Jonathan Milo Leal, founder of Milo’s Whole World Gourmet, LLC, an Athens, Ohio-based maker of specialty brands including Brownwood Farms, JB’s Best, and Vino de Milo sauces and condiments, recently spoke with Specialty Food News about navigating the current business environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
What has helped you manage this crisis thus far?
We’ve been giving our suppliers longer lead-time notices on our product orders, which has helped us keep pace. We've built strong relationships with our vendors, and are in constant communication with them about what we see coming. Several suppliers have pushed back deliveries because they’ve been cleaned out, especially on the industrial side.
Has anything unexpected happened?
Our retail sales have actually been up, but the future is really uncertain right now.
We have also seen a real spike in demand for our Vino de Milo pasta sauces, which we attribute to customers stocking up on pantry essentials. Other condiments we make have also spiked.
Have you encountered staffing problems?
Living and working in Ohio, we haven’t been hit as hard (yet) as other places, so we’re doing okay with staffing so far. We’ve been told by our hiring agency, however, that it’s going to be very hard to find people going forward, as the new unemployment benefits will be better paying than most jobs in our area.
How do you expect the CARES Act or other government plans to help you?
We are applying for this and anticipate it will be a huge help to us for keeping our employees here and our doors open.
Has your e-commerce business picked up?
E-commerce for us has grown by at least 25 percent beyond normal in the past 4 weeks.
Related: The Impact of COVID-19: Q&A with Caulipower Founder; The Impact of COVID-19: Q&A with Nona Lim.
Photo: Jonathan Milo Leal
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