to run? If yes, then who in your organization knows the American consumer and retail behavior well enough? Do they just say they do, or does this person have a proven track record in establishing your kinds of food? Importers do. Their proof is that they’re still in business buying your kinds of products despite decades of Darwinian competition. They must know and be doing something right.
My goal tonight is not to be like Andonoi Goikoetxea (the Butcher from Bilbao’s football team if any of you are Maradona fans). Rather I wanted to try to convey an American importer’s perspective. I think that Italy has more untapped potential than any other southern European country to sell to mainstream Americans. The U.S.A. is still a great opportunity for companies willing to take advantage of it. But it is not an easy one. Especially in light of the new F.S.V.P. and F.S.M.A. legal requirements.Thank you very much for your time tonight!”
After my speech, the Italian consulting firm talks about the new Food & Drug laws. No one in the room is happy about the changes. Then representatives from Rutgers and the State of N.J. talk about Italian businesses setting up shop there. The speakers are very eloquent. Their descriptions of New Jersey make it hard to believe that I live in the same place.
Then Carlos Ruiz, the tortilla guy, is introduced as being “revolutionary.” This immediately makes me suspicious (like when cheap bodegas put “gourmet” in their name but only sell lottery tickets, tobacco and crap I’m too lazy to walk down the street to get).
…it hits me that I’ve flown all the way to Milan to learn esoteric trivia about the Garden State.
It turns out Mr. Ruiz really is. His partner and him hacked a Nespresso machine. Keeping the pod technology intact, they turned it into “Your personal bakery.” (source Flatev POS sheet). The machine is now an automated flatbread maker. His company Flatev built it raising money from Kickstarter and private equity firms.
Terms like the “Keurig of Bread” (source his speech) are bandied about. His customers today are hospitals and hotels. After two decades of experience, it is rare for me to see something truly new in food. But this definitely qualifies! Mr. Ruiz’s speech is short but inspiring.
Deloitte wraps up the lecture with a brief Q&A. The moderator for the event, Stefano Schiavello, feels bad and kindly tosses me a few softball questions. After the lecture Deloitte invites the speakers to join their executives for dinner. We go next door to a private section of the hotel’s restaurant. A parade of dark business suits and white shirts sit down at circular tables. The room has floor to ceiling windows that transform into giant mirrors with the coming dusk. I sit at a table that is half Italian and half New Jersey. Next to me is Margie, her engineer husband, and their young colleague who work for the N.J. government.