Why Big Food Companies Want You To Think They’re Small (And Why That’s a Problem for You)

It’s called “small-washing” and it’s everywhere

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If you’ve ever been into an independent deli or “provisions” store, you’ll have seen these products.

They look beautiful. Brightly coloured cans of tinned fish. Fancy honey. Artisinal-looking pasta. All designed to make you think:

I’m supporting small businesses. Artisanal businesses. Local businesses.

Except that’s not always the case. Sometimes, what you’re looking at are “smallwashed” products.

Smallwashing is a phrase coined by New York Magazine writer Emily Sundberg to describe corporations who use packaging and marketing to make you think they are selling small-batch products when they’re the reality is anything but.

These companies position themselves as quirky, independent, and smaller than they actually are. And, thanks to the fact that they are not small — thus have access to global logistic infrastructure — you’ll find them everywhere.

As someone who has spent a fair portion of their career championing (genuine) small wineries, artisan deli products and local items, smallwashing grinds my gears.

It’s not that these products shouldn’t exist. It’s because smallwashing feels like appropriation. Dishonest. And most of all, it muddies the waters of what is genuinely small-batch and what is just clever marketing.

Because if your local stores only stock smallwashed products, where can you find genuinely local / artisanal / small-batch products?

And how can you tell the difference?

Hey big business! Hands off small business’s USPs

Smallwashing is nothing new. Back in my wine store and bar days, reps from big breweries or wineries would beg me to stock their “artisanal” lines.

They felt fake. Like a knockoff of the real thing.

And often it was. A quick look at the ingredients, vineyards or winery would tell you everything you need to know about how these products were made.

The quality was also rarely there. I’ve tried many wines and beers made this way and almost all of them are a shadow of the products they are trying to emulate.

But that doesn’t stop people from thinking they’re dealing with a small batch product when presented with a brightly drawn beer can or a funky wine label.

As a retailer, it’s very easy be duped into stocking them only to find them on the local supermarket shelves at a price you can’t compete with.

I’ve seen it happen time and again.

Companies can, of course, financially shoot for the stars as much as they like. But we’ve all seen time and again what happens to those that position themselves as small and artisanal when in reality, their aim is to exponentially grow until they’re the next big thing in *insert market here.*

Just look at what happened to Brewdog.

If you’ve not heard of them, Brewdog is a craft beer company. 17 years ago it was just two guys who wanted to shake up the craft beer market. Now they’re estimated to be worth around $2 billion and produce 80 million litres of beer annually.

And in this professional’s opinion, the beer used to be pretty good. Now, not so much.

Brewdog are a good example of what happens when companies who market themselves as small or renegade eventually achieve their real goals.

Money. Perhaps an IPO. A coveted spot on supermarket shelves.

This leaves genuinely small and artisanal companies in a sticky situation. Not only is their unique selling point being appropriated by big companies with enough marketing power to sink them into oblivion, but smallwashing makes it incredibly hard for customers to distinguish between the two.

What is truly small-batch and what only looks like it?

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So much is against your quest for small-batch independent products

Here’s the inside scoop from someone who spent eight years sourcing independent wines, beers, spirits and food products for their store.

It’s freaking hard.

Finding the products in the first place is hard. You have to wade through smallwashed products, researching everything to make sure you’re not being duped into buying a product that is expensive just because of its fancy packaging and marketing.

Then you have to deal with logistics. Small companies don’t usually have the economies of scale of their larger counterparts. That meant we as a store had to soak up those shipping costs into the shelf price.

It took so much time to do this properly. Whilst my competitors were sourcing wines from two or three one-stop-shop distributors that would ship to them for free, I was working with no fewer than 40 companies, handpicking the best from each of them.

That took a lot of effort and meant a lot of strategising. Half my days were taken up with making orders.

It’s no wonder you see the same wines / deli products / tinned goods on every independent store’s shelf.

If a company has nice-looking products of relatively decent quality with seamless shipping logistics, why would you not stock them?

It’s easier, right?

But it sucks. Because even if these smallwashing companies sell good quality (if often overpriced) products, they don’t leave breathing space for smaller producers who can’t compete on price.

And as they say in retail, price is king.

That means the only places putting in the time, effort and money it takes to source truly independent products were the stubborn ones. The ones who live and die by their commitment to the cause.

As someone with a soft spot for the underdog in this late-stage capitalist world, smallwashing is not something I want anything to do with.

Change could be in the air

Good friends of mine recently started a vinaigrette company called ‘Grette. The two of them make it in their London home kitchen and sell on Delli, a British food marketplace.

Within a week of launching ‘Grette, my friends had sold every single bottle they had in stock.

It just goes to show that there is a demand for genuine small-batch products.

Delli itself is making waves. It’s run by Depop founder Simon Beckerman and has raised $10.8m in investment. This is exciting because Delli only sells products from small, independent food and drink vendors.

I want Delli to work because I want it to be a blueprint. Something that could perhaps evolve into a marketplace for wholesale too.

The closest equivalent in America is Faire, a wholesale company selling to small, artisanally-focused retailers. It’s so popular it’s valued at over $12bn.

Faire claims they want to empower brands and retailers to strengthen the unique character of local communities.

All the products on Faire boast the aesthetics that would perfectly fit into independent retailers but on closer inspection, they are not practising what they preach.

A quick look around their wine and beer selection shows they sell powerhouses like Asahi beer (revenues around $17.3 billion) and Minuty wine (owned by LVMH).

And there is nothing uniquely characterful about selling the biggest Champagne producer in the world.

So we need more marketplaces like Delli. We need more independent stores selling independent products. We need stores to give a shit about what they source.

And we need smallwashing to be a thing of the past.

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Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against companies selling nicely marketed, good quality food and drink.

I just wish they wouldn’t make their money through appropriating small businesses. It feels — for want of a better word — icky.

And little good for anyone other than the company’s shareholders.

Smallwashing needs to stop. Companies need to be more transparent about who they are and what they want to be.

As for me, when I’m in the mood for buying small-batch, artisanal products, I’ll buy my products like friends’ vinaigrette. I’ll make the time to research the wine that’s caught my eye.

Smallwashing makes it incredibly hard for consumers like you and me to know exactly what we’re buying.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.