Shownotes
The Lucas Candy Story
Nick’s progression and final decision to join the family business. [4:12] The changes to Lucas Candy when Nick took over. [7:50] The newest venture is wholesale through trade shows. [9:33] A community tradition. 121 years in the same store location. [13:58] The division of tasks between Nick and Deb. [21:05] A description of true candy cane production versus the processed ones we see. [23:00] The candy cane show plan. [25:11] Why the creative names for Lucas Candies products. [36:26] The road trip that resulted in an entire store redesign. [41:34]Candle Flickering Moments
120 year anniversary celebration and an unexpected surprise. [21:48] Attention from the local paper let to CBS, which led to NBC, Zagot and more! [25:51]Business Building Insights
The most important thing if going into a family business. [6:23] 90% of the business is still retail. [8:59] Trade show talk – catching buyer attention. [10:49] Getting national exposure and how they use that now. [12:06] Attracting new customers into a brick and mortar shop. [15:11] What to include when you create a website. [18:13]Valuable Resource
Retailers Confection Association of Philadelphia (RCAP) – Joining industry specific trade shows and becoming a member of the industry community is important. [40:44]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Shopkeep – The POS system they use that allows trackable intelligence for future projections. [38:17]Final Advice
If you are just starting out. Go for it. [43:45]Contact Links
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter Candy Cane Making VideoIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Hi there.
Speaker:This is gift biz on unwrapped episode 135.
Speaker:We are a small candy company,
Speaker:but we have gotten national exposure.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Hello, and thank you for joining me on the show today.
Speaker:If you're eight gifter Baker,
Speaker:crafter or maker,
Speaker:and you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started here is where you will find insight
Speaker:and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And if you want even more gift biz motivation,
Speaker:I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group
Speaker:called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Pursuing your dream should be fun,
Speaker:exciting, and rewarding,
Speaker:not stressful and scary.
Speaker:When you join the breeze.
Speaker:It's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you
Speaker:all the support and the answers that you need been looking
Speaker:for. You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along
Speaker:with tools and resources that can catapult your business growth and
Speaker:a heads up.
Speaker:If you're listening right now is this episode is released or
Speaker:shortly thereafter.
Speaker:Don't want to get over into that group.
Speaker:Soon. I have several special opportunities happening there right now,
Speaker:but you have to be part of the group to participate.
Speaker:I'm talking about free opportunities to affect your business this year.
Speaker:So don't delay to join the group,
Speaker:go over to gift biz,
Speaker:breeze.com. I look forward to seeing you over there,
Speaker:but for now,
Speaker:let's get onto the show today.
Speaker:I have the pleasure of introducing you to Nick Lucas of
Speaker:Lucas candies.
Speaker:For over a hundred years,
Speaker:lupus candies has been manufacturing,
Speaker:their own chocolate confections.
Speaker:Lucas candies is a family business.
Speaker:Currently run by fourth generation Nick with his partner,
Speaker:Deb Bertrand,
Speaker:Nick and Deb have kept the traditions that started long ago
Speaker:while at the same time taking chocolate making to the next
Speaker:level. They're number one and most loved product is the PMs
Speaker:bar. By the way,
Speaker:PMs stands for peanut butter,
Speaker:milk, chocolate brushed potato chips and a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle.
Speaker:Oh, Yom.
Speaker:They have been featured in places such as Forbes magazine and
Speaker:on the today show and Fox news.
Speaker:So excited to hear the whole story,
Speaker:Nick, welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So I like to start off directly diving into a creative
Speaker:type question.
Speaker:Let us get to know you in a little bit of
Speaker:a different way,
Speaker:Nick. And that is by having you describe a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you had to pick a color that you really
Speaker:love and a quote or a mantra or some type of
Speaker:sane that really tells us what you're all about,
Speaker:what would your motivational candle look like?
Speaker:Well, obviously because I'm in the chocolate business,
Speaker:I'd have to go with chocolate Brown.
Speaker:It's kind of my heritage.
Speaker:You're Surrounded by Brown all day long,
Speaker:all Day long,
Speaker:our uniforms are Brown.
Speaker:The chocolate's Brown,
Speaker:our boxes are Brown Brown.
Speaker:It is perfect.
Speaker:And as far as a motivational saying on the candle,
Speaker:one that we've been using for the last couple of years
Speaker:around here is go big or go home.
Speaker:We don't want to be this little small time shop any
Speaker:longer. We are trying for bigger and better.
Speaker:And every time we have a decision to make my partner
Speaker:and I either one of us says,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:go big or go home.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:And I know you do this and I'm going to share
Speaker:the story right out of the gate,
Speaker:but I'm not going to give the details yet.
Speaker:You and I tried to do this interview a year ago.
Speaker:You were all ready to do it.
Speaker:And then I kept getting in touch with you.
Speaker:And you're like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I can't.
Speaker:We have some crazy stuff going on now.
Speaker:And I think we might be getting into that later.
Speaker:So I'm going to leave everybody in suspense for the time
Speaker:being Okay,
Speaker:we can do that,
Speaker:but you Are living by that go big or go home
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:I Know you are.
Speaker:So I know that this is a family run business.
Speaker:Talk to us about how you integrated in,
Speaker:where you like from a child,
Speaker:knowing that you were go in with a family business,
Speaker:or how did this all happen for you?
Speaker:Well, yes and no.
Speaker:Growing up in my family,
Speaker:you were expected to work.
Speaker:I think I was about 10 years old.
Speaker:When I started working at the store,
Speaker:whether I was working on customers,
Speaker:doing a sales or the manufacturing end,
Speaker:I was here pretty much from newborn on and all through
Speaker:high school.
Speaker:I was always here.
Speaker:I pretty much ran the crew for the manufacturing at that
Speaker:point. So it's kind of built into your upbringing,
Speaker:but I wasn't completely sure that I was going to go
Speaker:into it.
Speaker:I went to college and studied engineering,
Speaker:but then again,
Speaker:I had to do a second major also in business.
Speaker:So that just in case I have some business experience also.
Speaker:And when I got out of school,
Speaker:I got the regular corporate jobs and sitting behind a desk
Speaker:and hated every minute of it.
Speaker:I would actually leave my job,
Speaker:come here and make chocolate at night,
Speaker:make chocolate on weekends,
Speaker:do whatever I could and finally realized I'm just wasting my
Speaker:time somewhere else.
Speaker:This is where I want to be.
Speaker:This is what I want to do.
