There's a lot going on at PGP.
First, a staffing update: We are taking the plunge to move Zaid, a refugee from Iraq who has been with us for most of the year, into Krystal’s position of managing our shipping and customer service.
Krystal, who has helped hold us together this year is taking the plunge of opening her own business. While we don’t deserve any credit for this bold move on her part, we’d like to take some anyway, because we would love to be in the business of helping people starting businesses. Krystal, we will miss you. Thanks for not leaving quickly. And go for it.
Those of you who have met Zaid at farmer’s markets probably have some idea how sharp he is. He learns quickly, has an eye for details, is not shy about asking questions, and doesn't pretend to understand when he really doesn't—all qualities we need. The technology, of course, is new to him, so this is a big step.
The other good news is that orders will start going out in on a daily basis in December. And Zaid will be more available to return messages left on our new 800 number. What you—our customers—need to know when calling Zaid is to speak slowly and enunciate carefully. This is particularly important if you are from Cranston (or Alabama.) But to clarify: this does not mean shout: Zaid is neither dense nor hard of hearing; you're slowing down your speech just to speed up comprehension. And if Zaid doesn't understand after a couple tries--then Geoff or I will give you a call.
Second: This holiday season will define the course of our future. Our hope is to do about $30,000 in sales over the next month. So we would like to invite you to think about making granola your holiday gift of choice. Granola really does make a terrific gift. A month club subscription can stretch your gifts through the bleak winter or even through the year. If subscriptions aren’t your cup of tea, we are posting number of gift packages including t-shirts (in 3 great colors) in our web store and at the winter markets.
Here’s another idea. A number of our frequent customers have told us that they now take a bag of granola as a gift to dinner parties. The last dinner gift I took someone was a bottle of (relatively cheap) Yellow Tail, so with this in mind, I put together a little head to head comparison:
Bag of Originola
A bottle of Shiraz Yellow Tail Wine
- 6.95
- 6.99 (or more)
- Unique gift—suggests real thoughtfulness
- yawn
- Can eat it first thing in the morning and all through the night
- Raises eyebrows before 5 pm
- Leftovers are still good for a few weeks (longer in the fridge)
- Goes sour in a few days; tastes funny cold.
- Lots of fiber
- No fiber
- Uses local ingredients
- No local ingredients
- Up to 70% of price benefits RI’s local economy (and we need it!)
- Maybe about 15% of price benefits local economy
- Can be delivered right to your door
- Pick it up yourself
- Likely to inspire a new granola customer
- Absolutely no chance of inspiring a new granola customer
- Could wake up your host to all kinds of issues of social importance—especially if you direct them to our blog
- Likely to make your host very sleepy
- Could inspire deep conversations including (but not limited to) refugees, world events, the local economy, the locovore movement, the benefits of oat fiber, the minerals in dehydrated cane juice, Jules Verne, and whether vegans should find it acceptable to eat raw honey
- “Sure is cold and rainy today.” “How's the cheese?” “Pass the salt please.”
- No animals were injured in manufacturing (not even bees)
- What’s the deal with kangaroo tails anyway?
- Distance in miles from production point to pickup: Pawtucket—about 3; North Kingston—about 18; California—about 3000
- Distance in miles from production point: over 10,000 miles, easy. Probably a lot more.
- Carbon footprint of transporting stand-up pouches: 1/25 of glass
- Carbon footprint of transporting glass: 25 times that of pouches
- If you apply the 5 second rule, a spill involves no loss at all
- A spill will not only ruin your white pants, but the 5 second rule can’t be applied.
- Kids like it
- Kids can’t even try it
I could go on, but you get the idea…
Just a little something to think about on this Happy Thanksgiving. Please stop in at our web store to see our Holiday specials including our new t-shirts.
Geoff and Keith