I began my first sourdough starter while living in San Francisco, which is (according to legend) home of the most iconic sourdough yeast in the world. When I moved to Oakland, then Petaluma, I worried my bread might lose some of its style. That never happened, and I eventually learned that it's a bit of a myth that San Francisco has special sourdough yeast, and that most of the yeast in a starter actually comes from the flour, not the air.

A new starter can contain dozens of species of both yeast and bacteria (yum!). But over time, a small number of species come to establish leadership in the microbial ecosystem and help shape the character of the mature starter. Turns out that these “winning” species aren't just thriving in the environment they find themselves in, they actually shape the environment so that it's favorable to them and inhospitable to their competitors.

This process, known as ‘microbial succession,’ is a feedback loop — the microbes begin to grow and consume nutrients, producing acids, gases, and other compounds that change the environment around them. Some organisms become less competitive while acid-tolerant sourdough specialists gain an advantage (this also gives sourdough its distinctive tangy flavor). Competing microbes can't hack it in this environment and die off.

Who knew sourdough was so cutthroat?

An active, bubbly sourdough starter in a glass jar

A distributor's book is an ecosystem too.

Hundreds of brands compete for finite resources, time, and attention. Even though competition is tough, surviving outside the ecosystem can be even harder. Suppliers and distributors are mutually dependent, and both have a role in creating the conditions for the ecosystem to thrive.

While poisoning one's competitors with acid is clearly frowned upon, what lessons can we take from our invisible monopolists around building a healthy environment for growth?

Well, first of all, they aren't 100% in charge, the baker plays a key role in shaping the environment through setting the feeding schedule, providing nutrients, selecting hydration percentages, and controlling the temperature.

Similarly, suppliers have an important role to play in creating the conditions for their brands — and their distributor partners — to thrive.

Distributor Management Steps I Learned from my Sourdough

1. Establish Alignment — The first months of a supplier/distributor relationship are absolutely critical for setting the strategy, aligning on priorities, determining roles and responsibilities, and defining joint processes.
2. Feed the Relationship — The relationship is a living, breathing thing which must be fed by the right cadence and quality of distributor/supplier meetings (Monthly Reviews, Quarterly Business Reviews, and Top to Tops — some of which should be in person in order to, you guessed it, break bread).
3. Select the Priorities — A distributor can't prioritize everything, and neither can a supplier. The job is to agree on the brands, markets, customers, and programs where both organizations believe resources will have the greatest impact.
4. Reward Success — Reinforce the behaviors and outcomes that matter by setting simple, stretchy-but-achievable incentives and KPIs to create that self-fulfilling feedback loop.
5. Adapt Together — The landscape is constantly changing, suppliers and distributors should chart a path of adapting and evolving together.

The distributor ecosystem is more complex, fluid, and demanding than ever before. But suppliers and distributors need each other — they are partners in this evolving ecosystem. The suppliers who invest in creating a mutually beneficial environment for their brands, and their partners, will be best positioned to grow and thrive.

Are you merely checking boxes on your distributor relationships, or are you creating the conditions for a thriving ecosystem?

Blade Advisory helps companies build best-in-class systems for managing the distributor relationship day to day, by setting cadences and templates, designing distributor incentive, and crafting contract management tools and processes.