Speaker:So quit my little cushy corporate job and started doing chocolate
Speaker:full-time. And that led to say,
Speaker:think about 94.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:And I'm assuming that there was a little bit of pressure
Speaker:because now you've got three generations that were continuing the business,
Speaker:right? So I'm guessing there was some pressure on you that
Speaker:the anticipation was possibly that you would be picking it up,
Speaker:but it's so great that you ended up in the end
Speaker:really, really liking it and wanting to be there.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:There was pressure,
Speaker:but I always tended to do things a little differently than
Speaker:my parents did.
Speaker:So the pressure was,
Speaker:yeah, you should definitely involved,
Speaker:but make sure you have another source of income and do
Speaker:that. And we'll just do it on the side.
Speaker:And I really didn't want to do it on the side.
Speaker:I wanted to do it full blown,
Speaker:all, give it your all which you have to do for
Speaker:a small business.
Speaker:If you're not a hundred percent in,
Speaker:it's just not going to work.
Speaker:So that's what I did.
Speaker:So question for you here.
Speaker:If someone is listening now who has a business and they're
Speaker:growing the business,
Speaker:anticipating that their children would take it over one day,
Speaker:you've lived in those shoes of those children.
Speaker:Any suggestions for people like that?
Speaker:It's difficult for years.
Speaker:I was partners with my parents and everything was going smooth.
Speaker:But when I wanted to start doing things in a different
Speaker:direction, there was some tension.
Speaker:But if there's any advice,
Speaker:communicate open,
Speaker:talk about it and see what they want to do,
Speaker:see what you want to do and lay it out because
Speaker:family's very important.
Speaker:And you don't want to jeopardize your relationship with your parents
Speaker:and your family members over a business.
Speaker:You're all in it for the same reason,
Speaker:communicate what you want and what the other people want.
Speaker:And I think that's your best bet.
Speaker:Well, you're right.
Speaker:And just as you were saying,
Speaker:if you're not a hundred percent in and you don't have
Speaker:the passion,
Speaker:your business is not set up for success.
Speaker:So in terms of the pressure,
Speaker:yes. But at the same time,
Speaker:communicating as you're saying,
Speaker:because if your children really don't have the heart in it,
Speaker:what you've been growing so much and had your heart into,
Speaker:could fail in the end.
Speaker:So I guess just don't make the assumption.
Speaker:Everybody has their different motivations and their different plans.
Speaker:Make sure that at least everybody's on the same page or,
Speaker:you know what page they're on So much goes back to
Speaker:communication. Doesn't it?
Speaker:Yes. It does great piece of information here for us.
Speaker:So you are going to now run the company.
Speaker:Yes. So you're coming into now.
Speaker:You don't have to make anything from scratch,
Speaker:but you've got an established system going on.
Speaker:How did that work out for you?
Speaker:Did you just pick up and carry on,
Speaker:make some changes?
Speaker:Take us there.
Speaker:For the most part,
Speaker:it was business as usual.
Speaker:We have a retail store that when my parents were running
Speaker:it, they had very limited hours and it was very,
Speaker:very holiday based.
Speaker:The first thing I did was changed the hours to be
Speaker:open more year round,
Speaker:make more,
Speaker:every day chocolates and stuff instead of just holiday,
Speaker:but the production and how everything was made was pretty much
Speaker:the same.
Speaker:I just made more of it and a little bit different.
Speaker:So I kind of took what I learned from my parents
Speaker:and went,
Speaker:And then from your business training and all of that too,
Speaker:Absolutely like online was something that they never did.
Speaker:The internet was still new then.
Speaker:So one of the first things I did was make a
Speaker:website and start selling online.
Speaker:That way it was difficult.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're a little tiny chocolate shop,
Speaker:but you didn't get a lot of traffic.
Speaker:But we had a lot of customers that used to live
Speaker:in our area and had moved away and it gave them
Speaker:an opportunity to be able to order chocolate from their childhood
Speaker:and have it shipped to them,
Speaker:which they were very happy about.
Speaker:So that was the basis for that.
Speaker:And so today,
Speaker:what Percentage of your sales comes retail versus online?
Speaker:It's still probably 90% is still retail.
Speaker:Oh, no kidding.
Speaker:Yeah. The website's growing right.
Speaker:When we get some great press or we make it on
Speaker:TV, which doesn't happen all the time,
Speaker:but it has happened.
Speaker:We get a sharp boost in our website because people that
Speaker:don't know us are seeing us and they go check it
Speaker:out. But then when it goes back to normal,
Speaker:most of our customers are still right in our brick and
Speaker:mortar store.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. And then what do you classify your trade show sales
Speaker:as is that wholesale or what is,
Speaker:yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So that's a different animal itself too.
Speaker:That is,
Speaker:yes. That's our newest venture.
Speaker:To be honest with you,
Speaker:we started doing trade shows two years ago and we've been
Speaker:to a whole bunch all over,
Speaker:basically the Northeast and all the way as far South as
Speaker:Atlanta. And it's interesting,
Speaker:you meet a lot of new people and it's getting our
Speaker:product out to places that would never have tried us before,
Speaker:but it's still has a long way to grow.
Speaker:So, Okay.
Speaker:So let's dive into all three of these.
Speaker:So your three sources of revenue are your retail shop wholesale
Speaker:and online,
Speaker:let's stay with the trade show first.
Speaker:So when I met you last year,
Speaker:that was your first show that you were exhibiting it or
Speaker:the first year of your first shows The show we just
Speaker:had. It was actually our third show.
Speaker:So the first show we ever did was two years ago
Speaker:at the Philadelphia candy show.
Speaker:And then we did a second,
Speaker:one of those,
Speaker:and this was the third.
Speaker:So it's almost exactly two years to the week that we've
Speaker:been doing it.
Speaker:Three shows and two years.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So we've talked a lot on the podcast before about
Speaker:trade shows and booth displays and all that.
Speaker:So I don't want to really necessarily go into that,
Speaker:but what is your biggest piece of advice that you would
Speaker:give someone if they're just starting off with shows,
Speaker:what have you learned from your first show to your third
Speaker:show? You only get a couple of seconds to catch a
Speaker:buyer's eye.
Speaker:So you have to make your booth visually appealing right off
Speaker:the bat,
Speaker:bright, colorful,
Speaker:something that makes them want to stop and go,
Speaker:huh? That looks cool.
Speaker:We have a kind of a unique product in most straight
Speaker:shows because it's chocolate and people love to sample chocolate.
Speaker:So if the visual doesn't get them,
Speaker:I try to get them to taste a piece.
Speaker:And that works great at shows that are not primarily food,
Speaker:but when you're out there,
Speaker:it's a whole different animal because everybody's trying to sample and
Speaker:you got to get them to stop,
Speaker:taste and look.
