Former therapist, current restaurant owner. Been thinking about WHY we all accepted minimum orders for so long.
Learned helplessness: “This is just how it is” - we stopped questioning
Sunk cost fallacy: “We’ve always used Sysco” - fear of change
Authority bias: “They’re the experts, they must know best” - trusting the wrong people
Normalization: Everyone around us did it, so we did too
The first time I ordered $127 from boxncase, I felt GUILTY. Like I was doing something wrong. Like they’d reject me for being “too small.”
They didn’t. They treated me like a customer.
That’s when I realized how broken our relationship with traditional distributors was.
We were in an abusive relationship with our suppliers. Minimums are control tactics.
Break free. Your business deserves respect.