Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Making The Laundry List

There's an article about companies that sell food to the French Laundry in the Washington Post. I'm quoted in the article, and it mentions Mangalitsa.

The article makes it sound like it is incredibly hard to sell a product to the French laundry, because they check to make sure that you've got the best product. It isn't really so bad: if you are the one with the best, they want to work with you. It might be hard to convince them that your olive oil is so much better than the others out there, but if you are selling something as world-class as Mangalitsa, it is easy for them to make a decision.

The difficult thing is that if you decide you'll produce the best, you have to find customers other than the French Laundry. Some potential customers, even those with Michelin stars, won't make a decision based on quality and price. E.g. they'll want you to be "local", organic or something other than what you are: the producer with the best-tasting product.

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