Speaker:And it's tough.
Speaker:We've made a bunch of modifications over the last few years
Speaker:to our booth.
Speaker:And I think we finally have it down.
Speaker:The signs are right.
Speaker:The display is right.
Speaker:It catches people hopefully.
Speaker:So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker:Yes. And it's very dangerous because you and I had booths
Speaker:next to each other just a couple of weeks ago and
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:your product is delicious.
Speaker:Yes. I tried everything on display several times.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:The other thing that you have there that I had asked
Speaker:you about,
Speaker:and I'm going to steal your idea,
Speaker:Nick, sorry,
Speaker:but the video,
Speaker:the looping video,
Speaker:talk a little bit about how great that is.
Speaker:Well, we are a small candy company,
Speaker:but we have gotten national exposure.
Speaker:We've been on the today's show.
Speaker:We've been on Fox news.
Speaker:We've been on New York news programs.
Speaker:We've been on local TV and I took all the clips
Speaker:there and put it on a loop so that customers walking
Speaker:by can see what our place looks like,
Speaker:what we're doing and see celebrities.
Speaker:I should say,
Speaker:talking about our product when we were on Hoda and Kathie
Speaker:Lee on the today's show people walk by and go,
Speaker:why is Kathy Lee on your TV?
Speaker:And then there she is eating our chocolates.
Speaker:So it catches them.
Speaker:And a lot of people stay and watch because they're curious
Speaker:to how the stuff's made,
Speaker:what our store looks like,
Speaker:what kind of things we do.
Speaker:And it gave them another visual experience.
Speaker:We were fortunate enough to have these professionally made awesome video
Speaker:clips that I just looped in the booth and people will.
Speaker:Yeah. And part of those videos are behind the scenes.
Speaker:So you get a chance to see how the chocolate's made.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:a little bit different at a chocolate show cause people are
Speaker:more accustomed to it.
Speaker:But to your point that you were just talking about earlier,
Speaker:you only get a couple of seconds to be able to
Speaker:start making an interaction that makes people stay longer.
Speaker:And it gives you an opportunity to start talking with them.
Speaker:Exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker:We're making RPMs bar and then they're watching us make them,
Speaker:it gets them more interested too.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:Oh, that's what I'm trying.
Speaker:So it connects on another level.
Speaker:Exactly. So great tips for the trade show.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit more about your retail store.
Speaker:Now, elephant in the room about retail is it's going away
Speaker:because of all the online business,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:you sound like you're doing it right with 90% of your
Speaker:sales still coming apart from wholesale,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but 90% of your sales coming from your shop,
Speaker:what are you doing to attract people in to actually buy
Speaker:versus going and buying from somewhere else online?
Speaker:Well, again,
Speaker:I kind of have a unique situation.
Speaker:My store has been here for 121 years,
Speaker:literally in the same spot,
Speaker:in the same town.
Speaker:So it's,
Speaker:it's really a tradition for most of my customers.
Speaker:And they've been coming since they were children.
Speaker:So they come back every year,
Speaker:they have to get there Easter basket from Lucas's.
Speaker:They have to get their Valentine's.
Speaker:They have to get Christmas candy.
Speaker:It's a staple in our community.
Speaker:So getting people to come for those times of the year
Speaker:kind of comes naturally with us.
Speaker:Our story is set up so that they come and bring
Speaker:their kids,
Speaker:or they were brought as children.
Speaker:And some of them have been here for 50,
Speaker:60 years.
Speaker:They've been customers.
Speaker:So that's why they keep coming back here.
Speaker:The challenge is getting new people.
Speaker:That's a whole nother ball game because they don't know the
Speaker:store. They have to be convinced to come down.
Speaker:Once they get them down,
Speaker:they try our product.
Speaker:They generally come back.
Speaker:We had a lot of repeat customers,
Speaker:obviously. Yeah.
Speaker:So you have your prior generations to thank for some of
Speaker:the business flow because of tradition,
Speaker:but that at some point will fall away.
Speaker:So what are you doing to try and attract new people
Speaker:Business? That way it's kind of plateaued.
Speaker:It's still the same people.
Speaker:We've tried everything.
Speaker:To be honest with you,
Speaker:we've done radio ads,
Speaker:we've done TV ads.
Speaker:We do a lot of social media,
Speaker:a lot of Facebook email blasts.
Speaker:We used to send mail,
Speaker:flyers, all kinds of stuff like that.
Speaker:But we're also trying to do unique things that you don't
Speaker:really think of.
Speaker:Last week,
Speaker:we just launched one of our new candy bars.
Speaker:It's called the twisted pig and it is a dark chocolate
Speaker:bar with bacon in it,
Speaker:which is an upcoming new trend that people are doing chocolate
Speaker:covered bacon,
Speaker:but we did a little different twist on it.
Speaker:And we actually launched it at our local restaurant and bar.
Speaker:And we did it as a cocktail pairing because it's a
Speaker:really deep flavor to it.
Speaker:So we had our friend who was a bartender designed a
Speaker:couple of cocktails and they made a whole night of it.
Speaker:And we posted about it on social media and the turnout
Speaker:was awesome.
Speaker:And it was a lot of people that had never heard
Speaker:about us,
Speaker:wanted to try something new,
Speaker:but wouldn't normally come down to our store this time of
Speaker:year, but it created a buzz and it worked Sounds great.
Speaker:My next question for you was going to be about getting
Speaker:involved with the community and that's exactly what you're showing right
Speaker:here. I would suggest gift biz listeners,
Speaker:collaborations. Like this could be something for you also to get
Speaker:exposure. If you have a similar audience,
Speaker:but you provide a different product to that audience.
Speaker:Now, in Nick's case,
Speaker:he had kind of combining products because the two together create
Speaker:an entirely different product than each separately,
Speaker:the wine or whatever the drinks are.
Speaker:And then they're twisted pig chocolate,
Speaker:which by the way,
Speaker:I also tasted fabulous.
Speaker:So think about that.
Speaker:If you have some business in your area and your audiences
Speaker:are similar,
Speaker:but you offer something different,
Speaker:what type of a collaboration could you do where you're sharing
Speaker:your customer base with them,
Speaker:they're sharing with you together.
Speaker:You're bigger than each individually and do an event like Nick's
Speaker:talking about.
Speaker:That sounds awesome because I'm sure you also got people,
Speaker:Nick who knew of Lucas candies and then got exposed to
Speaker:the restaurant of the bar or these new drinks that they're
Speaker:creating. So you both win in that case.
Speaker:And we did.
Speaker:And luckily they're a restaurant is two stores away from us.
