2020’s biggest theme: pivot!

Despite Covid-19’s profound impact on businesses, co-founders of Granadilla Swimwear Adam Duxbury and Josh Meltz have pivoted to launch an online farmers’ market, Granadilla Eats

But Josh and Adam are lucky to have staff who are resilient during a crisis.

GQ: Why launch an online farmers’ market?

Josh Meltz: At first, we focussed on one product, a box of fresh fruit and vegetables – that was intentional to keep our operations as simple as possible, and we hadn’t yet considered the idea of separating our products. That came later as we noticed that the rate at which customers stopped doing business with us was high.

After consulting with them extensively, we discovered that the largest reason our customers were dropping off was due to a lack of choice. That was where we got the idea to create an online farmers’ market. It’s crazy to think that we’re now selling over 1 000 products online from over 100 small and local suppliers.

GQ: In your opinion, is there a relationship between swimwear and an online farmers market?

JM: Swimwear and online farmers’ markets may seem unrelated – they’re entirely different products – but the core e-commerce business model is similar. The underlying relationship, for us, was the fact that we already had what we needed to execute a new e-commerce business: a customer base, a fulfilment team, a customer-relations team and a digital marketing team. All we needed were the right products.

GQ: What challenges did you you face?

JM: We have faced a variety of challenges over the last six months, including varying demand and erratic customer behaviour. But the biggest challenge was getting fresh produce right. It’s no easy feat to keep a cold chain, especially as a startup. That’s why few have ventured into this space. GQ: How did you overcome those challenges?

JM: The first step was to establish cold chain delivery, meaning keeping our fresh produce refrigerated from farm to table. What made it tricky is that not all produce does well at the same temperature, and so our factory manager and co-founder, Calvin, had his hands full creating systems to optimise the placement and stock management of each variant of fresh produce.

GQ: How did pivoting affect your relationship with your existing customers?

JM: I think the idea of a swimwear brand delivering vegetables made our customers feel a little shellshocked. But we’d just entered a hard lockdown, so weren’t we all! Our marketing team took on the challenge of persuading our customer base to try our service for the first time. Then, it was down to our product team to prove we could deliver exceptionally fresh produce. GQ: How have your customers received your new venture?

JM: In a matter of weeks, we’d built a customer base of Eats shoppers who’ve remained loyal to us over the past six months, which has been overwhelming. Some of those customers have ordered from us more than 30 times since we started.

That’s incredible!

GQ: What were some of the conversations that happened around the brand? Who had to show up for your dream to materialise?

JM: We started the brand by piggybacking off Granadilla Swim, especially for its social media reach. Granadilla Eats has evolved into a stand-alone brand with a unique voice and mission. Much of the credit for that is due to Gabe for taking ownership of our brand identity and establishing that voice, which champions small and local businesses. GQ: What’s your advice to entrepreneurs and business owners who must face hard decisions if they want to continue operating during uncertain times?

JM: In business, you only ever have two options: to either persist or pivot. If you’re not in the fortunate position to pivot like we were, I recommend you cut all the fat from your business. By that, I mean reduce every unnecessary expense, allowing yourself time to assess your situation and decide on your next move. One of the first things we did was cancel our phone line in the office because our team was going to work from home, as an example.

GQ: To what would you attribute the success of your business?

JM: Firstly, I’ll measure our success by our ability to sustain our business outside of a global pandemic. We have a long way to go before we get there. I’d attribute our survival so far to the incredible commitment of our core team: Adam, Hannah, Calvin, Jodi and Gabe. For the first two months, Jodi (customer relations) worked long hours.

GQ: Will you stick to selling your products online post-lockdown?

JM: We’ve no intention of opening a store for Granadilla Eats; it’s an online business, through and through. Online market penetration is forecast to increase dramatically over the next few years, so that’ll be our focus.

GQ: What else can we look forward to in future?

JM: We have a few growth plans in the pipeline, including new product categories, national distribution and improved delivery options. But for now, we’re perfecting our current offering, available for a next-day delivery in Cape Town.