The company Svět Bedýnek, which delivered farm products to households, is ending after 12 years of operation. In the last year, the company has been looking for an investor who could secure its activities. “If we succeeded, then came the war, which irrevocably took away all investor opportunities,” Petr and Jana Bím, the owners of the company, describe in a report to customers.
“Unfortunately, transporting food at a time when all costs are soaring and the economic crisis is knocking on the door is not exactly a safe haven for potential buyers or investors,” the owners said.
In the e-mail, Bím is also warned about small farms, their suppliers, who are also affected by the current situation, and according to them, many are on the “brink of survival”.
The Bedýnek world began in 2010, when food delivery to households was still an unexplored business. “Yes, we have been shopping home since this prehistoric age. The parents of large online supermarkets did not know this yet, let alone have their clever children Rohlíky, Košíky…,” Jana Bímová describes the beginnings. The expanding online supermarket Rohlík.cz did not start operating in the Czech Republic until 2014.
On the contrary, it is already relatively full in this market segment, even in the area of fresh fruit and vegetables imported directly from farmers. For example, the project sells farm products Scuk.czwhich works on the principle of dispensing points.
The company of the Bimeks noted a large increase in interest during 2020, when people appreciated food imports home as a result of the pandemic. Compared to 2019, they registered five times as much sales.
A year ago, the Association of Private Agriculture of the Czech Republic even Svět Bedýnek described as the largest company in its field. Despite this, according to Bím, the main goal of the company was to support local farmers.
“The world of Bedýnek has always been a bit more Samaritan activity than a super business plan,” says Jana Bímová. “Unfortunately, in more difficult times, these activities without investors have no chance of surviving, and so we have reached this stage,” he adds.
According to greengrocers, the gap between farm prices for vegetables, which has remained the same, and its steadily rising final price on store shelves have widened significantly in recent years. “Consumer prices are often higher by more than 100 percent. Greengrocers have not received a fair price for their production for a long time,” Petr Hanka, chairman of the Czech and Moravian Vegetable Union, told ČTK in April.
Many greengrocers are reducing their growing areas this year and are considering switching to more profitable cereal cultivation due to low selling prices and soaring costs.
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