Letter From The Founder #2: How Problems Can Create Opportunities
Hello!
It has been about six weeks since our last blog post where we discussed innovation and unintended consequences. In case you missed it, we started putting a coconut, peanut, or almond topping on our bars and we made some mistakes in rolling this out which created some very understandable frustration. (read the full blog post here). In this post we'd like to share some details on improvements that we have made over the last few weeks.
One of my best bosses always told me that problems create opportunities. While I believe that is true, I don’t seek out problems ;)
Our recent challenge of messy "topped" bars was definitely a major problem for me and everyone here at The GFB. Knowing that we were potentially disappointing customers with a "messy" bar was not a pleasant feeling. So what opportunities came out of this problem?
- The opportunity to re-focus on what is truly important. In a quickly growing business, things get more complex by the day, and it’s possible to become less vigilant about the most important thing (i.e. you). In other words, this created an opportunity to better connect with you, our customers, to listen and respond to your feedback, and build relationships.
- The opportunity to fix our products so that they fit your lifestyle. Convenience has been a pillar of The GFB from day 1, but with the messy bars, we violated that. One consistent thing we heard is that eating a bar must be convenient and fit into your daily lives, whether it means eating a bar while getting kids out the door or in the car on the way to work.
So, where do we stand with the topped bars?
Here are some before and after shots...
We've made some clear improvements, but there are some toppings (I'm looking at you, coconut) that we are still working to make perfect - we've eliminated 90% of the crumbs but there is more work to do. In the competitive world of protein bars, we need to do something a little different, and topping our bars is something we want to keep doing. If you absolutely do not like it, we want you to know that ALL of our new GFB mini bars are NOT TOPPED. They are the exact same as the old bars, just half the size.
GFB mini bars are already for sale (Oatmeal Raisin and Cranberry Toasted Almond will be out this summer). We will soon be offering custom cases of mini bars in 12, 24 and 48 counts.
Thank you for being a customer, and thank you for your patience. If we have disappointed you, please reach out and we will make it right. You can email me directly at marshall@thegfb.com
Thank you for sticking with us,
Marshall