On Wednesday I had a lovely interaction with a customer called Carmel, which has inspired this post. Carmel is a fan of Velvet Cloud Yogurt but for some reason in recent weeks, her local Super Valu didn’t seem to be stocking it. I explained all the reasons this might be the case, ( you can read a previous blog I wrote about it here if you wish). Carmel was having none of it, in fact, she asked me to WhatsApp her the codes that the Super Valu should use to order any of the three sizes of pots of Velvet Cloud that are available to them. That afternoon I got a message from Carmel, she spoke to the local Super Valu store manager, and showed her the codes, and Velvet Cloud would be back on the shelf in 48 hours!!
So how can you help? Be like Carmel - if Velvet Cloud is missing, show your Super Valu or Centra Manager the codes (see below), and ask them to order it in for you.
But you can help even if you don’t buy or if you don’t like Velvet Cloud!! Anytime you are in a shop where you see pots of Velvet Cloud, - “face them off” This is a food industry term, which means, get all the pots on the shelf, pull them to the front of the shelf, turn them the right way round, stack them on top of each other – in short make them as visible and as obvious as possible. The big multinational food brands have teams of people going around the country in vans “facing off” their products, and keeping an eye that stores are remembering to order in their brands. This is why big brands stay big and most small brands stay small. Imagine the difference if everyone reading this email, “faced off” one shelf of Velvet Cloud yogurt once a month. This is just as valid for any small Irish food producer you are a fan of.
Have a lovely weekend it's forecast to be a nice one.
