Most people look at groceries and see dinner. David Van Seters saw a way to change the world.
While studying for his MBA, Van Seters crafted a marketing plan that applied business principles to a campaign to reduce pollution. The project led to an epiphany for the future CEO of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD): the realization that business and environmental issues can complement each other.
“A lot of people have a notion that business is solely about making profit, and all the other societal groups—governments, NGOs, and so on—deal with social and environmental issues,” he says. “But because business is now the biggest institution in society, it needs to look (beyond) just making a profit.”
Van Peters applied these values eight years ago when he founded SPUD, an online shopping service that delivers organic groceries from 70-odd local producers.
“I thought if I really wanted to prevent environmental problems, I should focus not on technical knowledge but on changing people’s attitudes,” he says. “I wanted to put my life energy into preventing environmental problems before they occurred.”
By reducing the merchandising aspects of food retailing, SPUD passes higher profits to producers while keeping prices low. A newsletter offers nutritional information, and products travel one-third the distance of what’s on most grocery shelves.
This attention to environmental and social issues has helped SPUD grow into the largest organic food delivery company in Canada—
and one of the few profitable ones. From its original three employees, SPUD’s 75 staff now serve more than 5,000 customers in Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle.