Luke Abbott’s Post

😇Purpose vs Vision😃 I talked to a good friend, Adam Silberstein, earlier this week about the difference between purpose and vision. Here are some of our conclusions and how they might affect how we show up in our lives and businesses. "Purpose" is our life's calling—often associated with coming from our higher power—related to making the world better. For example, one of my best friend's callings is to reduce the amount of animals being "harvested" for consumption. She is willing to surmount any mountain and give up any sense of comfort (including sleep) to move the world in the direction of her purpose. She certainly has a vision for the future that she is working to manifest—and the deeper purpose is the real driver. A person/leader whose vision is more dominant has a clear view of their life, company, and/or family in the future. Their vision is a big source of energy that drives them forward. Achieving one's vision often requires sacrifice and a high degree of discipline and focus. When growing my distribution company, MONTERREY PROVISION, I remember casting the vision for sales targets, the number and size of warehouses, and the number of tractor-trailers we'd have in three years. The vision was exciting and motivated my team to achieve greatness, and it wasn't rooted in a deep and compelling purpose. I don't mean to suggest any judgment relative to whether being more purpose-driven or vision-driven is better. It just is. I'm more vision-driven (hence the name of my company, V-driven), and I deeply admire those who have a burning desire for a purpose that truly transforms the world. I'm beyond grateful that I get to support their purposes! Have you considered what drives you? I invite you to share in the comments section below. (my friend Adam and I went hiking to an amazing meditation spot in Vail, Colorado, next to a flowing river last week)

I am excited to share the newest episode of the ReConnected Podcast featuring Kerry Song, the founder and CEO of Abbot's. In this episode, Kerry dives into the journey of growing America's best plant-rich food brand. Having collaborated with Kerry in different roles for over four years, I can vouch for her exceptional qualities. She is a close friend of mine and someone I deeply admire for her unwavering dedication to her company and mission. Kerry's story is both gripping and incredibly inspiring. Don't miss out on this opportunity to listen and be motivated by her remarkable journey!

Enjoy our video essay on the Vdriven Consulting team's time at the Fancy Food Show. What an experience!

Ahhhhhh, just sitting in my seat and getting ready to fly to Denver from the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Show. I love this show! It’s well attended and feels 1/5 as crazy as Expo West. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to share my thoughts about deductions this morning during a panel discussion on the main stage. Great seeing so many fiends: William Iyawe-Parsons, Hannah Robbins, Mitch Orland, Daan Tolk , Kathryn Shah, Melvin D. Maddux, Billal Sidiq and so many more. Safe travels home everyone!

Awesome—and I mean awesome—day at the Fancy Food Show. I’m grateful for all the great people that I spent time with on todays journey!! Looking forward to joining some friends on the main stage tomorrow at 9:00 am EDT to talk about deductions! Hope you can join us.

The Vdriven Consulting team is heading to New York City for Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. We promise to bring high energy, fun and joy to town with us. Let’s do some business!

I'm curious about the subject of "shrinkflation." From what I see, consumers have limits in their heads on what they are willing to pay for a particular product. If it goes over a certain psychological price point, velocities suffer, and the product will risk being kicked off the shelf. Brands need to be responsive to consumer needs. In the current environment of inflation-shocked consumers, this sometimes justifies shrinking the package. By doing so, brands are responding to market conditions and ensuring that a product's retail is within reach of consumers' expectations and fits into their budgets. Generally, we live in a market-based economy, and consumers get to vote with their dollars. Portraying brands as seeking to prey on consumers by giving them less and charging the same retail seems completely off base. Brands, distributors, and retailers are doing their best to survive in an ultra-low margin environment for all supply chain partners. I'm curious what the CPG community thinks on this subject.

I just finished a webinar for our community on maximizing ROI at retail. One of the subjects we discussed is the advantage of delivering to KeHE and UNFI DCs vs having them pick up. Many brands would benefit—and take better control of their retail and margins—if they looked at delivering to the distributor using freight consolidators who focus on delivering multiple brands' products to distributor DCs. Does anyone have any recommended consolidators we can share with the CPG community? An example would be Organic Logistics, LLC—which I believe is related to Organic Valley—and does refrigerated consolidation. Thank you for your thoughts!