It’s On !
Two years ago, we launched the Agricool adventure, Gonzague, myself and our little bit of crazy (not so little, I guess). Those who are really old school might remember that back then we didn’t talk about Agricool, but instead Localocal!
Newly unpacked in the city, we only wanted one thing: find a way to make tasty, no-pesticides fruits and vegetables available to everyone. So we rolled up our sleeves and got going. With what? Strawberries. Why? Because a great strawberry is absolutely incredible.
After 2 years of research and development (and lots of teasing)…we’re finally ready. Strawberry sales have begun.
Once upon a time there were strawberries 🍓
What if this wasn’t just our story, but also that of thousands of people? Millions even, all dreaming of excellent fruits and vegetables? You, your neighbor, your baker, your colleague? That’s the bet that we made by asking you all to sign up and reserve your first carton of strawberries (after just a slight wait). BOOM, results! You kept being more and more who said “Yes!”
1488 cartons were reserved by January 1, 2016; 4431 by January 1, 2017 and today…almost 10,000 cartons have been reserved! That’s quite a few pounds of strawberries to produce (2.5 tons, actually).
To your tastebuds! 🎉
There was nothing left but to get things organized and prove we were up to the challenge. In just 2 years, we built 6 Cooltainer prototypes, performed over 180 3-month-long agronomy tests, and recruited 40 people into the team.
R&D moved forward fast. The results? Yield was multiplied by 50, the price of a Cooltainer was cut in half, and for a few months now the entire team has been able to taste test strawberries from the Cooltainers every day. It was time for phase 2: getting you your first taste of Agricool strawberries.
At the beginning of September, things clicked. It was time to get out that famous waiting list and start contacting you one by one, in the order you signed up. Even more than a quick meeting to buy strawberries, it was an opportunity to meet you (finally!). That meant letting you meet the team and visit the Cooltainers, showing how our fruit and vegetable paradise works, a few tasty anecdotes, answers to all of your questions, a tasting, selfies…
There was just one rule: take time with all of you, get to know you for the incredible person you are, having followed along with us and believed in us from the beginning.
We had everyone out there for the meeting:
Georges and Mélanie (our Cooltivators), Agathe (Office Manager), Gaëtan (Operations Manager), Arthur (Community Builder), Benjamin (Agronomist), Emie (R&D Engineering Intern), Diane (Communications Manager) and everybody else ❤️
For the past month, we’ve contacted almost 500 of you, sold our first 308 cartons, given 136 Cooltainer visits, and ridden over 181 km on our tricycle.
An avalanche of feedback! 🎉
These moments have been truly incredible for us.
We saw your smiles, eyes lighting up with the flavor, looks full of hope, curious passersby (and some very envious passersby).
We heard things that made us want to go even faster: “Wow, it’s so good. I feel like I went back 60 years, to my parents’ garden” (David).
We saw people who had taken the metro for over an hour to get to us, people who took an afternoon off work to come by.
We saw people who ate the entire carton right in front of us without even realizing it, and others who had finished theirs before even getting back to the metro (a whole three-minute walk from the Cooltainer!).
Basically, we had tons of feedback. Here’s a little glimpse of what we saw out there on the social networks…
We got text messages […]
Emails […]
And even postcards (that’s kind of the best of the best)! 😍
We found a few diehard fans. People who had already signed up for more, and who were holding themselves back to let others have a chance at tasting the strawberries, too.
And that’s just the beginning! We’re starting to get lots of messages from people on the list (and not on the list!) who are eager to taste their strawberries. But don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten you! We’re doing our best to get in touch with you as soon as possible. Just a bit more patience, please 💪
Thank you ❤️
This launch is a huge moment, the beginning of a revolution. It’s the proof that we can all soon have access to tasty fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides. 🚀🚀🚀
Psst, if you’re in that group who’s not on the list, it’s right over here 👉 https://en.agricool.co/strawberry/
