The 34-year “marriage” between Woolworths and Beyers Chocolates has ended in a messy, public divorce. Whose side are you on?
- Beyers
- Woolworths
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voters
It is well know that Woollies expect that their suppliers comply to quite rigorous standards in order to supply them. But who looks after all of these suppliers wrt fairness and a two-way street. It is definitely a case of David and Goliath. I just feel sorry for Beyers as they have consistently supplied until Woolworths didn’t like them going out the “marriage” and then boom the orders trickled dry.
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I feel sorry for all those that lost their jobs because of this debacle. Does Woolies feel it’s OK for these jobs to be lost in order to protect their exclusivity? It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, even for a die-hard Woolies fan like me
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This is not new behaviour. A long time ago I undertook, and supplied, Woolies with pickled onions.
Year 1 went well (failure rate <0.1%) then their inspectors visited the production site and laid down structural changes to meet their phytosanitary requirements.
As an inducement I was offered a massive contract which would have dominated production and forced me to specialised. The risk, in my opinion, was too great so I declined.
BUT I respect and admire Woolies. They expect the best and are willing to pay for it and gave me some valuable business training.
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Beyers fatal error was allowing one customer to:
- Dictate and/or define a product formulation; and
- Allowing one client to monopolise production.
In both cases you become an “employee without benefits!