Startup 'Bodega' Has Angered Fans of Actual Bodegas. Can It Recover?

While its messaging was wrong-headed, it likely still has hope

What if you debuted a brand and everyone from two of the country’s most important cities hated on you on Day One? Well, Bodega’s founders are about to find out.

Social media users from New York and Los Angeles are digitally protesting the launch of Bodega, a startup rolling out 50 “bodegas”—which are, essentially, vending machines with toiletries and snacks—across the West Coast today. After Fast Company published a piece called “Two Ex-Googlers Want to Make Bodegas And Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete” about the new company, folks took to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with a ferocity not often seen.

“Eventually,

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