Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Pivot: "Investing in the Future of Food: WeWork Food Labs helps level the playing field"

There is a story told about young (17 years old) first lieutenant Arthur MacArthur, father of the future five-star, Douglas.

During one of the Civil War battles he participated in he was holding some higher ground against the attacks of the Rebels  when his General rode by shouting "Wheel Arthur, wheel" which the young officer did by turning his men to face a fresh onslaught. This happened again. And again, so that by the end of the day Arthur had wheeled a complete 360°and ended up facing the original direction.

I'm not sure WeWork can pull that off but they have to do something.

From Food Navigator:
According to Food Labs Program Manager Tessa Price, the vertically integrated Food Labs also aims to bridge the communication gap between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists entering the food and beverage space so that they share the same expectations and ultimately have a better chance for long-term success.

In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Investing in the Future of Food​, Price explains how WeWork developed Food Labs, the benefits and resources it offers and how it is improving connections between startups and investors. Since FoodNavigator-USA met with Price in New York before the pandemic was declared, WeWork Food Labs has watched its food and beverage community work together to overcome many of the unique challenges posed by the novel coronavirus as well offer a helping hand to first responders by coordinating much-needed donations. 

Remaking the food industry for ‘small independent entrepreneurs’
As someone who worked at several food and beverage companies that failed despite raising sufficient funds, Price said she is intimately familiar with challenges entrepreneurs in the space face and is hopeful that by bringing companies together they can learn from each other and avoid common mistakes.

“The food industry was really built for scale. It wasn’t necessarily built for small independent entrepreneurs to find success,”​ Price said....
....MUCH MORE

Another possibility, raised I think by one of the Tyler Durden's at ZeroHedge: the office spaces be turned into crude oil storage facilities. Or maybe it was at Alphaville.
Could have been about Airbnb's instead of WeWork.

Actually, who really cares, "Wheel Arthur, wheel!"