I love to see anyone have a go, and I feel for the founders of  instant grocery startups. Groceries-in-fifteen-minutes brand Voly is slashing staff and seems in deep trouble. Send is gone. Milk Run soldiers on, with bigger, richer investors.

It’s a business model that seems to have cherry-picked all the worst, hardest, most expensive elements of running a business, and combined them into a massive bag of dicks. Not for their customers, but for themselves.

I'm no startup wizard. But we do have businesses around the country that have to cope with the same factors as the grocery pedallers. Let's break a few of them down so it doesn't happen to you.