Pioneer's Pioneer Not Happy About SPUD Sale
Pioneer Organics founder Ronny Bell is not happy about the recent sale of his health food delivery service to Canadian rival SPUD. In particular, he's frustrated with his (now former) business partner, Michael Knight. You can read what Bell has to say about essentially losing custody of his 11-year-old boy after the jump, but here's a little taste: "As many of you know I had been in a long protracted process to end my professional relationship with my (former) business partner, Michael Knight. For two years i tried to end our relationship in a way that honored the work he put forth towards making Pioneer a success, while at the same time not allowing my passion for Pioneer to be leveraged so much that if I met his demands I would have been forced to take Pioneer Organics to places that were not comfortable to me. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do so."
Dear Friends,
After almost eleven years, my day to day association with Pioneer Organics has come to a sad end.
As many of you know i had been in a long protracted process to end my professional relationship with my (former) business partner, Michael Knight. For two years i tried to end our relationship in a way that honored the work he put forth towards making Pioneer a success, while at the same time not allowing my passion for Pioneer to be leveraged so much that if i met his demands i would have been forced to take Pioneer Organics to places that were not comfortable to me . Unfortunately I wasn't able to do so.
So In order to facilitate an end to our relationship i gave him the option to buy me out of my shares of Pioneer Organics. This tactic was in no way a commentary on a loss of confidence in Pioneer, but rather a strategic aspect of my negotiations as the option would have become mine had he failed.
Well, sadly Michael took advantage of his position so that he could sell Pioneer to one of our competitors from Vancouver B.C. and as a consequence i find myself in the unfamiliar but exciting territory of being a "free agent".
While my sense of loss is profound, i have complete faith in that things happen for a reason and that over time i will recreate again. (Maybe with your help one day!)
As you could imagine the process that ended my association with the company I founded was educational in both a professional and personal sense. In many ways i know the lessons learned will allow me to achieve greater things as i move forward. Ultimately, throughout the process there was one truth that thematically showed itself again and again; that when ever a decision needed to be made, i did so without compromising my integrity.
In the end, the success of Pioneer Organics could not have happened without the efforts and commitments of more people then i could even remember. From the farmers that i've worked with, to the wholesalers, vendors, customers and most importantly to my former employees, i hope you know that i never took for granted your efforts in helping to make my dream of Pioneer Organics a success.
My plans for the future are a bit unclear. I've been talking about traveling for an extended period of time while at the same time i've already had some meetings regarding my next venture. One thing i know for sure is the best thing i could do as i move forward is to be open to any possibility.
Best of Health,
Ronny Bell
1 comment(s)
Bummed says:
SPUD sucks, bad service, crappy box of food. They operate out of Vancouver, BC, Canada for christmassakes!
Multinational CORPORATION!
What a bummer. I remember when those Canuck carpetbaggers came to town, talking about how they were going to be all local and responsible. Then we started hammering them about if they were all local, how come they were trying to expand to every major city in the US?
If they were all local, why didn\'t they just stay in Vancouver and give their customers great service, build a great local company and leave it at that?
SPUDS just bought two more local organic delivery services in the Bay area. Oh right, SPUDS is a \"LOCAL\" company.
Bullshit.
I feel so sorry for Ronny, he built up a great company from the ground, I remember when he had nothing but a great idea, preaching from a fold-up table at progressive events.
Now the Corporate SPUDS local? corporation owns all the delivery services on the West Coast except NEW ROOTS Organic Delivery in Ballard. I have never used their services, but I will now.
I just tried their phone number to sign up, left a message. The owner\'s name is Carolyn. Looks like the best way to interact with them is by email, I remember Ronny Bell telling me that email was the only way he could keep costs down, the labor costs of having his crew answer the phone all day was prohibitive.
Stay local!
I just talked to some people that work at Pioneer, they are bummed, they are getting bought out by a multi-national, people are getting laid off.
https://www.newrootsorganics.com/
Posted On: Wednesday, Mar. 19 2008 @ 4:29PM