Speaker:So we're on the same block.
Speaker:So any customers that came down to them for the tasting
Speaker:would come to us as well.
Speaker:And we would point out or a store is right over
Speaker:there. So it worked perfect.
Speaker:They got a boost and we got a boost and we
Speaker:got some great publicity for it.
Speaker:Yeah. Sounds like a repeat concept for sure.
Speaker:We have another one planned next month,
Speaker:another candy bar.
Speaker:So this is the trial.
Speaker:If it works,
Speaker:we are going to continue and we Awesome.
Speaker:I'm getting tips from you on each of the different revenue
Speaker:streams. Let's talk about online.
Speaker:Now, when you came into the business,
Speaker:that was the first time you were really doing online.
Speaker:Talk to us a little bit about building the platform and
Speaker:creating the website.
Speaker:Overall, The websites are tricky and they do need a lot
Speaker:of work and a lot of maintenance.
Speaker:When you first start designing your site,
Speaker:the thing you have to keep in mind is that's your
Speaker:store. When they go online,
Speaker:if they're not physically walking in,
Speaker:what they see on their computer is your store.
Speaker:So it has to have the look and feel and quality
Speaker:that you would put in your brick and mortar as you
Speaker:would for your online store.
Speaker:And unfortunately it involves really good pictures.
Speaker:Get them clear,
Speaker:get them nice,
Speaker:get them to stand out.
Speaker:If you're highlighting products,
Speaker:put some history about your company.
Speaker:People are always interested in the backstory,
Speaker:make sure that works to make sure somebody who's maintaining the
Speaker:site of your selling products on it.
Speaker:You gotta make sure you have the products in your store
Speaker:that you're going to be selling.
Speaker:You don't want to fill orders and go,
Speaker:Oh, I don't have any of that information.
Speaker:You really have to treat it as if it is a
Speaker:whole separate entity and a another location for your business.
Speaker:Like at one shot,
Speaker:when they're looking for a place,
Speaker:if they see it,
Speaker:the homepage has to catch them right away,
Speaker:or they're going to click somewhere else.
Speaker:And there's millions and millions of websites out there.
Speaker:So catch them quick,
Speaker:catch them hard and make sure your product looks the best.
Speaker:It can.
Speaker:Perfect. I kind of have forgotten.
Speaker:Now, do you have video on your website?
Speaker:We have a press page.
Speaker:We have the videos.
Speaker:We have links to the videos,
Speaker:whichever ones we can do.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:most of the clips that we're running on,
Speaker:our little video in our trade show or on our site
Speaker:too, we've even done little silly videos and put them up.
Speaker:We're starting to do more and more.
Speaker:Where are we filming us making,
Speaker:or we're doing a live video of that.
Speaker:And we're going to try and put them up as well.
Speaker:Because again,
Speaker:people want to see the behind the scenes and how things
Speaker:really work.
Speaker:And they feel like they're more of the family if they're
Speaker:have a little inside track.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you talking about how you're doing more social media now video
Speaker:on social media is a big deal.
Speaker:So even some of that fun type of stuff,
Speaker:I'm not necessarily talking with you about this,
Speaker:Nick, but I'm thinking for all of our listeners,
Speaker:if you have a WordPress site or another site where it
Speaker:allows you to bring in a widget of a Facebook feed
Speaker:or an Instagram feed,
Speaker:you can have just casual video going on in there.
Speaker:And then the professional videos like Nick's been talking about also
Speaker:on your site,
Speaker:both of those types are acceptable now.
Speaker:So there almost,
Speaker:isn't an excuse to not add video or some type of
Speaker:movement to your site because it just is so valuable these
Speaker:days. Absolutely.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So final question here on that.
Speaker:So when an order comes in online,
Speaker:are you filling it from the retail shop?
Speaker:Yes, we have.
Speaker:All our stock is here,
Speaker:so it fills in ships out of our store.
Speaker:Okay. And do You have a system like certain people are
Speaker:dedicated to certain functions within the business?
Speaker:There is,
Speaker:but a lot of it just falls on myself or my
Speaker:partner, the online is me.
Speaker:So I fill the orders.
Speaker:I maintain the site.
Speaker:When you're on a small business,
Speaker:you got to have a lot of hats because you do
Speaker:it all right.
Speaker:My partner does Facebook.
Speaker:Mostly I do our online store.
Speaker:She handles packaging and the more front of the house presentation
Speaker:of our store and stuff like that,
Speaker:where I'm much more production.
Speaker:And then we come together for new ideas and new projects
Speaker:and planning and all of the other good stuff involved with
Speaker:businesses. Know you do kind of have your funnels of what
Speaker:each is responsible for,
Speaker:but you can overlap when,
Speaker:like, let's say you get a whole ton of online orders
Speaker:and the store's a little quieter or something you'll overlap a
Speaker:little bit,
Speaker:but you do have your area.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah. There's a lot of overlap.
Speaker:So take us Nick to a challenging moment and I'm hoping
Speaker:you're going to tell us why we couldn't do the interview
Speaker:last year.
Speaker:You're going there.
Speaker:Yeah. Last year was our hundred and 20th anniversary.
Speaker:Very, very few businesses get to say that.
Speaker:But we were in business for 120 years and my partner
Speaker:and I were brainstorming,
Speaker:trying to figure out what we were going to do to
Speaker:celebrate it.
Speaker:We've talked about having a,
Speaker:some kind of party with the community or have something like
Speaker:that. We had banners made for the windows for the year,
Speaker:but we really want it to end the year on a
Speaker:big note.
Speaker:And we came up with the idea to make homemade candy
Speaker:canes live in the store.
Speaker:I used to make candy canes when I was a kid
Speaker:and my father and I made them and growing up,
Speaker:it was the coolest thing I ever saw to watch molten
Speaker:sugar boiling and pouring it out and ending up with a
Speaker:cane was incredible.
Speaker:And I was telling my partner about it for years.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:one day,
Speaker:we're going to bring it back one day.
Speaker:Even if I just make them to show you,
Speaker:I want you to see how cool it is.
Speaker:So we decided that's what we were going to do to
Speaker:celebrate the hundred and 20th.
Speaker:But we were going to move the operation up into our
Speaker:store so that our customers could come in and watch us,
Speaker:make them easier,
Speaker:said than done.
Speaker:Describe this a little bit,
Speaker:how this is different than the candy cane that you might
Speaker:see in your grocery.
Speaker:Well, the candy canes,
Speaker:you see the little tiny ones and stuff.
Speaker:They're still sugar candies,
Speaker:obviously, but they're all done by machines.
