In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews David Beitz, partner and co‑founder of PlannedGrocery.com. Beitz recounts leaving a 14‑year career at Eaton Shopping Center Company in 2012 to launch a grocery‑focused mapping platform with co‑founder George Day and later Todd Atkins. Planned Grocery is a web‑based mapping service that tracks proposed, under‑construction, and newly built grocery store locations across the United States, helping retailers, developers, and investors monitor competition and development trends. Beitz shares that a typical grocery‑anchored shopping center can generate over $1 million in value for developers, and notes that roughly 300 grocery stores are under construction at any time, indicating substantial wealth creation. He offers broad business advice: don’t fear trying new ideas or failing, and master your daily schedule using simple tools like Outlook. When asked about productivity hacks, he emphasizes staying organized and calendar‑driven. Reflecting on his younger self, he advises more patience, relaxation, and an early investment in Bitcoin. Regarding happiness, he cites faith in God and the satisfaction of improving his business as key drivers. The most impactful book he’s read is Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog, teaching him to focus on controllable factors amid chaos. His favorite quote is Winston Churchill’s “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” Finally, he directs listeners to the Planned Grocery website (plangrocery.com) for more information.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner, and today I have a very special guest. His name is David Beets. He's partner and co-founder of plannedgrocery.com. So welcome to the show, David.
Thanks, Tyler. Hope you're doing well. Of course.
I will dive right into the first question. So the first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, back in 2012, I left my job of 14 years at the Eaton Shopping Center Company to try something new with my business partner, George Day, who was also at Eaton's at the time. And almost 6 years later, I can say that we have had a blast. Met so many interesting people. And now with the help of Todd Atkins, who is also a business partner, we have this great planned grocery mapping platform that is being used by grocery retailers, shopping center owners, developers, as well as investment banks and hedge funds.
Awesome.
And can you actually, just before we go to the next question, can you tell me a little bit more like what is planned grocery? How does it work?
Yeah, so planned grocery is a web mapping platform that tracks proposed, planned, under construction, and recently built grocery store locations across the United States. And companies use it basically just to track the competition and to figure out where new development is occurring.
Very cool. Okay. So the next question I have for you is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Right. Well, you know, a simple grocery-anchored center with some small shop space can easily make a developer over $1 million when you look at the value of the new center minus the cost of land, the cost of construction. So, you know, our platform shows that on average there are around 300 grocery stores under construction at any given point in time. So if you think about it, that is a lot of wealth being generated out there.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily like industry specific.
Yeah, I would say, you know, to don't be afraid to try something new and don't be afraid to fail. You know, if you have a good idea and a good team, there's really a lot that you can accomplish. And then really on a daily practical level, I think that mastering your schedule is really the best thing you can do. You know, don't be surprised by meetings or events. Lay out meetings and events in a way so that you can still get a lot of good work done during the day.
Do you use— just to dive a little bit more into that— do you use any like specific productivity like apps or software or like planners?
I don't, other than just basically, you know, good old Outlook scheduling. I don't really have anything fancy there, but mostly just try to stay really organized with it. And anything that comes in, I make sure that it's on the calendar.
Definitely. And that's really all it takes. I always just like to ask when somebody brings up productivity stuff, if there's any little hacks that you have. So next question is, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say, I think I would tell my younger self just to relax more and just to be more patient. You know, I found that a lot of times most news turns out to be not nearly as good or bad as it seems when you first hear it. And I think I would also tell my younger self to buy Bitcoin as soon as I heard about it.
Same here, man. I got in decently early, but I didn't get in when it was like on the pennies, you know.
So, right, right.
That would have been nice. And in your opinion, so to go a little different direction, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
You know, I think on a higher level, for me, you know, having faith in God gives me peace, you know, in the good times and the bad. But as far as my daily routine, I think I'm happy, happiest when I'm working on something that I think will improve our business, you know, that I think will make the product better, or, you know, getting the word out through marketing or meeting with potential clients and and telling them about our product.
And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
I would say Shoe Dog by Phil Knight was just a great book that I read recently. And I think the number one thing I learned is just that when you're building a business that you'll be surrounded by chaos and things that you can't control, but you really have to stay focused on what you can do and what you can control and don't get distracted by things that will, you know, waste your time.
I agree. And for everybody listening, I've listened to this book 2 times on Audible, and it is incredible just from like knowledge and the story behind it. I couldn't agree more. It's got to be top 10 books. Like, it's awesome.
Oh, absolutely.
So next one is, what's your favorite quote and why?
I would say favorite quote is, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." And that's by Winston Churchill. And, uh, and I like this because, you know, when you're working on something new, uh, you know, when you're working on a new product, it can really become a grind. Things always take longer, uh, than you think, you know, to build, and clients always take longer to give you a yes or no, you know. But if you stick with it and plan for the long term, then things can really work out great.
Well, thank you so much for coming on, David. Uh, the last question I have for you is, where can people best find you online?
I would say just, uh, through our website at, uh, plangrocery.com. And you can find out information about our product there, and you can just reach me through the contact form there.
Perfect, man. Thank you again for coming on. We really appreciate you sharing your wisdom with us.
All right. Thanks, Tyler. Appreciate it.
Thanks for listening to the Business Blast podcast. And don't forget, if you're interested in a simplified way of becoming a published bestselling author, make sure to check out authorsunite.com. We'll catch you on the next episode.
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