Amazon, Ecommerce & Inventory Operations — 2026-01-23

Overview

Operations alignment call with the Doudlah Farms team (Lucy, Mark, Jason) and Asymmetric (Karly, Mark Hope, Gilbert, Avokerie). The central theme: sales growth has outpaced operational capacity, and the business needs a new operational model before it runs into serious stockout and fulfillment problems.

Meeting recording: https://fathom.video/calls/541887976

Attendees:
- Gilbert Barrongo (Asymmetric)
- Avokerie Onorimuo (Asymmetric)
- Karly Oykhman (Asymmetric)
- Lucy Doudlah (Doudlah Farms)
- Mark Doudlah (Doudlah Farms)
- Jason Doudlah (Doudlah Farms)

Key Decisions

Sales & Performance Snapshot

• January revenue (first 22 days): $98,000 → projected ~$145k–$150k for the full month
• December revenue: $112k (depressed due to inventory/AWD issues)
• Daily net profit: ~$2,500 (~$912k annualized)
• Organic units sold: ~100/day (up from ~60)
• Growth rate: 50–100% month-over-month trend
• Amazon ranking impact of stockouts: position drops from ~#2 to ~#9; takes weeks to recover

The Operational Bottleneck

Sales growth has structurally outpaced the current garage-based operation. Key constraints identified:

• Bagging capacity: Current setup (Jason, part-time, ~25×25 ft garage) cannot sustain 1,000+ units/month across five top SKUs
• Bag lead time: EPAC requires 4 weeks; no forecast has been provided to them to allow pre-positioning
• Storage: No room for multi-truckload buffer stock
• People: No dedicated person for order entry, inventory tracking, or shipment coordination

"We've gotten to a place where we're in a different world... we need to find another place to pack, find another place to store, hire a person or two — we can't do what we've done in the past." — Mark Hope

Monthly Production Targets (Current Demand)

Inventory Status (as of call)

Bag Inventory (EPAC)

• Lead time: 4 weeks
• Urgent orders needed: 5 lb yellow cornmeal, 3 lb white popcorn, 3 lb yellow popcorn, 5 lb black beans
• Action: Lucy to place expedited orders immediately; provide EPAC a sales forecast to reduce future lead times

Warehouse / Operational Hub Planning

Current garage is a confirmed bottleneck. Two options discussed:

1. Edgerton storage facility (preferred) — ~10 miles away, existing product stored there, low cost (~$20/month mentioned). Mark Doudlah to negotiate ~2,000 sq ft for a dedicated bagging line + staging area.
2. Milton warehouse — 2,500–70,000 sq ft available with loading docks; further away but viable fallback.

Longer-term: a new farm building is already on the ground and could be operational by April.

Shared Inventory Tracking System

Mark Hope will build a shared system to track product across all locations and states:

• Locations: Edgerton, farm, Jason's house, other
• Product states: raw (uncleaned) → cleaned/unmilled → bagged
• Inputs: Jason to share current bag inventory; Mark Doudlah to import into system

B2B Site

Status

Site is built; test logins exist. Full team walkthrough scheduled for next Friday.

Issues Raised

• Epic (5 kitchens): Each kitchen requires its own invoice/PO number for their internal accounting. They place one combined order but need it deconstructed into 4–5 separate invoices. Currently handled manually by Lucy.
• Outpost (Brian): Sent feedback screenshots; Karly to review.
• Vitruvian: Feedback already incorporated — company name now required at checkout (flows to ShipStation), shipping info autofills from profile, purchase order field added.

Options for Epic's Multi-Invoice Requirement

1. Keep doing it manually (worst case)
2. Asymmetric enters orders on their behalf
3. Custom development to support multi-location ordering per client

No final decision on Epic's workflow; Lucy will test the site herself using a mock scenario before the group walkthrough.

QuickBooks Integration

• Decision: Install $100/yr plugin before next Friday's walkthrough
• Benefit: Automates invoice tracking; enables payment reminder emails to B2B clients
• Deferred: $300 custom build (flat fee) — more flexible but not worth the delay right now

Action Items

• [ ] Karly — Create prioritized weekly inventory order list (week 1–4) for Jason
• [ ] Karly — Send weekly Amazon FBA shipment plan to Jason; schedule weekly 22–24 pallet shipments
• [ ] Karly — Resend B2B test login to Lucy, Mark Doudlah, and Jason before next Friday
• [ ] Karly — Install $100/yr QuickBooks plugin on B2B site before Friday walkthrough
• [ ] Karly — Order rye flour from miller
• [ ] Karly — Post Pop Pop Program "Coming Soon" social; add "Coming Soon" product to site
• [ ] Lucy — Place expedited bag orders with EPAC for: 5 lb yellow cornmeal, 3 lb white popcorn, 3 lb yellow popcorn, 5 lb black beans
• [ ] Lucy — Provide EPAC with a sales forecast to reduce future lead times
• [ ] Lucy — Email Brian (Outpost) B2B feedback screenshots to Karly
• [ ] Mark Doudlah — Inquire with Edgerton storage facility about renting ~2,000 sq ft for bagging/staging; schedule site visit
• [ ] Mark Doudlah — Send semi-load of buckwheat to miller; mill required quantity
• [ ] Mark Doudlah — Mill Blue Haven corn to produce 400 units
• [ ] Mark Doudlah — Get current bag inventory from Jason; share with Mark Hope for import into shared tracker
• [ ] Mark Hope — Build shared inventory tracking system (raw / cleaned / bagged × location)
• [ ] All — B2B site walkthrough meeting next Friday

Related

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