MeatVendor App

Information

I read an article about this guy who travels to Chicago bars giving away samples and selling meat. After reading up a few articles on this fellow I learned that he works really long days. It has given me an idea for a software system that should make it easier to keep track of inventory, contacts, and orders for individuals in this profession.

Business Activity Map :: Current State / MeatVendor App

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Suppliers/Wholesalers

Separate wholesalers/vendors are common. They are closer to the market and have big warehouses to store meat in the necessary refrigeration state (refrigerated versus frozen). A small seller can make arrangements to pick up a few boxes to several pallets of meat from one of these local brokers. Of course a meat seller can also pay for cold storage as well. As sellers get familiar with buyer patterns it may make sense to 'buy in bulk' and take advantage of cold storage options.

Inventory Systems

From what I have seen virtually all of the meat wholesalers/suppliers have their own inventory systems that might allow for the independent meat seller to access for prices but I did not find any examples. For instance, you can get an Elysian Fields lamb leg from Chicago Wholesale Meats as a single piece (nice photo on the site) but there is no price. So if you are going to shop around you will get X number of prices from different wholesalers for a particular date possibly good for a certain period of time (perhaps a week) and must store that perhaps in a book, spreadsheet, or commit it to memory.

Another focal point should be the age of the product. Meat that is not frozen is either cryovac packaged or not. The fore lasts longer than the latter but we are still talking about weeks in a refrigerated state before it is no longer sellable. I'm not certain how these existing sellers are keeping track of meat nearing disposal date.

Seller

This is the focal point of the system rather than the meat processors or wholesalers.

Buyers

For the fellow in question looks like he does a lot of direct-to-consumer selling but he visits bars so my guess is that some bar owners will also be customers. The goal should be to maintain regular buying for institutional customers that conforms to buyer preferences. Right now this appears to be done via memory or by scanning previous order forms.

Refrigeration Units

A bar is not likely to have a walk-in cooler so orders might have to be delivered to a different facility (like cold storage). That cooler must meet the minimum storage condition needed for the meat -- 0 degrees for frozen and around 32 degrees for everything else.

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