Small Business owner to Congress:
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

All Real Meal knows what competition looks like. 

The woman-owned small business in Manchester, N.H., started delivering award-winning, fresh, fully prepared meals around the same time home-delivered meal kits and restaurant delivery apps took off across the country.

But thanks to digital tools and services like affordable online ads, Sonia Farris and her business partner Kasia Lojko have been able to compete with bigger brands with their larger staffs and marketing budgets.

“When you’re in an industry like mine, you’re competing with companies that offer the exact same products that I do, but they have a team of 20 people doing something that I have five minutes to do,” she says.

For online businesses that are just starting, choosing which platforms and tools to use can be a little overwhelming. Were they going to use social media, third-party delivery apps, search ads? After a little trial and error, All Real Meal found what tools worked best for them, particularly several Google products like Business Profile, Ads, and Analytics.

“We’ve gravitated toward these tools because they’re the best. It’s not because we don’t know that there are other options,” Sonia says. “It’s what works best for us.”

Her son, Nick, plays a role as the company’s tech wrangler, diving into the analytics and other tools and services that provide instant feedback on how the business is doing. 

“It’s the set of tools and the way they all work together that really helps us the most,” he says. “It’s just perfect for us.”

The pandemic highlighted the benefits. Business tripled as more customers turned to food delivery at a time many were afraid to go out.

“We specifically make food that caters to senior citizens, to people with autoimmune issues, to people that are going through chemo, who were literally scared to go out and get the food they specifically need,” Sonia says.

As the pandemic wanes, All Real Meal has retained 80% of the customers it brought in over the past two years. “We’re in a market that’s been booming pretty much since we started, and we have extremely powerful, wealthy competitors. But we’ve stayed competitive; we’ve continued to grow,” Sonia says.

Now, lawmakers are considering  S. 2992 and other measures that would require large tech platforms to break apart the integrated products and services that have worked so well for All Real Meal. Sonia worries that Congress isn’t paying attention to the details in the legislation that would hurt her business.

“The biggest thing that we’re concerned about is just the lack of connection between really even understanding how small businesses use these tools,” she says.

Sonya adds, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”