This one's a big one for us.
Every store that carries SOHJI matters. Each one started with me walking in with a backpack, and every one of them took a chance on us. But this order was a first: a retailer with multiple locations wanted to put SOHJI on their shelves. That's our first multi-store win, and our biggest order yet.
Five months of back and forth
We'd been talking to this buyer since early May. There were emails, follow-ups, and a lot of waiting. If you've read how we get into stores, you know that's normal. Some yeses take a day, and some take a season.
In late August, the buyer reached out and said they wanted to work with us and get SOHJI on shelves. We didn't know what that meant yet. One location? All of them? We had no idea what to expect.
So we did the only thing that made sense: we started getting ready anyway. We planned inventory, placed supply orders, and made sure we could deliver no matter how big it turned out to be.
The email
Then it came: an order for 36 cases.
I'm not going to play it cool. We were super excited. Then, about five minutes later, we realized we had to make, pack, and move 36 cases of glass bottles.
The logistics problem
We're in New York City, which means no car. Thirty-six cases is a lot of glass to take on the subway (we didn't try).
My first thought was to rent a U-Haul. Then I pictured myself driving a box truck across the Brooklyn Bridge, and that plan died fast.
So I looked at the stack of cases and thought: I could probably fit this into an Uber.
It worked, and it was cheaper than the U-Haul. We tipped the driver to help us carry everything into the fulfillment center, and all 36 cases made it in one piece.
What we learned
This order was fun for two reasons. First, it was our biggest order yet. Second, it threw a logistics problem at us that we'd never had to solve. When you're small, every new milestone comes with a new thing to figure out. Last month it was running demos. This month it was moving 216 bottles across the city without a car.
We'll figure out the next one too.
Stay tuned
SOHJI is headed to shelves at multiple new locations, and we'll announce the retailer in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can find SOHJI at stores across NYC or shop online.
— Max
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