Concerns about Disruption | The FohBoh Blog

Change is inevitable and not everyone or every company is up for it. I remember being handed a book long ago called Who Moved My Cheese.

Spencer Johnson creates a great story about how to deal with change at work, or in life. The character I remember most is Hem; someone who can?t, or is totally unwilling to change.

I think this book should be standard reading for any business these days. Change is everywhere. Old thinking is dead, or should be dead. Because if you don?t adapt and think creatively, your business will surly be dead.

FohBoh is a foodservice social media company born in late 2007. We have reinvented [changed] our business model three times, while remaining true to the core vision of being the online community for all 20 million industry stakeholders. Change is part of growth and today, change will occur whether you like it or accept it, or not. Change is inevitable in all industries and at all companies that wish to remain in business. But there are a few holdouts. One is foodservice.

Success is share game. It?s about share of mind, share of market and share of your customer?s wallet. When your customers change and you don?t recognize this is happening, subscribe to it, or adapt to that change, you are dead. I see this every day.

In my experience, foodservice is a tough industry. It?s mature, large and fragmented. On the restaurant side, there are nearly 1 million restaurants operating; about 70% are independent and small groups. The other 30% are large chains. Combined they sold $650 billion worth of food and beverage in 2011. From 960,000 restaurants. On the distributor side, there are perhaps 2,000 vendors selling commodities and specialty products to these 960,000 restaurants that take about 48% of the food dollars from millions of consumers each year. How food is marketed, purchased and delivered hasn?t changed in over 100 years. Other than the efficiencies created with supply chain technology and ordering software, the three tier distribution model is alive and consistently working. or is it?

On the manufacturing side, a lot has changed just in the past 20 years. Much of this is the result of consumer dining habits and the proliferation of media. Las Vegas revived fine dining when Steve Wynn opened the Bellagio in 1997, bringing in unknown celebrity chefs from major markets. Chefs like Todd English had just a couple restaurants and was hardly known outside of Boston. Charlie Palmer and Michael Mina, same story. Now, they are industry icons operating large businesses with multiple restaurants. Manufacturers now must keep up with ingredients, food fads, sustainability trends and now, social media.

Social media is changing our way of life. How we make decisions. What we eat. Where we dine, and when are all made now with some assistance from social media. But, this is B2C social media ? really consumers interacting with other consumers about experiences at ?B? businesses, or the restaurants in this case. Where is B2B social media and how can foodservice benefit from it? I have a few thoughts, based on four years of watching the world change because of the social web and the foodservice industry remain, pretty much the same.

Distributors ? A few Thoughts and rules for a new way of thinking
Rule Number 1: Be open to change and find a way to suspend disbelief. Social is disrupting your world and you may not even know it. It is the most powerful force of change in your lifetime. Budget for it and hire experts that can help you understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of foodservice social media.

Rule Number 2: Become a service provider not a grocery deliverer. Partner with your restaurant customers. Be legitimately interested in helping them increase sales, reduce costs, learn more about their guests and be successful. Find a way to sell your ?partnership? and they will buy your commodities.

Rule Number 3: Be open to social. You won?t value it until you use it. Play with it, learn from it and participate in it. Social is really just communication; two way dialog between two or more people. Social networking can be a great way to increase your personal, professional and corporate brand. But first, ?embrace the horror? of social.

Rule Number 4: Don?t be afraid. Old school businesses hug their customers a little too tight these days. Be open and share. This is part of the therapy of being a social company. The customer is in charge, not you, so embrace this too.

Rule Number 5: Data, data, data. Social media intelligence is a new science and few are expert at interpreting customer data, especially using the foodservice social web. Imagine the power of knowing what your restaurant clients? customers want before they do? Listen to customers discussing what they eat at the restaurants they dine at is very compelling and informative. This is cutting-edge business intelligence that proves you, as service provider distributor, are the shit!

Bottom line, you need to be the shit and on your customers? minds. And, the best way to do this is to think different. Be social. Be smart. Feel free to change, it?s powerful and a winning strategy.

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Cook, bartender, server, manager, owner, operator, COO, CFO, CEO, investment banker, entrepreneur, investor, speaker, writer, social media maven, founder and CEO of FohBoh and, passionate advocate for the Foodservice industry.

Source: http://wp.fohboh.biz/2012/03/concerns-about-disruption/

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