Sad news landed in an e-mail to the customers of the Box World on Tuesday. The popular service, which has been transporting fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, milk and other products from Czech farms to the thresholds of our homes for twelve years, is coming to an end.
“It’s really hard for us to write, but we have to end the operation of Svět Bedýnek by June 30, 2022. We decided after mature consideration, “writes Jana Bínová, who founded Svět bedýnek twelve years ago with her husband Petr, at the beginning of her current newsletter. She distributed it to customers after informing all employees and suppliers.
“It simply came to our notice then. We have been trying for twelve years to support Czech farmers and small producers, it has always been more of a Samaritan activity than a super business plan. Unfortunately, in more difficult times, these activities without investors do not have much chance of surviving – and we have reached this phase as well, “Bínová continues.
At the end of their service, which arose years ago with a completely unique idea to support small growers against large chains, but it is not just a general price increase.
Rising energy prices are, of course, reflected to growers in everything they do, including the operation of greenhouses and warehouses. And the company, which delivers vegetables around the country by car, has also been hit hard by the sharp rise in fuel prices. In the same way, the world of crates was immediately and painfully touched by general inflation. That’s all true. Today’s sad news, however, is the result of a long-running struggle that the owners have simply run out of energy after a tiring two-year years.
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You already know their story well from Forbes. The world of crates was once founded by Jan and Petr Bín, because they were looking for quality and good local vegetables for their children. They developed the company year after year, they grew slowly. And it worked. Over the years, the World of Crates has become the largest company in its segment in its segment, ie direct distribution of fruit and vegetables from local growers to households.
The popularity of farm food and the general enthusiasm for local production and small producers have given the small family business up to sales exceeding sixty million crowns a year.
“The only thing that was the whole idea at all times,” describes Jana Bínová. “Support for Czech farmers and small producers, and we have never reduced this. We managed to put together thousands of Czech products and sprouts. Farmers’ markets practically did not exist in our beginnings, and it was almost impossible to find Czech vegetables in supermarkets twelve years ago. “
At the same time, the world of crates assumed that they paid fair prices to all small producers and growers and did not resort to the dumping practices that are often common in large supermarkets.
“We have always been with our farmers for a long time. We did not push them with a price, we tried to support them with a year-round secured sales, and we also helped them sell when, for example, they had unplanned surpluses for some products, “describes Jana Bínová. “In addition, we employed a great group of people who have changed only minimally over the long period,” he adds.
In addition, they drove here even at a time when virtually no competition was missing in this segment. “In 2010, we were a completely unique service with the import of purchases to our homes. I call it that we have been shopping for houses since prehistoric times, when the parents of large online supermarkets did not know each other, let alone have their clever children, Rolls, Baskets and more, ”laughs Jana Bínová.
The unorthodox way of working with farmers and the personal approach of the Crate World has long worked – and customers have appreciated it. And the year before 2020, marked by the onset of the pandemic and the associated restrictions, was also a turning point for the World of Crates.
In the spring of 2020, Jana Bínová and her husband Petr had their hands full. Their Crate World has heard the pleas of dozens of suppliers, greengrocers, butchers, dairies and bakeries, to whom government measures have closed the way to restaurants and farmers’ markets.
At Bedýnky, they reprogrammed the website overnight to handle the big onslaught and tried to help. In the autumn and during the winter of 2020/2021, they again spontaneously decided to help doctors in congested hospitals.
“Let’s buy fruit boxes with vitamins for doctors and paramedics together! The value of the box is 500 crowns. By purchasing it, you will contribute fifty percent of this amount. We will add another fifty percent and we will take care of everything technically, “Jana Bínová described her initiative on social networks at the time. During the next waves of the pandemic, dozens of vitamin boxes for doctors regularly left their warehouses.
Annual sales continued to grow to one hundred million crowns, and employees and delivery trucks were added. But then Jana and Petr Bín started thinking about what to do next. For two years, the coronaviruses faced new challenges, the need for possible further growth and development of their company. And maybe the need for a new partner to enter their business.
“We simply ran out of goals,” admits Jana Bínová today. “After the pandemic, when we worked almost non-stop, the energy came to fight. There were and still are a lot of ideas and thoughts, only during the classic sharp operation there was no time left for their implementation. In the same way, the time has shifted, the competition has completely different possibilities and financial resources for promotion and the operation itself. At that moment, you say to yourself – enough, we have to change something, “describes the founder of the World of Boxes.
Throughout last year, the World of Boxes has been dedicated to the development of a new e-shop. “And also the search for an investor who would be interested in continuing with such a project, to give it a fresh wind, its experience and charged us with new energy,” describes Bínová.
And they also found such an investor. “But when it succeeded, the Russian-Ukrainian war came, which probably took away all the investment opportunities. Unfortunately, transporting food at a time when all costs are soaring and the economic crisis is knocking at the door is not exactly a safe haven for potential buyers or investors. Food prices are soaring, all of which have an immediate effect on our business, ”adds Jana Bínová.
“We are very sorry for the many small farms, producers who are on the verge of survival today. Believe me, mainly because of them, we postponed the decision to end as far as possible, “explains the owner of the World of Boxes.
But May has become a month of decision. The service will operate until the end of June, as the customers of the Box World have been used to for years. “We will ensure full sales for all farmers throughout June, if you customers buy from us,” concludes Jana Bínová, who plans to work with her husband on her other projects Fruit to Work and Gift from the Farm.
“These projects also aim to support Czech producers and create a meaningful thing with regard to ecology,” he recalls.
He has no idea what will happen next. “Now we will give our children summer, holidays and vacations, which may be fourteen days at a time. Because we’ve never actually experienced it before and we owe it a bit to both our children and each other. There are a lot of other ideas in our heads at the same time, we will see what the future brings, ”says Bínová.
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