Costco makes its moves...
Nov. 15th, 2011 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsIt looks as if the local Costco, our huge-box, members-only, warehouse supply store is making a big play to finally crush Cash & Carry, the other major restaurant supply chain in my neighborhood. Costco has always had a bit of schizophrenia; I qualified for membership when I was a teacher at a local community college, and have maintained membership ever since, but it's obvious that our monthly trips our for a family, not an education, and that's true of many of the people who shop there. So Costco's supplies come in cases small enough for a family to use if they're sensible, but can also be purchased in lots big enough to be meaningful to a restaurant.
Cash & Carry has always been much more targeted at the restauranteur business. Bulk and lots of it, plus restaurant supplies like massive food prepation tubs, 20-gallon soup pots, salt & pepper shaker pairs in boxes of 16 units per.
Costco has made two major changes this month: they've built out their restaurant supply section in a direct attack on Cash & Carry's bulk business model: 50 pound bags of sugar, food prep supplies, 20 lbs bags of chocolate, supplies of flour and rice and all the rest in restaurant-only bulk.
It would be a shame if Costco succeeds: Cash & Carry has a lot of ethnic restaurant supplies that you can't get at Costco, and it also has a much more diverse selection of flavored syrups for coffee. Costco's selection concentrated on coffee, but C&C has flavors for desserts, like kiwi and watermelon.
The other thing Costco is doing now is fine men's suits. But it's the super-cyber cheap-labor-from-India version: you go into a booth and it measures you precisely, you pick the material you want from a collection of examples, and some poor tailor in India or Pakistan gets the order to make your suit. It arrives at your door in eight weeks. The low-end of men's suits just got a lot closer to the high-end.
Costco also just secured the rights to sell liquor in Washington State, although that doesn't go into effect until June 1st of next year. That'll be interesting to see, because the public liquor distribution in this state sucks. We get the most limited selection of scotch you've ever seen, and don't get me started on tequila.
One part of the business didn't change. But I'm not sure I'd want to buy the bed of my eternal repose from a faceless warehouse distribution conglomerate.
Cash & Carry has always been much more targeted at the restauranteur business. Bulk and lots of it, plus restaurant supplies like massive food prepation tubs, 20-gallon soup pots, salt & pepper shaker pairs in boxes of 16 units per.
Costco has made two major changes this month: they've built out their restaurant supply section in a direct attack on Cash & Carry's bulk business model: 50 pound bags of sugar, food prep supplies, 20 lbs bags of chocolate, supplies of flour and rice and all the rest in restaurant-only bulk.
It would be a shame if Costco succeeds: Cash & Carry has a lot of ethnic restaurant supplies that you can't get at Costco, and it also has a much more diverse selection of flavored syrups for coffee. Costco's selection concentrated on coffee, but C&C has flavors for desserts, like kiwi and watermelon.
The other thing Costco is doing now is fine men's suits. But it's the super-cyber cheap-labor-from-India version: you go into a booth and it measures you precisely, you pick the material you want from a collection of examples, and some poor tailor in India or Pakistan gets the order to make your suit. It arrives at your door in eight weeks. The low-end of men's suits just got a lot closer to the high-end.
Costco also just secured the rights to sell liquor in Washington State, although that doesn't go into effect until June 1st of next year. That'll be interesting to see, because the public liquor distribution in this state sucks. We get the most limited selection of scotch you've ever seen, and don't get me started on tequila.
One part of the business didn't change. But I'm not sure I'd want to buy the bed of my eternal repose from a faceless warehouse distribution conglomerate.
