Supplying Harrods: an Unexpected Journey- Part 3 (a slight detour)

Over the past two weeks I've been telling you about how I first started conversations with Harrods about stocking my biscuits and the first time I submitted samples to Harrods. If you missed these post then do go back and read it first. 

Scaling your food & drink business

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​So late Spring 2015 I’d had a knock back from Harrods for the second time. I was busy with plans to move production out of my home kitchen to commercial premises. My home kitchen hadn’t been a home kitchen for ages.

What used to be my dining table now had a dough sheeter on it and the dining room was piled high with bubble wrap, tissue paper and boxes. We hadn’t had people round for dinner for ages! As much I was loving the growth in the business I’d reached my limit with running the business from my kitchen and was desperate to get my home back!
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But I was apprehensive at the same time. Finding premises, securing finance, negotiating a lease. I was massively out of my comfort zone, I had so much to learn. It was a big step and a huge financial commitment. In truth the enormity of what I was about to undertake kept me awake at night.

Working with a distributor

​Out of the blue in May, I got an email from a distributor in who was the main vendor for a national garden centre chain. The distributor & garden centre buyers had met and they were interested in stocking my Christmas biscuit range in 100 garden centres across the country. I had no idea I was even on their radar.

This was huge!! The sales forecasts were big, and they would need to take delivery late autumn. But there was no way I’d be able to do it all on my own, and from home.
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The plan was to move into premises late Summer. This was exactly why I was moving to premises, to do these sorts of projects. But I hadn't planned to do something so big, so soon. The unit I had my eye on was a complete shell. I’d need to find all my equipment, get it all installed, find staff.

I had 4 months. On paper it seemed impossible. But if the figures stacked up it would be a big cash injection into the business just when i needed it. Could I make it happen?

I’d never worked with a distributor, in truth I didn’t really understand exactly what a distributor was. I had lots of questions about how would it work. The first conversations I had with this distributor were around barcodes, margins, pallet deliveries and they sent me a complicated spreadsheet with lots of figures that I needed to fill in.

The distributor wanted a quick response if we were in, because their Christmas catalogue was about to be sent to the printers. I didn’t have much time to decide.

I spent some time working through the financials, because it was only worth doing if the money stacked up. I needed to make money from it, the distributor would want their cut and then we had to think about the garden centre’s mark ups. I remember having a conversation with my accountant about the difference between margins and marks up. I had thought they were the same thing but they are not.

​I was also worried about production. What if I couldn’t get staff in time? How would I cope with getting familiar with the new equipment? The garden centre wanted all 8 products in the range. How would I even go about putting together a production schedule?

Luckily I’d gained some experience of working in a commercial bakery during my time at Peggy Porschen but I still had so many questions. But I wouldn’t be able to get answers to all of these before I said yes. There were some things - like finance, payment terms, product catalogue etc that would be cleared up straight away. But some questions that would only be answered over the course time.

I had many long conversations with the distributor and my accountant. I also had a friend who was really good at spreadsheets and organising and I roped her in to help me think about how I’d do the production side of things, how / when we needed to order supplies, what quantities etc etc.
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All this against a backdrop of still doing orders to keep the money coming in, and doing all the work on getting the premises set up, sourcing equipment etc.
It seemed to good an opportunity to turn down. And it would give me and my new team (when they arrived) the chance to “learn” while doing “doing”.
So, I decided to go for it.

Lessons learned

​Did it all go well? Mostly.

Did I make mistakes? You bet!

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Some key take aways from today’s blog post:

➡️ Often when one door closes, another opens.

➡️ Sometimes in business (as with life) you have be prepared to take a huge leap of faith and take the first step in the direction of your dreams even though you can’t see the whole path ahead.

➡️ Each level of your business will require a new you. A new set of skills, a new approach. What gets you to a level, won’t always keep you there. So be prepared to upskill yourself, work on your mindset every day so you are open to making changes and seizing opportunities when they come your way.

➡️ If you’re doing the right things to market and promote your business on a regular and consistent basis, opportunities will come your way. Opportunities that you can’t even imagine.

➡️ When you’re faced with a new situation, do the work to figure what you do know and what you don’t know. Then go find someone or some way to get answers to your questions. Don’t let your own lack of experience or knowledge stop you.

➡️ Whatever situation you find yourself in I can guarantee you there will be someone out there who can help you. You just need to find them.

➡️ You can spent a lot of time in your business working on the hypothetics. But you only really learn and gain experience through actually doing.

Next week - finally. How I got listed with Harrods. And as you've probably guessed, this too, didn't quite happen how I'd expected.

Have you been enjoying these blog posts? What have you learned? Let me know your thoughts / comments below.

If you're a food entrepreneur looking to gain listings with premium retailers like Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges, I can help you to hone your pitch, coach you in negotiations and generally be a sounding board to help you to achieve your listing. I can give you much needed insight into the process which will save you time and money, and vastly improve your chances of becoming a supplier. 

Contact me here to arrange a free 20 min call to discuss coaching packages.

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