Speaker:They make a white peppermint candy and they paint with food
Speaker:coloring or red Stripe around it.
Speaker:So it's always perfect.
Speaker:And it always looks that way.
Speaker:And there's,
Speaker:I don't know to me,
Speaker:there's no real charm to them.
Speaker:They're just mass produced and put out there.
Speaker:And that's why they're everywhere.
Speaker:Ours are different.
Speaker:Everyone is unique.
Speaker:It's a real labor intensive process.
Speaker:And it makes for a great show.
Speaker:Deb was telling me that the twist that red twist,
Speaker:because it's not painted on goes all the way through.
Speaker:Yeah. We actually have to split the batch of candy when
Speaker:it's still liquid and half becomes white and half becomes red.
Speaker:And then after they,
Speaker:the right colors,
Speaker:you put them back together into kind of like a loaf
Speaker:and it's white in the center and there's red on each
Speaker:side. And then you start stretching the candy and twisting it
Speaker:and pulling it to get it to the right size and
Speaker:make sure your,
Speaker:a red Stripe looks like a red Stripe and twist and
Speaker:twist and pull and keep going until it's where you want.
Speaker:So a lot of effort and a lot of technique,
Speaker:it sounds like,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:it took us a while to get the technique down.
Speaker:I still joke with Deb about it because Deb is a
Speaker:quality control.
Speaker:She wants all the appearance of the product and the way
Speaker:the store looks and everything is really under her.
Speaker:And when we said we're going to make candy canes.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:look, they're not going to come out like the store ones.
Speaker:They're not going to be as white as the ones you
Speaker:see there,
Speaker:they're all going to be different sizes.
Speaker:They're all going to be different stripes.
Speaker:You'll say.
Speaker:So we made our first few batches and she was like,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:these are good,
Speaker:but we can do better.
Speaker:So we made another batch.
Speaker:I had to make them better and better and better.
Speaker:And 600 candy canes later.
Speaker:She had the canes that she wanted and the technique down
Speaker:and everything.
Speaker:So it took us kind of a month of making canes
Speaker:every day to get the color right,
Speaker:get the consistency,
Speaker:right. Get the sizing right.
Speaker:And get it all done.
Speaker:And it worked because they came out.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:So tell us how well they worked in terms of customer
Speaker:acceptance. Well,
Speaker:we started them and we were going to do the live
Speaker:shows every weekend in December two shows on Saturday,
Speaker:two shows on Sunday.
Speaker:And we just wanted to bring some people down that may
Speaker:be necessarily working to come down for Christmas or give him
Speaker:something, give him something.
Speaker:The kids could come see something for free,
Speaker:come down and watch this operation.
Speaker:And the first weekend our town has,
Speaker:they call it holidays and have a straw.
Speaker:So a lot of the businesses do some kind of holiday
Speaker:thing. And it's usually a pretty good day for us.
Speaker:And we had,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:total for that day about 70 people in the store,
Speaker:which was great.
Speaker:We were very pleased with that.
Speaker:The next day we only had a handful of people come
Speaker:and we kind of figured it would go that way.
Speaker:And we had a longterm plan that maybe within five years
Speaker:we'd have consistent shows and stuff like that because it takes
Speaker:time, but we're doing something new.
Speaker:We'll try it right after that,
Speaker:we got a call from our local newspaper who is over
Speaker:the years,
Speaker:I've done lots of different articles about us and lots of
Speaker:different press,
Speaker:which is great local paper,
Speaker:local business.
Speaker:It's how it should be.
Speaker:So they called and said,
Speaker:they wanted to do an article.
Speaker:They heard about this.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:absolutely, come on in.
Speaker:They videoed us for their website and wrote a great article.
Speaker:And it came out,
Speaker:it was on the front page.
Speaker:So great publicity.
Speaker:We were super happy and we're like,
Speaker:good. This is going to work.
Speaker:We'll get more people this weekend.
Speaker:And it'll be great that day.
Speaker:CBS news called and now I'm in New York.
Speaker:So it's New York city,
Speaker:CBS news.
Speaker:It's not a little local station.
Speaker:It's I think the biggest independent broadcast of CBS in the
Speaker:country. So he calls up and Debbie answers the phone and
Speaker:he says,
Speaker:hi, I'm Lou young from CBS.
Speaker:And I hear you're making candy canes today.
Speaker:She was like,
Speaker:well, no,
Speaker:we make them on the weekends.
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:Oh, cause I was hoping to come down and see it.
Speaker:She was like,
Speaker:no problem.
Speaker:We'll make them for you.
Speaker:Good for her.
Speaker:She jumped on the opportunity,
Speaker:Right. Without telling me or asking me or anything.
Speaker:So she gets off the phone and says,
Speaker:Nick, do you want to make some candy cans today?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:definitely not.
Speaker:Last thing I want to do.
Speaker:She's like,
Speaker:well, CBS news just called and they want to come film
Speaker:us. I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Well I guess we'll make games when they come.
Speaker:And she's like 45 minutes.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:let's go.
Speaker:And we had nothing set up because we broke everything down
Speaker:to run our store.
Speaker:We ran like maniacs and set it up.
Speaker:And he walked in and we were ready to start cooking.
Speaker:And it was on CBS news that night.
Speaker:And the crowd started and then more press started by the
Speaker:time we were done in one week,
Speaker:CBS film does NBC filmed us.
Speaker:We had two local news stations to come in and film
Speaker:us. Zagat the restaurant reviewer came into a live feed for
Speaker:it because they were going across the country,
Speaker:doing holiday foods,
Speaker:saw us on CBS and said,
Speaker:we're going there tomorrow.
Speaker:And it was amazing.
Speaker:We had 20,000
Speaker:people watched it live on Facebook while they're filming it.
Speaker:And the crowds just started coming in.
Speaker:Every show,
Speaker:the store was full 200 people at a time.
Speaker:Our entire supply of candy canes was wiped out in the
Speaker:first weekend.
Speaker:I think we had about four or 500 Keynes made to
Speaker:sell in a store.
Speaker:And then each batch yields 50 to 80 canes,
Speaker:depending on how many we did.
Speaker:So we were like,
Speaker:all right.
Speaker:So we have some for them to sell and we're gonna
Speaker:be making more each weekend.
Speaker:No problem.
Speaker:It was gone,
Speaker:not one cane in the store.
Speaker:And now people are at the show and they want candy
Speaker:Gates. You see a BA made.
Speaker:They want them.
Speaker:So now we're taking orders for them.
Speaker:And we're making teams nonstop for the next week to fill
Speaker:the orders of the people who came to the show,
Speaker:just so that they can take home something.
