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How are you dealing with supply chain issues?


Denise Purcell

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Gretchen VanEsselstyn
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On 10/27/2021 at 4:06 PM, Denise Purcell said:

What are the biggest supply chain issues you are dealing with and do you have any solutions or successes to share?

Certainly the uncertainty that everyone has in not getting a firm or straight answer. In many cases the lack of a firm answer is just being honest, however, that does not help since you cannot sell out of an empty cart. I know this may not be overly helpful in the immediate moment, however it is a time to react and act on creating options for two reasons ..

1. to be better prepared for the future

2. you just might come up with an option by chance

The rest of the world is not static. What may be tied up or unavailable may free up tomorrow or a week or a month from now (i.e. supplier loses account that goes out of business or their ship, literally comes in, and intended customer made alternative arrangements). Be nice ... by initiating connections, people learn your in need and if handled properly, they may or will remember you. If we all really think about it .. we ALL want options (no one likes to be stuck), but we do need to work on it. Today more than ever .. do not take the present as forever.  

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We're a new market in New England that actually was able to open during the pandemic because of national supply chain issues. We are a niche market that is 100% locally sourced New England and New York healthy food. We aren't having any issues getting food for our store because we only are buying locally made products. We spent the last 6 years building relationships with local producers who are working in local shared kitchens, and when we called upon these producers to purchase their products, they've all come through with ease. We don't need to work with national suppliers or distributors, and with buying local, many are able to self distribute or we can pick up so the trucking and driver shortage hasn't affected us. We also have the benefit of an in store kitchen; anything we can source from local farms, we're able to cook with. We have a formally trained staff who is able to produce healthy quality foods using all local ingredients.

A year ago we knew, from working at a large food provider, when they started experiencing shortages, we called local farms. We were happily informed these local farms would raise livestock and grow produce specifically for our store, and have. They are unable to supply large Big Box Chains due to volume demand and corporate restrictions, but they can easily accommodate our store. It's local small business to business that will get (us) through these times, and it's the "buy local" health conscious consumer that will greatly benefit from stores such as ours. 

We're in a very unique position and are fortunate to have many great foods companies and farms throughout our area. Sadly, not all regions of our country have this ability. It's a cry out to rebuilding our nation and get back to our grass roots of family farms and manufacturing. We've let national and foreign countries have far too much control over our food supplies and we're seeing those repercussions now. 

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