Case Study
Simply Good Jars Is Expanding To 500 Stores With The Support Of Byte Technology
Simply Good Jars is a next-generation retail startup that serves fresh food in zero-waste, reusable glass jars. They offer the ultimate convenience by selling their jars in non-traditional locations like workplaces and hospitals where there is little competition and customers are demanding healthier options.
“We tried five different technologies before partnering with Byte. None of them worked as well for fresh food in reusable packaging. Having reliable technology has helped us grow to 500+ locations on our waitlist.” — Jared Cannon, CEO of Simply Good Jars
The Highlights
The Challenge
Traditional vending machines weren’t designed to handle fresh food. SGJ needed a dependable technology that could scale with their business.
The Solution
Find an unattended store with a seamless user experience, simple operation and attractive enough for offices to place them in their breakrooms.
The Result
SGJ began placing Byte stores in offices with 200+ employees. Robust data boosts sales and minimizes spoilage, making companies eager to place SGJ stores in their office.
The Challenge
Vending Machines Aren’t Designed For Fresh Food
Formerly a career chef, Jared Cannon realized there was a gap in the vending industry begging to be filled with fresh, healthy food distributed through reusable packaging. He recognized that workplaces are the next big retail opportunity and created Simply Good Jars, a meal-in-a-jar concept and began looking for ways to distribute his meals to offices, hospitals, universities, and beyond.
His idea was to drive convenience by pushing products to his customers, rather than trying to pull them into his store. He began by trying to build his own vending machines to sell jars, but the idea quickly fell apart as he realized his goal was to build a food company, not a technology brand. Building the technology from scratch wasn’t his expertise and he didn’t want the stress or the capital drain on his business.
Jared and his team experimented with five different unattended retail technologies from various companies, but each one came up short with their own set of problems.
“They were a pain to test and calibrate. There is a lot of wonky tech and false claims. Things just didn’t work, glitches were common, and it was easy to steal product.”
Jared was tired of being burned by overly optimistic salespeople. He just wanted to move forward with a reliable partner that could help him scale his business.
“We put out 15 private fridges that we built ourselves as prototypes, but we learned quickly they weren’t going to work for us. Now they’re in a storage shed somewhere. We call it ‘The Graveyard’.”
The Solution
A Data Driven Platform That Scales With The Company
When Simply Good Jars initially engaged Byte Technology, they were seeking a partner that would help them scale to hundreds of locations.
“Byte’s responsive team really helped by listening to our needs. They worked hard to help us run the business. We feel really aligned with the Byte team.”
Simply Good Jars sells highly perishable, fresh product, that requires constant monitoring and a robust dataset to manage. Byte’s technology is built around radio frequency identification (RFID), which is uniquely suited for fresh food because of the deep level of insights if offers. From time-on-shelf, spoilage, expiration dates, inventories and transactions, Simply Good Jars is able to analyze this data in real-time, from their home office in Philadelphia.
Jared was attracted by how Byte’s data-driven insights could empower his business to optimize their food production and delivery schedule to maximize sales.
“We wanted to be able to get into larger locations with a few hundred people. We knew we needed smart data to help us make sure we weren’t going to lose product to waste or spoilage by going in blind.”
The Results
Increased Efficiency. Growing Demand. A Waitlist Of 500 Locations.
Simply Good Jars launched their first Byte powered location in November of 2018. Within a few months, Simply Good Jars was operating 35 locations, with many more on their way.
“We’re putting out eight stores per month, but our waitlist has about 500 locations on it and is still growing.”
As Jared expected, the rich data collected by the stores became a powerful tool, informing Simply Good Jars how to refine and optimize its food production, down to specific locations.
“Smart data helped us avoid spoilage and plan production better. It was critical to have insights about what products were left, how long they’d been there, and then create predictive models based on that data.”
The flexibility of Byte’s ‘open-shelf’ design paired with the small footprint, allows Simply Good Jars to become the go-to option for high-traffic areas and office buildings. This helped Jared grow his business by embedding his brand within his customers’ lives – by selling food in the workplace.
"We were a good fit, not just with the technology itself, but with the team behind it. We’re all trying to do our best by serving great food and putting customers first.”
Unlock New Opportunities
Byte Technology helps retailers, food service providers and vending operators sell fresh food anywhere, anytime. Reach out today to learn more about how Byte’s stores can help your business thrive.
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