Speaker:So now they had to come back to the store and
Speaker:pick up the candy canes.
Speaker:And it was insane.
Speaker:We were had to limit our candy canes to five cans
Speaker:per person per day,
Speaker:because we couldn't make any more than that.
Speaker:And people were coming in and trying to buy 20,
Speaker:30 cans of the clip,
Speaker:but it just wasn't fair to everybody else.
Speaker:So we really had to limit it.
Speaker:And so we would run batches in the morning and they'd
Speaker:be ready by 10 o'clock.
Speaker:The line was out the door at 10 o'clock to buy
Speaker:candy canes.
Speaker:As soon as they were gone,
Speaker:we'd start making more do them again.
Speaker:And they were ready at four o'clock and people would sell
Speaker:out in 10 minutes.
Speaker:And that went all the way til Christmas Eve,
Speaker:people were still coming in trying to see a show or
Speaker:buy candy canes.
Speaker:It was insane.
Speaker:I had never worked so hard in my entire life.
Speaker:That is in sane.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:who would know?
Speaker:And it's not like you could have anticipated that because you're
Speaker:not going to make millions of candy canes only for the
Speaker:reception, not to be that right now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:different for this year.
Speaker:And we'll talk about that in a second.
Speaker:But hindsight now,
Speaker:advice for people who,
Speaker:hopefully I'm sure you guys didn't feel so excited in the
Speaker:middle of having to do batch after batch,
Speaker:after batch,
Speaker:after batch,
Speaker:but what a great problem to have.
Speaker:We were thrilled.
Speaker:How did you handle it?
Speaker:So you mentioned that you started limiting people when they were
Speaker:coming in the shop so that you weren't sold out within
Speaker:like an hour after you opened in the morning.
Speaker:But what other advice,
Speaker:if someone encounters a problem like this,
Speaker:a good problem,
Speaker:like this That'd be ready for everything.
Speaker:And there is a fine line because if we didn't get
Speaker:the press,
Speaker:so we got,
Speaker:we wouldn't have had all these people coming.
Speaker:So we couldn't foresee that,
Speaker:but have a game plan,
Speaker:have a backup plan.
Speaker:Look, if this takes off,
Speaker:what are we going to do?
Speaker:And whether or not you're set or not,
Speaker:like we ran out of bags or the candy cans,
Speaker:you ran out of bows because we estimated what we would
Speaker:sell, bought our supplies accordingly,
Speaker:and then went through them in four days.
Speaker:So we had to last the whole month,
Speaker:but I try to have a contingency plan for most things.
Speaker:This one,
Speaker:it came out of left field.
Speaker:So it caught me by surprise.
Speaker:This one was such a special technique.
Speaker:It's not like you can just bring in some temporary help
Speaker:and train them right away because speed,
Speaker:at that point was an issue You're dealing with 300 degree,
Speaker:molten, sugar,
Speaker:and physically,
Speaker:you have to know how to do it so that you
Speaker:don't get burned.
Speaker:You don't get hurt.
Speaker:And to make the product,
Speaker:there was no way we could train anybody.
Speaker:There was nobody that we would have trained.
Speaker:It was just having an eye.
Speaker:We had one other person help us make the hook on
Speaker:the cane,
Speaker:which is pretty straightforward.
Speaker:You look and see how big you want the hook and
Speaker:you hook it and you move the cans off.
Speaker:So that part was pretty easy.
Speaker:And we had a variety of people doing that.
Speaker:Debbie, his oldest daughter was our primary person for that job.
Speaker:And she actually made the front page of the newspaper.
Speaker:It was her holding candy cane.
Speaker:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker:Yeah, that was her reward.
Speaker:So what are you doing different this year Or starting candy
Speaker:canes? Probably in about two or three weeks.
Speaker:And we know we'll go through a couple thousand canes.
Speaker:So we have to make them at a time.
Speaker:We can't be making cans for people to buy while we're
Speaker:doing shows that were just not enough time.
Speaker:And we have a retail store to run as well.
Speaker:We have lots of other products.
Speaker:It's not just cans.
Speaker:So we have to be prepared.
Speaker:WRA has it scheduled when we start candy cans.
Speaker:And even if we do a batch or two a day
Speaker:every morning,
Speaker:we'll have the amount we need by the time the show
Speaker:start so that we can just concentrate on entertaining the people
Speaker:that are there,
Speaker:showing them how it works and getting through our season without
Speaker:working 16,
Speaker:20 hour days.
Speaker:Yeah. And the physical labor.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I remember Deb talking to me just a couple of weeks
Speaker:ago, about how after all of that was done,
Speaker:just the stretching and all that has to be done.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:physically her arms were,
Speaker:she was in pain.
Speaker:Her arm still hurts.
Speaker:It's been nearly a year and it's still bothering her.
Speaker:It's like carpal tunnel syndrome in one week Magnified.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And that's what it was.
Speaker:It was repeated motion over and over and over.
Speaker:And one motion she makes you,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:Oh, there it is.
Speaker:That's candy cane.
Speaker:And I have the same issue,
Speaker:but mine's a different motion because my physical part is I
Speaker:have to actually pull the candy canes on a hook.
Speaker:It's literally a hook on the wall and you have to
Speaker:stretch it and stretch it.
Speaker:And that's what makes the candy cane turn from a yellow
Speaker:color to white Debbie insists on Archangel being as white as
Speaker:possible. So every batch I'm pulling 20 pounds of hot candy,
Speaker:75 times.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:When we're doing them live,
Speaker:she makes the crowd count.
Speaker:So I can't cheat.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:Well, that's cool too.
Speaker:Crowd participation.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:What a great idea.
Speaker:We put on a great show.
Speaker:We're like a comedy routine.
Speaker:Most, are you going to video those shows?
Speaker:We did video a bunch of them last year we had
Speaker:somebody doing it and that was one of our promos.
Speaker:We put it on Facebook live.
Speaker:We did and stuff like that.
Speaker:And then we had so much press there's like professionally videoed
Speaker:us, making candy canes all over the internet now.
Speaker:So it's great.
Speaker:I'm gonna have to find some of those links and put
Speaker:them in the show notes so people can see them.
Speaker:We had one of them running at our trade show.
Speaker:We put CBS's on our little loop.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:it was a short one,
Speaker:but it was really captured the whole candy canes.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:I must've missed that one probably because I was eating the
Speaker:chocolate. I was too busy,
Speaker:too busy with that.
Speaker:Most of the videos on there are deal with chocolate because
Speaker:that's what we're wholesaling,
Speaker:but the candy cane one was too good not to add.
Speaker:So we stuck it on there too.
