Cheese Startup - Learning Launch ​by Eladio Amaya

Challenge

We are a small company in Barcelona (Spain) that refines high-quality organic cheeses  from small producers in the Pyrenees. We also trade milk and yogurts from these  producers. We distribute our dairy products mainly to haute cuisine restaurants (60% of  our turnover) and to Delicatesens stores (35% of our turnover), the remaining 5% we  distribute to individuals, mainly family, friends and acquaintances.    Selection

I have chosen the "Learning Launch" because it is more adapted to my way of working  and the needs of the company.    Application

Due to the coronavirus crisis, all restaurants have closed and Delicatesen store sales  have dropped dramatically. therefore we have had to change our target niche and head  towards private individuals and common stores.    We have carried out a survey both in small stores and among individuals. In the survey  we asked what types of cheese are the most willing to consume, as well as milk and  yogurts, also the type of milk (goat, cow, sheep), the level of curing and the price they  would be willing to pay for our products. We have also proposed sending boxes with  different products on offer, in which the average price is significantly lower.    After the survey and the observations of individuals and small stores, we have focused  our offer on a certain type of product, we have distributed it and analyzed the result not  only with our customers but also with objective sales figures.    Insight

The result has been spectacular, our weekly turnover had fallen to 25% with a loss of  75% (60% of restaurants and 15% of delicatessen stores). The situation was dramatic  but nowadays sales to individuals have risen from 5% to 25% and common food stores  have gone from 0% to 15%.

Approach

Our situation is not good, but we hope that when the restaurants open and the economy  recovers. We will have a much broader portfolio of clients and a way of working based  on the client and transferred to the producer. Before, we used to transfer products from  small producers to customers. Now the flow has changed.

