Why Food Microconsulting has a bright future

Untapped territory being unlocked

The main reason I created food microconsulting was that I saw some largely untapped territory in Food SMEs' consulting.

Food SMEs very seldom deal with food industry consultants mainly due the high fees involved. But not only: the “language” complexity and lack of speed of traditional consulting are perceived as strong deterrents to entrepreneurs.

Microconsulting is affordable

Microconsulting is interesting for our clients mainly thanks to its “SMEs friendly” fees.

The main reason food SMEs have not used food industry consulting is not for lack of interest but due to the fees involved. Where traditional consulting charges 10 to 100 thousand of Dollars, Euros or Pounds, food SMEs can only afford a few thousand (and sometimes less). This made the approach unsustainable for food industry consultants and too expensive for SMEs.

The "unlocking" came by working on a zero-based approach and re-engineer the service. If one is to provide a qualitative service for a few hundred or thousand dollars it needs serious elimination of anything that is not core.

I reworked the whole process and eliminated everything that was not pure consulting. It required some serious innovation:

·      No price discussion: the clients propose their price which is accepted or not

·      No admin: all done by email including a very basic confidentiality agreement

·      Extra simple payment terms: 50% on order and 50% on fulfilment

·      No written reports

·      Consulting by email or WhatsApp

·      No meeting

As you can imagine this is outside the “comfort zone” of traditional food industry consultants.

The good news is that my clients are happy with this. Most entrepreneurs are averse to admin, long reports and consider contracts a waste of time. The costs are small, so are the risks, no need for a “safety belt”.

Microconsulting is simple

Fees are important to food SMEs but not only. My clients do not feel comfortable with theoreticians. They value hands-on experience.

Whereas the typical traditional food industry consultant is experienced in a method the microconsultant is experienced in the industry.

The common background (food industry) makes it possible for the entrepreneur and the microconsultant to use a common language and go straight to the core of the issue to be solved.

Microconsulting is fast

Getting rid of all administration, written reports and price discussions allows to be fast. It is not uncommon for a mission to start the very day that the first contact was made and finish within days. Most missions last days, not weeks and rarely months. No other consulting can beat this agility.

Even when an expert is needed for some specific mission it usually takes less than a week to find the right person. And because the expert is spot-on for the problem the time needed for the mission is optimised.

You can help...

I believe that microconsulting will greatly expand because of its efficiency. The main challenge is to make it known to Food SMEs. I am certainly working on that… with your help. I am really interested to connect with food industry specialists as I may need some help for a mission. Please connect if you feel like it.

Any “share” or “like” of this article will help me make this service available to more Food SMEs. Thank you in advance.

 Olivier Goudineau - Food microconsulting - Smiling founder & CEO

You can read more at:

www.linkedin.com/pulse/uber-food-consulting-olivier-goudineau