Our first business venture - The Red House

Very sorry to hear this. It seemed like there was some opportunity here, and you certainly put a lot of heart, soul and effort into it. I enjoyed the journey, and a little bit of me was hoping to pop by in 3 years time.
 
Just another voice of sympathy to add to the chorus, it was really enjoyable and exciting to read about your endevour :) I'm sorry to hear it went this way, but chin up you did a lot for your community and hope whatever you do next is a success :)
 
We were always fighting a losing battle in the last year, Covid inadvertently finished us off. I'm currently working part time again as a chef but I do have other ideas, one being a competitor to HelloFresh but with my USP being supporting and using local businesses and suppliers all over NZ. It's just a pipe dream at the moment though, could use some support, knowledge and investment to build a business plan and work out the logistics of it all. Already come up with a name though and currently playing with a logo, though it definitely needs work.

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You're not going to dislodge My Food Bag and Hello Fresh for national coverage but I can see a buy local/support local angle working. Investment will be key, as you mention. Best of luck with whatever comes next :)
 
wez130 said:
We were always fighting a losing battle in the last year, Covid inadvertently finished us off. I'm currently working part time again as a chef but I do have other ideas, one being a competitor to HelloFresh but with my USP being supporting and using local businesses and suppliers all over NZ. It's just a pipe dream at the moment though, could use some support, knowledge and investment to build a business plan and work out the logistics of it all. Already come up with a name though and currently playing with a logo, though it definitely needs work.
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Please take this as advice but at points it's seemed like you like the idea of owning a business more than the reality of running a business. Playing with a logo for example is so not important at this stage, and too important for you to be doing; most slide decks and original pitch docs I've seen for companies which are now household names don't have a name or any branding. The only exception that I've seen being Airbnb because of how it started, but even their branding was non-existent from memory. The first chunk of investment, say £50-100,000+, is always side-lined for brand development, audience and competitor research, etc. Now you're going to say you're just playing and you enjoy it, but that's almost the point. You're obviously a visual person, being a chef, and playing with logos is fine, but that's a hobby, not a business. I remember it's how The Red House started too; you posted in graphics first asking about logos etc way before this thread.

My advice is to do a proper business plan, all in a standard font, no branding, business just called "HelloFresh but local suppliers".

Also almost any online/ecommerce company these days is a data company. Even Timo Boldt who set up Gousto says "we are a data company that happens to trade in food". If your interest is food (obviously) it'll quickly become very little to do with food!
 
Russinating said:
Please take this as advice but at points it's seemed like you like the idea of owning a business more than the reality of running a business. Playing with a logo for example is so not important at this stage, and too important for you to be doing; most slide decks and original pitch docs I've seen for companies which are now household names don't have a name or any branding. The only exception that I've seen being Airbnb because of how it started, but even their branding was non-existent from memory. The first chunk of investment, say £50-100,000+, is always side-lined for brand development, audience and competitor research, etc. Now you're going to say you're just playing and you enjoy it, but that's almost the point. You're obviously a visual person, being a chef, and playing with logos is fine, but that's a hobby, not a business. I remember it's how The Red House started too; you posted in graphics first asking about logos etc way before this thread.

My advice is to do a proper business plan, all in a standard font, no branding, business just called "HelloFresh but local suppliers".

Also almost any online/ecommerce company these days is a data company. Even Timo Boldt who set up Gousto says "we are a data company that happens to trade in food". If your interest is food (obviously) it'll quickly become very little to do with food!
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Good advice here..

Would also suggest you need to identify a pain that the end customer suffers.. you have come to a solution without understanding the problem.. often start ups will go through a number of iterations in terms of the exact pain they are trying to address.. proposing a hypothesis, doing the research, testing, iterating.. look up Lean Business Canvas to help you get started with the more detailed business plan..

- they ask yourself
Is you're product / idea defensible.. no one will invest if an existing player can easily copy or offer the same service in a reasonable time-frame and price point.
Is you're product / idea scaleable.. again an inverter needs to see this is more than a project or a hobby its a proper business idea that will generate a return on investment.
Does you're product / idea require educating customer.. if it does drop it.. educating a market is always, always expensive and full of pitfalls.
 
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