On cheesy collateral and the next big business
Someone recently told me that there is an Italian bank that takes giant Parmigiano Reggiano wheels as security for business loans. I thought they were joking. What’s the punch line I asked; but there wasn’t one.
Credito-Emiliano has been doing this since 1953. They store the cheese wheels in a climate-controlled warehouse near the bank. As of a few years ago, they had almost $175 million in cheese wheels stored in exchange for collateral. So many questions popped through my mind: why cheese (oh right…they are Italians), doesn’t it cost more to store than what it’s worth (the answer is no…Italian cheese is expensive), and who in the world works for these banks (apparently, I know someone who does!). But more importantly, how did a region in northern Italy get creative enough to think outside the box and do something so unique and, what probably sounded absurd at the time (and now), and yet have it turn out to be a great business model?
This made me explore other ever-so-creative but odd businesses. By now you probably have heard of a Cat Café; where you can pet cats while drinking coffee in a café, but have you heard of Lice Removal companies? They do the very dreadful job that no parent or school wants to participate in and will come to our home or business and remove… yep you guessed it… lice from a person’s head.
These businesses once were just ideas that someone spawned and eventually launched. Though most would have never guessed they could prosper. This made me think. What else is out there that seems ludicrous by nature but could be a thriving business?
As we approach a two-year pandemic anniversary, storefronts sit empty like a ghost town, and ships containing overseas goods pile up in the ocean off the coast waiting to unload. I can’t help but wonder what ideas we could come up with to put in those downtown buildings and fill the void with concepts we didn’t even know we wanted or needed.
“Change is the only constant in life” according to Greek philosopher Heraclitus. If that is indeed so, and it appears it might be true, then now more than ever, it seems like a good time to adapt to the changes of our new reality and get creative with the next best business. Who would have thought the redwood region would ever have a day spa with a restaurant all wrapped in a dispensary? But we do. With the U.S. Census Bureau citing the county as home to more working artists per capita than any other county in California as well as, Eureka named the “Number One Small Arts in Town in America” by John Villani, author of The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America, one would assume we are a creative lot. What other crazy combo or service we did not know that we need can we come up with to fill in those gaps? Parmesan loan anyone?