Speaker:And we had a new chocolate piece that had candy canes
Speaker:in too.
Speaker:So it kind of tied back.
Speaker:So it worked.
Speaker:Gotcha. Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Did you try that one?
Speaker:Yes, I did.
Speaker:I tried every single one.
Speaker:Absolutely. That one was sitting right in the middle of the
Speaker:table. Yes,
Speaker:it was.
Speaker:Yeah. See,
Speaker:I remember you got it.
Speaker:Yeah. But my favorite one was the PMs for sure.
Speaker:And one of the things that I really love besides the
Speaker:creative combinations and all of that is the naming of the
Speaker:products. Cause they're all so fun.
Speaker:Kind of like twisted pig.
Speaker:Right? Talk us through just a little bit about your procedures
Speaker:or what you do when you think you're going to do
Speaker:some type of a new combination.
Speaker:How does that all come together?
Speaker:When we try to come up with it,
Speaker:we usually have some starting point.
Speaker:Like the twisted pig,
Speaker:a lot of people were asking,
Speaker:do you do chocolate covered bacon?
Speaker:Do you do that?
Speaker:So we usually start with some concept,
Speaker:whether it's customer inquiry or just one idea that one of
Speaker:us get.
Speaker:So we start with that and then try to figure out
Speaker:how we're going to make it.
Speaker:What kind of flavor contrast do we want?
Speaker:And the name,
Speaker:the name is important.
Speaker:So with that one,
Speaker:it was all right.
Speaker:We know we want bacon and we know who our dark
Speaker:chocolate that's where we're starting,
Speaker:but there was something missing.
Speaker:We started with that and it was good,
Speaker:but it wasn't.
Speaker:Wow. And if it's not,
Speaker:well, we don't want to make it.
Speaker:Yeah. Now you're talking about in terms of the production and
Speaker:the ingredients.
Speaker:Yeah. Because that's the first step you really got to get
Speaker:your flavors together.
Speaker:And once you get that,
Speaker:then you can go to the more marketing because you really
Speaker:got to know what you're trying to promote before you can
Speaker:come up with it.
Speaker:And we do a lot of brainstorming and talked to a
Speaker:lot of people.
Speaker:I love a lot of our local places.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:the bar and restaurant that we launched it with.
Speaker:We tend to go in there with samples and the staff
Speaker:try and get their feedback.
Speaker:And inevitably it comes down.
Speaker:So what are you going to call it?
Speaker:So we're always there with a notepad going,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:well, we want to call it this.
Speaker:We want to try this.
Speaker:You want to get this combination?
Speaker:And it's a lot of brainstorming honestly.
Speaker:And then getting some feedback because the people there were like,
Speaker:what do you think if we call it twisted big another
Speaker:one for that one,
Speaker:it was what?
Speaker:The only link.
Speaker:Oh, that's cute.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:So that was another contender.
Speaker:We go through it and each one is a little different
Speaker:PMs. We kind of stumbled into that was the first one
Speaker:that we really had a quirky name for.
Speaker:And it fitted so well that half the publicity was for
Speaker:the flavor of it.
Speaker:And half was because of the name.
Speaker:And from then on every new candy bar that we do
Speaker:has to have something unique.
Speaker:We can't just call it bacon and chocolate.
Speaker:It has to be just a pig because it's a selling
Speaker:point and people read the names and laugh or go,
Speaker:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker:I wonder what's in here.
Speaker:And it's another reason why they,
Speaker:Yeah. And it makes you different too.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:And the thing I like also about your story is when
Speaker:you're going and having an audience also help you,
Speaker:whether it's the people who are at the restaurant,
Speaker:a couple doors down,
Speaker:or if you went on Facebook,
Speaker:because if they've had participation in bringing up names,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:maybe their name gets selected.
Speaker:They could be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:he chose my name.
Speaker:Everyone's got to try it.
Speaker:So then the word gets out even further.
Speaker:And even if someone just participated,
Speaker:they feel like they have ownership a little bit.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that was one of the things we promoted with
Speaker:the event.
Speaker:The other night,
Speaker:one of the taglines in the advertising was come be our
Speaker:Guinea pig.
Speaker:So cute.
Speaker:That's smart.
Speaker:It was good.
Speaker:We had little feedback cards and people wrote their reviews and
Speaker:they felt like they were part of the making process.
Speaker:They work is a very different bar for us.
Speaker:We've never done anything with bacon or anything like that before.
Speaker:So the flavor palettes are a little different than your standard,
Speaker:nuts and raisins or whatever and chocolate.
Speaker:So the feedback on it was really good trying to really
Speaker:help them.
Speaker:And it's also really good.
Speaker:That was on the end.
Speaker:On the right hand side.
Speaker:Yes. It was the one closest to my booth.
Speaker:I might add.
Speaker:Yes, it was.
Speaker:You did study all our chocolate.
Speaker:I was there with you for three days.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:So moving on to a little bit of a different vein.
Speaker:Now talking more about technical stuff about how you get everything
Speaker:done there,
Speaker:is there some type of an application you're using on the
Speaker:computer or something that you're doing in store that's making life
Speaker:easier that you think would be useful to our listeners?
Speaker:A couple of years back,
Speaker:we got a POS system,
Speaker:which was something that we would never have thought of before.
Speaker:We always just had regular standard cash registers.
Speaker:And we tried to keep track of about how many we
Speaker:sold based on,
Speaker:well, ran these for four days.
Speaker:So I probably made 500 of them or whatever,
Speaker:but it was all guesswork when we got the POS,
Speaker:it allowed us to print out a chart for Christmas of
Speaker:last year and go look,
Speaker:we sold a thousand PMs bars in the month of December
Speaker:in our store.
Speaker:We know we got to make that and it gave us
Speaker:a real guideline as to how much we should produce.
Speaker:And it's been really helpful.
Speaker:We never had a real good handle on that before.
Speaker:And now we know to the number,
Speaker:how many we sold and that helps with our planning.
Speaker:It helps with our budgeting and helps with everything.
Speaker:Sure. Yeah.
Speaker:Ingredients purchasing production,
Speaker:Every aspect like this week,
Speaker:we have to start going through our Christmas numbers cause we
Speaker:have to start making our more everyday line chocolate covered Oreos
Speaker:and candy bars and pretzels and that kind of stuff,
Speaker:because that's always our first step because it goes into a
Speaker:lot of baskets and gift items and that,
Speaker:and we have to have our numbers ready because Christmas is
Speaker:coming. So we gotta make candy canes in between.
Speaker:So I can't be worrying about making chocolate covered Oreos.
Speaker:I have to add that down and have our numbers ready
Speaker:to go.
