Tipping point was a familiar battle cry here at Grandpa Po’s Originals, especially during the more challenging times. Any size order, and I do mean “any-size” could be the one that catapults us to the Snack Food Promised Land, and therefore was accompanied by an enthusiastic “Tipping Point!” Though it often fell on deaf ears, it made us smile.
The term “Tipping point,” at least in how we used it, had positive connotations. The definition is “the point at which a series of small ineffective changes acquires enough pressure or importance to cause a larger, more significant change.” But that “more significant change” could be something most unwelcome.
Case in point. One day, after many futile attempts to team up with Trade Joes, they approached us with an exciting offer. They wanted truckloads of Grandpa Po’s Originals. Tipping point? Before I got the “ping” passed my lips, they got to their point. Grandpa Po’s would package our snack under the Trader Joes name, cover all the costs of said packaging, boxes, labels, etc. We would also be responsible for shipping these truckloads around the country, all out of our, I assume they assumed, deep pockets. And they would pay us far less than what it costs us to make. Tipping point? We went back and forth, no, actually I went back and forth. TJs held firm. They’re known for that.
While the notion of all but certain bankruptcy is somewhat comforting, I, in the end, decided to continue our journey into the economic unknown, and set my sights on the light at the end of the tunnel.