SOLD OUT!
I remember one year watching the Super Bowl ads and I saw this commercial for UPS. A bunch of people sitting around a computer, they had just launched their web site.
They waited anxiously, staring at a computer monitor, on the screen the words “ORDERS”, with a flashing cursor next to it. Suddenly the cursor changes to a 1, then 5, then 10 – The people all cheer! Success! Then the counter starts to go faster, 100, 1000, 10,000! The look on the faces of the entrepreneurs turns to panic. This is how I felt this morning when we woke up. Crystal wandered down stairs about 6:45 am and glanced over at our computer. An email sent at 5:11 am from Eddie at Whole Foods Beverly Hills. “Only 5 boxes left, send 5 more cases.” Crystal ran up stairs to share the exciting news. Our very first grocery store shipment of Aunt Erma’s mandel bread almost completely sold out in one day! Celebration! Then the panic set in. It had taken us long in to Wednesday evening just to get 2 cases of mandel bread baked . We’re almost out of flour, sugar, butter, case boxes, labels. Completely unprepared for the sudden success of our product. The day was a blur. It’s 2:00 am now, and we’ve managed to fill 3 of the 5 cases in the order. We realize we need to dip in to our capital and scale very very quickly. Off to bed….