As the leaves turn, the temperatures drop, and the sunsets earlier, I always feel like this time of year becomes more productive. While I have never been a fan of the clocks rolling back, I do think that it does instill in us a new burst of energy and focus. This week I was reading a story in which Del Monte is looking to now go into the retail market here in the US. They are basing this model off of some success overseas, where I feel it may be something that works better because of less competition in the segment. While this story did not get much traction, it caught my eye. You will never in your life find someone who believes in evolving more than myself, but at what cost do we do that? A big piece to change is to know how you got here and to use the basis of what got you here not to guide your path to get you to where you need to go. I always learned a valuable lesson in life, never to underestimate someone else's greed. In this case, maybe it is a failed sense of evolving. The odd part is while I am typing this, I was just called about a Mann Packing recall, the one brand this article speaks of being the driving force on this deal. Of course, this now creates more publicity for them to deal with as well. If you have a storefront, this also creates a domino effect liability there, but that's a whole other discussion.
I just thought it was interesting literally as I was typing this I was made aware of that. Back to the original idea of the story now. We can look at several models of this, my favorite being one such as Apple. Apple is a brand that had patents on items and uses its store more as a service tool to grow their product line further. Without those, Apple stores billions of dollars would be lost at the retail levels who sell, service and promote their products. This is a mother nature produced item, and there are quite a few fantastic people with choices. Again, this is not the iPhone or some electronics that can not be mimicked.
For over a hundred years, we have seen the raw ingredients of Del Monte go into cans, fruit snacks, frozen bagged items, grab and go meals, and everything in between. Where does the point come where the end-users realize they are now competing with the hand that feeds them for the same consumer dollar? Del Monte, if you want to do something, then I have an idea. Open up a school similar to the Apple or Microsoft store that educates and teaches people about produce. Teach them how to cook it, store it, grow it, and so forth. You have a brand, and I think brand awareness is the best way to evolve. I hate to keep using the example, but while not a produce company when we hear "apple," we know exactly what it is because they taught us through their stores what all they can do, and it turns it ignited a super brand.
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