In March 2022, DoorDash launched its DoorDash Accelerator for Local Goods, a small and early-stage development and educational program to support diverse small consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses. The accelerator offers training to help participants scale their business into the CPG space, a $5,000 grant for participants who complete the program, and the opportunity for an initial purchase order from DashMart, a grocery store concept owned and operated by DoorDash.
The Work
Next Street partnered with DoorDash to design and deliver a six-week educational program tailored to the needs of small business merchants, with a focus on business owners who are women, transgender, immigrants, and/or people of color. Training topics include addressing key financial challenges like cash flow and financial forecasting, inventory management and supply chain best practices, leadership and managerial skills, marketing to large institutions, and how to effectively deliver on large contracts.
Our team also served as a thought partner to DoorDash in identifying and selecting applicants, evaluating each applicant based on their financial, organizational, and operational capacity to perform as a supplier.
The Impact
More than 60 small business merchants in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C, and California received general business and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) focused training, facilitated peer engagement, marketing and sales support from DoorDash, and the opportunity to sell their products via DashMart. Additionally, DoorDash provided eligible businesses with a $5,000 grant to support their growth and other marketing/sales assistance. For many of the small business merchants, this program provided the first foray into becoming a supplier.
The program’s combination of training, networking, resources, and dedicated supplier access is highly beneficial for small business merchant, some of whom were new to the experience as a corporate supplier. This program served as a nurtured environment as they scale their businesses, share their products with new markets, and develop skills to be a successful merchant to corporations in the future.
