An Introduction to Walnut
When you hear the term “hospitality industry,” what do you think of? Likely, the hotel and travel industries are first to mind. But you might also think of the restaurant industry. That wasn’t always the case — restaurants weren’t always such pleasant places. Quality of the food was thought to be paramount, but not how you were treated.
Danny Meyer changed that. “Let’s face it: whatever we cook, I bet you could find another handful of examples in this city that are at least as good,” said Meyer in an interview with Fast Company. “What you’re going to come back for — or not — is how we made you feel.” Union Square Cafe, Meyer’s first location, flipped the script of what made a restaurant successful: the food had to be good, but success hinged on providing an incredible experience.
“Let’s face it: whatever we cook, I bet you could find another handful of examples in this city that are at least as good,” said Meyer in an interview with Fast Company. “What you’re going to come back for — or not — is how we made you feel.”
Why Moving?
The Danny Meyer story was in the back of my mind when I moved to a new apartment with my fiancé two years ago. The experience, as you may empathize with if you’ve ever moved, was disorganized and stressful. Once I signed the contract with the movers, the company was unresponsive to my questions. The day of the move, the team showed up late. At one point, they lost track of the truck filled with our belongings.
Which got me thinking: what if the moving industry needs the same change as the restaurant industry? Why are moving companies run like logistics businesses — whose primary concern is only to get your stuff from point A to point B — and not like consumer-facing services?
Moving is so much more than simple logistics. Moving is tiring, and it’s emotional — you’re starting a new chapter in your life. And you have strangers in your home handling your most prized possessions. It’s not shipping something in the mail — it’s much more personal. For the move to go well, your movers need to know how to treat both your belongings and you.
Moving is tiring, and it’s emotional — you’re starting a new chapter in your life. And you have strangers in your home handling your most prized possessions. It’s not shipping something in the mail — it’s much more personal.
At its core, our attempt to change the moving industry is based on our central belief about consumer services: Hospitality is critical to the success of any business where customer interaction is at the core of the product offering. Hospitality shouldn’t be limited to just restaurants and hotels.
Warby Parker, where Nick and I worked previously, understands this concept intimately. They care just as much about the customer experience as they do about offering quality glasses at a revolutionary price. They wouldn’t invest in a best-in-class customer experience team otherwise. Warby Parker’s success has come from them flipping the script of the eyewear industry.
How can we improve moving?
So, with that said, how do we make moving better? Where can we bring hospitality to moving? There are a lot of things we’re going to do to make the experience better — from removing the awkwardness of tipping, to implementing technology that makes the process much smoother — but the biggest change is that we are going to be vertically integrated: we promise to never outsource your move to a 3rd party, and to never use a contractor that can’t deliver the move you deserve. Instead, you can trust that a move with Walnut means working with a Walnut team that puts your experience first.
The biggest change is that we are going to be vertically integrated: we promise to never outsource your move to a 3rd party, and to never use a contractor that can’t deliver the move you deserve.
Critically, this change will allow us to train the team in more than just the nuts and bolts of moving, but also on how to best interact with customers. We’ll look to hire people who care just as much about our customers as they care about our customers’ belongings, and we’ll train them better than any other company would. And along the way, we will provide dependable, good-paying jobs to our team.
That means we need you!
This year, we’re launching exclusively through friends and family. People find moving companies through word-of-mouth, so with your help, we’re excited to start revolutionizing the moving industry. Customers this year will only be accepted if they are a referral.
If you or anyone you know is moving in New York or the surrounding areas, please let me know at dylan@walnuthome.com.
You can also follow our journey by adding your email on our website and checking out my co-founder Nick’s perspective on Walnut. We’re going to be telling our story over the coming months, so be on the lookout for more posts.
Thank you for being a part of the Walnut story!
