Pete Clifford is the Managing Director of Carolinas Food Services and moved to betahaus 4 months ago. His start up is a subsidiary of Swedish firm Carolinas Matkasse, which operates the grocery-delivery service Linas Matkasse. Grocery bags, containing fresh ingredients as well as recipes and meal plans, are prepared weekly and delivered to homes across Sweden. Pete and his team are now working on the German brand named Schlemmertüte.

The name ‘Linas Matkasse’ translates to ‘Lina’s Grocery Bag’. Pete, who is Lina, and why should we trust her to fill our grocery bags each week?

Lina Aronsson is one of the founders of Linas Matkasse, along with her brother, Niklas, who came up with the idea following a discussion with his wife. Following many discussions about what to make for dinner every night, they decided that it would be a great idea if somebody were to hand them a bag with the meal they wanted to have that evening every day on their way home from work. Based on this idea, Niklas founded this business, and asked his sister, Lina, who is a certified nutritionist, to help him create various recipes and meal-plans every week. That is how Linas Matkasse works within Sweden. However, for our German brand, Schlemmertüte, we have hired a local chef who prepares different recipes.

You deliver grocery bags filled with healthy ingredients, meal plans and recipes to customers in many locations across Sweden. What kind of people benefit the most from this service?

Most of our customers come from two different groups. The first one consists of families with two working parents and school aged children. The reason they find our service helpful is because they usually have no time to go grocery shopping or to cook. Having not only food, but also recipes, brought to them every Monday is a great service for them, as it also helps to bring a bit of variety into their lives. The other group we cater to is young couples who may not have children yet, but who work long hours, and often need help deciding what to prepare for dinner.

Carolinas Food Services is the first branch of Carolinas Matkasse to open outside of Sweden. Do you intend to eventually expand through the rest of Europe?

I think that, in the coming years, we will definitely launch in a few other countries. At the moment, we are focusing mainly on Europe, but we aren’t ruling any countries out. Each company will, of course, operate autonomously, with their own chefs planning meals, as we are operating here. This is quite a different approach from that taken by our main competitor, KommtEssen, who use the same recipes in every country in which they operate.

In addition to providing groceries and meal plans to customers in Sweden, you also operate Linas Kenyakasse, a charity project that provides food to poor urban populations in Kenya. Could you tell us a little more about that?

Linas Kenyakasse currently only operates out of Sweden. What we do there is set up a charity fund, the ‘Kenyakasse’, to which customers can donate at will. The money then goes to the Swedish aid organisation International Aid Services, who then uses it to provide food for poor urban populations in Kenya. We are planning to set up a similar project here in Germany, and work with a locally-based charity organisation.

Finally, what made you decide to work from betahaus? How do you find the working environment here so far?

I have been working at betahaus for 4 months, and the rest of my team has been working here since last month. At first, I was the only one operating Carolinas Food Services, which was essentially a startup. I didn’t want to be fixed to an office at that point because I didn’ know how much we would grow as a company, or what our future needs would be. It therefore made sense to be based somewhere that gave me the flexibility to start off with my own desk, and then move on to a team table, and eventually, if need be, to an office. The thing I like about betahaus is that, as startups, we can find all the facilities we need right here – somewhere to eat, somewhere to print, or somewhere to meet other people. I especially liked being able to meet other people, as I could count on them whenever I needed help with anything – I’ve even been to Open Design City a few times whenever I needed help fixing something.

Ruud van der Weide is the founder of FingerSpitzenGefühl – an online marketing company that seeks to help Dutch e-commerce entrepreneurs expand their businesses into the German market. Based in Berlin, FSG uses the cultural similarities between the two countries as well as their mix of German and Dutch staff to ensure a successful relationship between Dutch e-commerce firms and German consumers.

1. How did you come up with the idea of FingerSpitzenGefühl?

I was already living in Berlin when I came up with the idea, and was doing similar work for some contacts back in the Netherlands. They knew I was living in Germany, and they needed someone here to help them with tasks such as finding local contacts or optimising their advertising campaigns. I began to see that there was a demand for this kind of work.

2. You work to ensure the successful expansion of Dutch e-commerce firms into the German market. Why is this important, and how can either side – both Dutch entrepreneurs and German consumers – benefit from this specific relationship?

All the companies I work for are already relatively successful in the Netherlands, and they all wish to enter the German market. The German market is about five times the size of the Dutch market, so there is plenty of potential there. My customers realize that, in order to do that, they would need local expertise, which is what I offer, and that’s the people in my team. The freelancers I work with are all German, and they bring their expertise to the table. Online marketing has a lot to do with language and culture, and that’s why we work specifically with German people.

One of the things I find is that a lot of people tend to view expanding into Germany as something easier than it is, when it is, in fact, quite a big step to take. So I need to convince my customers that they really have to know what they are doing and develop a cross-border strategy. That is the biggest challenge. It’s not just about translating a website, but also really thinking about who you are, what you are selling, who your customers are, and so on.

4. Why did you choose betahaus as your base? What do you like about betahaus, and what do you feel could be improved?

I was working at home in the beginning, and what I didn’t like about that was that there was no clear border between my private life and my work. So I looked for a place where I could go and work, and I found betahaus. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. What I really like about the environment here is that I feel like I have an office I can go to, and I’m surrounded by entrepreneurially-minded people who are all working. I feel like we are really going somewhere as a company – even though we are just three people and a bunch of freelancers, we have all the facilities of a large office, and we are surrounded by a lot of people. What I like the most is all the different kinds of expertise you can find in all the people who work here.

5. What kind of advice would you give those who wish to create their own startup?

Worry about your financial planning from day one! Mind you, it’s not all about making money, but it’s good to keep a close eye on costs and revenues in the beginning, because it’s too easy to burn money very quickly at first, and then fall short later on.

6. What can we expect from FingerSpitzenGefühl in the future?

We hope to grow to a point where we can have anywhere between 15 and 20 customers, which is our major goal right now. I would like to work with a dedicated team of about 10 people, and really try to be successful when working with the customers we bring to Germany.

Interview conducted by Deepa Sury