Wednesday, November 26, 2008
News Plumgood Food Closing Dec. 5
Posted by Carrington Fox on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 1:43 PM
Online grocer Plumgood Food is closing after four years of operation. Citing the economic downturn and an inability to compete on pricing with
large retailers, co-founder Eric Satz distributed a letter today stating that Plumgood
will close Dec. 5. Beginning Monday, Dec. 1, the web site will
discount all inventory by 25 to 50 percent.
Eric Satz's letter follows after the jump.
Dear Friends:
Today we will announce that Plumgood is closing its doors on Friday, December 5th. I wanted to let you know first.
Over four years ago, Kate and I had an idea to start an online organic and natural, home delivery grocery business in Nashville. Our mission as to make life easier and cooking more fun. In early 2004, I asked the 20+ people I knew in Nashville to take a survey assessing the demand for such a service. About a week later more than 600 people had taken the survey. Demand was strong.
Kate came up with the name - I'll never admit to the names I came up with - and I came up with the purple. Name, logo and business plan in hand, I raised our start-up capital from a small group of
forward-thinking local investors in June, 2004. With six employees, a small warehouse with less than 800 items, a purple truck, and a
primitive website, we made our first deliveries just four months later in late October.
We eventually grew to 40+ employees, a 20,000+ sf warehouse with nearly 5,000 organic, natural and mainstream items, a dozen purple trucks, and an industry-leading website. In the process, we served more than 9,000 customers throughout greater Nashville. While our business model evolved during this period of significant growth - we made changes in strategy, products and marketing - our mission remained the same, as did the vast majority of our team. Our programmer, warehouse manager, driver and picker/packer from our first days as a team will be with us until our last day as a team.
We believe our service was not only good for our customers, but good for Nashville, which continues to diversify its economy by attracting large corporations from major cities and supporting local ventures with assistance from the Nashville Capital Network and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. Similar businesses to ours exist in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Virginia and New York City. We expect to see another grocery home delivery service plant itself here in the future.
Today's economy has taken its toll on our business the same way it has on many other businesses our size. The primary driver for our customer was always convenience. This consumer value proposition becomes far less compelling in an environment where the perceived value of one's time declines as significantly and rapidly as it has over the past few months. We've seen our weekly deliveries decline from more than 1,200 to less than 600. We simply do not have the scale and purchasing power required to compete on price with the country's largest grocers and outlast the current economic crisis.
Our business required expertise in warehouse logistics and distribution, supply chain management, inventory management, food service production, marketing, website development and finance. I have an amazing team of people whose skills cover these areas and for whom I will provide my highest recommendation. For those of you in a position to hire or looking to upgrade in a given area, please do not hesitate to contact me for leads to relevant Plumgood personnel.
For all the support you have shown me, Kate and Plumgood during the past four years: thank you, thank you, thank you.
We - the entire Plumgood team - will miss serving you.
Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving,
eric satz
plumgood food
co-founder and ceo
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Minivan drivers across the midstate wept, while shares of parking-lot rage rose on the news.
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I told Eric I wanted to send him a fruit basket, which is my go-to gesture of condolence, but I don't know whom to call any more.
I am so floored by this!!!
They have been such a help while I've been on bed rest!!
What an awesome company... they always had the best green beans.
Noooo0000oooo0000!!!
Im so sad to hear this. I was positive that the increased fuel prices would prompt people to use the service. I've only been using Plumgood for a short time but love the service. Again, I'm so sad to learn this. I wish them the best.
I aspired to be a customer soon, when the box of organic vegetables is finally consumed. I'm sorry to see such a progressive effort fold the tent, and wish everyone good fortune in their next endeavor.
A month ago (10/19/8) an article in the Tennessean by Chas Sisk reported that Plumgood had seen its volume "increase threefold over the last three months" and that "Satz plans to expand deliveries soon to seven days a week".
There's more to this story than meets the eye . . .
This is Eric Satz, co-founder of Plumgood. I understand the misconception that our business was built for higher income individuals. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you read the unbelievable number of emails we have received over the past three days, you would know that the vast majority of our customers come from dual-income households, single-parent households, the elderly, the disabled, and others who need more hours in a day or help accomplishing tasks others don't think twice about. Our mission was to make life easier, and our team provided the same high level of service to each customer in an effort to do so.
I am sorry to hear that you are closing. I know that the economy has been hard on most everyone but certainly hate to see you not able to hang in there. I am in the process of trying to purchase a cargo van / delivery truck. Would you all be willing to sale one of your delivery vehicles at this time. You may have already disposed of your trucks but thought I would ask. You can reach me at my email or through my phone at 615-231-2608.
