8. Business Model Explained

As a vertically integrated, reverse revenue enterprise,* Duane’s pretty good Smokehouse Salsa has scratched out a unique niche for itself in the rough and tumble world of corporate salsa.

• It does not have to compete against the “big boys,” who could never follow the same business model and survive. That’s one of our main advantages.**

• It does “choose” its customers (recipients) on a non-merit basis, which can sometimes be a problem when the customers don’t actually want Duane’s pretty good Smokehouse Salsa, but not so often that we’ve had to reconsider our strategic planning model.
  
  
• It does not require payment for Duane’s pretty good Smokehouse Salsa, but as Hawkinson personally said, “I’m not going to turn down a cold brew, if you offered it.”

• It does keep its selection process a secret, more to protect the recipients than anything else. History has shown that recipients of Duane’s pretty good Smokehouse Salsa get so giddy that their neighbors soon suspect something is up, and when they find out a jar of Duane’s pretty good Smokehouse Salsa has been left on their doorstep, they’re likely never to speak to their neighbors again. “It sometimes leads to people moving away,” Hawkinson had to admit.

*Editor’s Note: Another term we’re confident will find a home in the Oxford Language New Usage Dictionary.
**For more information, see Mission Statement posting.