Lin Jiang, Yishi Foods
My biggest focus is working capital and cash flow management.
The U.S. economy is likely to remain challenging for the next 6-12
months, so it will be extremely important for companies across the
board to maintain, or reach, a profitable business model. At Yishi, we
have made operational adjustments to increase our gross margin and
capital efficiency.
In the meantime, we are also working on developing new oatmeal
flavors and new products beyond oatmeal. There will be a few exciting
launches from Yishi in the New Year. We are working hard to weather
the challenges and work toward a successful 2023.
Edy Massih, Edy's Grocer
I am worried about our economy and the state of this country. We are
going to shift our hours and menu to make sure we have less waste
during our off-season and take some time to plan and maybe do a
few small renovations around the shop. Knowing slow season is upon
us, I will start planning popup dinners and collaborations with different
chefs to keep the business rolling and the movement rising. Of course,
the biggest deadline yet is coming up for me—my cookbook manual is
due at the end of March—so I will be working hard towards that while
juggling the everyday obstacles that come with owning a business. We
are working on an event space upstate so I hope to get that ready to
start booking events in the spring and see what the summer has in
store for us! But overall staying positive as always and trying to look at
the bright side.
Nicolás Estrella, Waku
At Waku, we are very excited for 2023 as we just got accepted into
Whole Foods (in the Northeast), launching in January 2023. For the
past two years, we've been a DTC-only company, and now we're
making the move to become an omnichannel company. Our goal is to
become the best-selling beverage in the tea set for this Whole Foods
region and start the expansion in the natural channel in a disciplined
way, focusing our sales and marketing efforts on stores that will bring
the biggest ROI. We will keep our obsession with our customers and
keep improving our products with the feedback we get, using our
DTC channels as a platform for community building that gives our
customers the space to give direct feedback to us. At the same time,
we'll be strongly focusing on bringing our costs down, having better
margins as we increase our scale, and having tight management of our
cashflow cycle.
George Hajjar is associate, content development at the Specialty Food Association.
Q:
What concerns are top of mind heading into 2023?
46 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM
12 UNDER 35: WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?
