Post by Retrovision on Nov 1, 2006 15:20:42 GMT -8
(From: www.spud.ca/index.cfm?action=logout&t=5#31 )
Vancouver Province 04/07/2006
Ferries’ Coke Clause Stymies Green Grocer
ETHICS: Owner shuts organic-food kiosk
04/07/2006
BY CHRISTINA MONTGOMERY
STAFF REPORTER
David Van Seters has swallowed hard and sailed on, his ethical-purchasing conscience intact and a new grocery adventure on the horizon.
Van Seters is president of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery, an organic home-grocery company that closed its kiosk at Tsawwassen ferry terminal’s market quay last week. The grocer says he found out too late that the lease he signed nine months ago prevented him from selling any non-milk bottled beverages not made by Coca-Cola. No B.C.- bottled water. No Denman Island apple juice. No Happy Planet smoothies. Stocking Coke products was an ethical non-starter, Van Seters said, since his company is a strict believer in patronizing small suppliers and buying locally. So the company is off to open a store next week at Vancouver’s Granville Island market, where his displays will note the precise distance goods have travelled from source to store shelf.
Van Seters said he thought the West Coast retail theme for the market - developed last year by Tsawwassen Quay Marketing, the master tenant that leases space to individual market tenants - was a good fit for his business, which offers home delivery of organic goods in Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Calgary, and was looking for a retail outlet. The Coke clause came to his attention too far into his planning to back out, he said. He decided to open up and hope that sales of other items would carry the store, but found that beverages were a greater percentage of demand than anticipated.
Despite efforts of Quay Marketing - and even Coca-Cola officials, who offered him “unofficial exemptions” that would have allowed him to sell a small sampling of non-Coke drinks - he couldn’t remain true to his principles and make a profit, he said. Bryan Tunke, vice-president of Quay Marketing, said Small Potatoes looked like a good solution when the quay was looking for a “grocery component” that would offer fruits and vegetables and “grab-and-go” deli-style goods.
But the Coke clause, based on a long-standing exclusivity agreement between the soft-drink firm and B.C. Ferries, was a reality the grocer couldn’t swallow, he said. “They had the right to sell Coke products,” Tunke said. “But we respect that it wasn’t part of their core [commercial mission]. We appreciated that and respected that.”
In the end, Van Seters admits it was his ethics that sank his retail ship and had nothing but praise for Tunke’s effort to assist him. The move to Granville Island offers a silver lining to his Coca-Cola cloud, he said. “This was a David and Goliath battle that SPUD couldn’t win.”
Vancouver Province 04/07/2006
Ferries’ Coke Clause Stymies Green Grocer
ETHICS: Owner shuts organic-food kiosk
04/07/2006
BY CHRISTINA MONTGOMERY
STAFF REPORTER
David Van Seters has swallowed hard and sailed on, his ethical-purchasing conscience intact and a new grocery adventure on the horizon.
Van Seters is president of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery, an organic home-grocery company that closed its kiosk at Tsawwassen ferry terminal’s market quay last week. The grocer says he found out too late that the lease he signed nine months ago prevented him from selling any non-milk bottled beverages not made by Coca-Cola. No B.C.- bottled water. No Denman Island apple juice. No Happy Planet smoothies. Stocking Coke products was an ethical non-starter, Van Seters said, since his company is a strict believer in patronizing small suppliers and buying locally. So the company is off to open a store next week at Vancouver’s Granville Island market, where his displays will note the precise distance goods have travelled from source to store shelf.
Van Seters said he thought the West Coast retail theme for the market - developed last year by Tsawwassen Quay Marketing, the master tenant that leases space to individual market tenants - was a good fit for his business, which offers home delivery of organic goods in Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Calgary, and was looking for a retail outlet. The Coke clause came to his attention too far into his planning to back out, he said. He decided to open up and hope that sales of other items would carry the store, but found that beverages were a greater percentage of demand than anticipated.
Despite efforts of Quay Marketing - and even Coca-Cola officials, who offered him “unofficial exemptions” that would have allowed him to sell a small sampling of non-Coke drinks - he couldn’t remain true to his principles and make a profit, he said. Bryan Tunke, vice-president of Quay Marketing, said Small Potatoes looked like a good solution when the quay was looking for a “grocery component” that would offer fruits and vegetables and “grab-and-go” deli-style goods.
But the Coke clause, based on a long-standing exclusivity agreement between the soft-drink firm and B.C. Ferries, was a reality the grocer couldn’t swallow, he said. “They had the right to sell Coke products,” Tunke said. “But we respect that it wasn’t part of their core [commercial mission]. We appreciated that and respected that.”
In the end, Van Seters admits it was his ethics that sank his retail ship and had nothing but praise for Tunke’s effort to assist him. The move to Granville Island offers a silver lining to his Coca-Cola cloud, he said. “This was a David and Goliath battle that SPUD couldn’t win.”
