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America’s ‘most hated start-up’ apologises for trying to put corner stores out of business

TWO former Google employees have been forced into an embarrassing apology after a massive backlash to their company.

Frank ChungFrank Chung
@franks_chung
3 min read
September 15, 2017 - 9:13PM
Bodega founders Ashwath Rajan, left, and Paul McDonald.
Bodega founders Ashwath Rajan, left, and Paul McDonald.

TWO former Google employees have been forced into an embarrassing apology after a massive backlash to their company, which has already earned the dubious title of “America’s most-hated start-up”.

Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan drew widespread scorn this week after their company, Bodega, was profiled by FastCompany in an article titled “Two Ex-Googlers Want To Make Bodegas And Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete”.

The “unmanned pantry boxes” are stocked with items typically found in convenience stores such as snacks, drinks or tampons, with an app used to unlock the box, which then registers what items have been taken to automatically charge the user’s credit card.

Internet users immediately panned the idea as both offensive and stupid. “Ivy Leaguers use education to invent cabinet,” one Twitter user wrote, pointing out Bodega couldn’t even be called a “vending machine” as “that implies active vending — this is just a box with doors”.

As the original article pointed out, “a Bodega saves residents a trip to their local bodega ... The major downside to this concept — should it take off — is that it would put a lot of mom-and-pop stores out of business,” FastCompany’s Elizabeth Segran wrote.

“In fact, replacing that beloved institution seems explicit in the very name of McDonald’s venture, a Spanish term synonymous with the tiny stores that dot urban landscapes and are commonly run by people originally from Latin America or Asia.”

When asked “point-blank” whether he was worried about the name coming off as culturally insensitive, Mr McDonald said not really. “I’m not particularly concerned about it,” he said. “We did surveys in the Latin American community to understand if they felt the name was a misappropriation of that term or had negative connotations, and 97 per cent said ‘no’. It’s a simple name and I think it works.”

In a piece describing Bodega as “America’s most hated start-up”, The Washington Post called the idea “completely unnecessary in real life, because a better or easier version of it already exists”.

“[Bodegas are] woven into the fabric of cities, and only someone who has never really spent time in one would aim to eliminate them with a mid-century modern-looking glass case,” Maura Judkis wrote.

“Bodegas aren’t a problem to be solved — they’re a life vest for people who may have come to this country with nothing. They’re the American Dream. To add insult to injury, the company’s logo is a cat, a nod to the cats that populate many of New York’s bodegas.”

In response to the backlash, Mr McDonald posted a blog attempting to “address head on” some of the criticism. “While we were hoping for a big response, the reaction that we got this morning certainly wasn’t what we expected,” he wrote.

“Are we trying to put corner stores out of business? Definitely not. Challenging the urban corner store is not and has never been our goal. We want to bring commerce to places where commerce currently doesn’t exist. Rather than take away jobs, we hope Bodega will help create them.

“Is it possible we didn’t fully understand what the reaction to the name would be? Yes, clearly. The name Bodega sparked a wave of criticism on social media far beyond what we ever imagined.

“When we first came up with the idea to call the company Bodega we recognised that there was a risk of it being interpreted as misappropriation. We did some homework ... but it’s clear that we may not have been asking the right questions of the right people.”

Mr McDonald wrote that “despite our best intentions and our admiration for traditional bodegas, we clearly hit a nerve ... we apologise”. “We’re here to learn and improve and hopefully bring a useful, new retail experience to places where commerce currently doesn’t exist,” he wrote.

Many still weren’t convinced, however. “Let’s get down to the meat of this,” wrote Jonathan Penton. “Are you, or are you not, synthetic humans designed by Martin Shkreli to distract us so that he is no longer the most hated man in America?”

frank.chung@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/finance/small-business/americas-most-hated-startup-apologises-for-trying-to-put-corner-stores-out-of-business/news-story/d17089b043853c2ce0d6b5fe9819d8df