Speaker:Pre-season so we're in a planning phase now for our first
Speaker:big holiday,
Speaker:which is obviously going to be Christmas.
Speaker:Great thing about that is it's capturing the numbers without you
Speaker:having to do any input other than what you would normally
Speaker:do, which is a sale.
Speaker:Exactly. It was a lot to get it going.
Speaker:We actually had to barcode everything and print labels for everything
Speaker:so that it can track them.
Speaker:But once the work was done,
Speaker:it makes you a ringing up customers quicker and it makes
Speaker:planning a hundred times quicker and easier.
Speaker:Yeah. Sounds like it.
Speaker:Are you willing to share with us what system you're using?
Speaker:It's called ShopKeep.
Speaker:It actually uses iPads as a register.
Speaker:Oh, very nice.
Speaker:Yeah. I actually learned about them at the Philadelphia candy show.
Speaker:No five years ago is when we started that system.
Speaker:And I learned about it for the first time there.
Speaker:It was still relatively new at that point,
Speaker:but it's come a long way.
Speaker:It's reports,
Speaker:it's back office.
Speaker:Everything is better than it's ever been.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I'd recommend it.
Speaker:You for sharing that with us and you've walked me into
Speaker:my very next question and trade shows,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:But where else are you going or what do you do
Speaker:to keep current with your industry,
Speaker:With our industry?
Speaker:We're going right back to the Philadelphia candy show.
Speaker:We recently started exhibiting there.
Speaker:And in doing that,
Speaker:we joined the retail's confectioner association of Philadelphia.
Speaker:They're the people that put on the show and it's all
Speaker:candy people from different parts of the country.
Speaker:And I've learned so much talking to them because everybody has
Speaker:similar experiences.
Speaker:They all have retail stores or manufacturer or online or looking
Speaker:at this ingredients company or this machine.
Speaker:And now did this work and it's been the most valuable
Speaker:resource that I've ever had.
Speaker:I grew up in the chocolate industry,
Speaker:but I didn't know anybody in it.
Speaker:It was just me and I learned from my parents and
Speaker:my father told me how to make it.
Speaker:And he learned from his,
Speaker:so hearing new stories and new ways of doing things has
Speaker:changed our business.
Speaker:They do a trip every year,
Speaker:usually in may.
Speaker:And they tour different candy companies from small little mom and
Speaker:pop shops to huge factories.
Speaker:And we've gone to Canada last year,
Speaker:we went to Ohio this year.
Speaker:It was so valuable.
Speaker:We come back and we're like,
Speaker:look, we have to take this idea.
Speaker:We're going to change our store.
Speaker:Debbie renovated the entire store this year based on our trip
Speaker:because she saw something.
Speaker:I had one of the places in Canada and went,
Speaker:that's what we have to do and redesigned everything.
Speaker:So it was unbelievable how helpful it is.
Speaker:Yeah. Two things here.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:if you have an association that links to your industry,
Speaker:whether you're a jewelry maker,
Speaker:Baker, retail,
Speaker:confection association in the craft show,
Speaker:there's also membership things.
Speaker:So number one,
Speaker:look in your industry,
Speaker:what's available.
Speaker:And then don't just have a membership participate like Nick saying,
Speaker:whether it's a trip or connecting up with people online.
Speaker:We're so lucky now that we can do that online.
Speaker:Right? So that's the first thing.
Speaker:The second thing is,
Speaker:and I love that you talked about this.
Speaker:Nick is Deb took action.
Speaker:She saw something that looked good and she came back.
Speaker:You didn't just go on a trip and get new ideas
Speaker:and mingle with other people in your industry.
Speaker:You found something really tangible that will bring your business to
Speaker:another level and actually acted on it.
Speaker:She did.
Speaker:How many times do you hear people?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:they take courses or they go to trade shows or whatever.
Speaker:They come back so energized and then it's business as usual.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it happens to us all the time.
Speaker:We were buyers at trade shows for years,
Speaker:you would see an idea and you'd talk about it on
Speaker:the drive home and go,
Speaker:we should do it.
Speaker:We should do it.
Speaker:Taking action is not the easiest thing.
Speaker:And sometimes it can be costly.
Speaker:Sometimes it can be difficult,
Speaker:but nothing changes if you don't.
Speaker:Exactly. So go for it.
Speaker:But if you see a good idea,
Speaker:that's working somewhere else.
Speaker:It may work for you too.
Speaker:Don't be afraid.
Speaker:Yep. Perfect.
Speaker:Perfect. All right.
Speaker:As we're winding down here,
Speaker:any final advice for that newbie?
Speaker:Who's like,
Speaker:okay, this is exciting.
Speaker:I love what Nick's saying.
Speaker:10 minutes later,
Speaker:they're going to get off and go.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:What's your advice to them?
Speaker:Don't give up running your own business is difficult,
Speaker:stressful, frustrating,
Speaker:but also super rewarding.
Speaker:And there's a lot to be said about going out and
Speaker:being an entrepreneur and taking the risk.
Speaker:It's a lot easier to do a job and get a
Speaker:regular paycheck every week.
Speaker:And it's hard to be on your own and it takes
Speaker:a lot of work.
Speaker:But if it's something that you want to do and you're
Speaker:passionate about go for it,
Speaker:nobody else is going to do it for you.
Speaker:So do it.
Speaker:Stay with it,
Speaker:try your best and hopefully succeed.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Couldn't have said it better.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So now I want to present you Nick with a virtual
Speaker:gift. It's a magical box containing,
Speaker:unlimited for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift on behalf of my audience and myself
Speaker:and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Given the state of my company now and where I want
Speaker:it to be.
Speaker:I'd love a contract for a national chain that is going
Speaker:to sell my PMs bar all across the country because I
Speaker:want everybody to taste it.
Speaker:I want everybody to know what it is and I want
Speaker:to sell millions of them.
Speaker:It's really our goal right now.
Speaker:We're waiting for that big break.
Speaker:We thought we were getting one this year.
Speaker:It didn't work out,
Speaker:but the potential is there and the product is awesome.
Speaker:That's what I want.
Speaker:I want to be in a high end store across the
Speaker:country and people talking about how great BMS is,
Speaker:which anybody would ever say that.
Speaker:But There you go.
Speaker:And I was a little bit worried that you were going
Speaker:to say candy canes.
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no. I like what I do with them,
Speaker:but it's unique and it's small time and it's really family
Speaker:oriented. That's as much as I want.
Speaker:Yeah. We beat them on our website last year for one
Speaker:day after we were on CBS one day and we got
Speaker:hit with so many orders.
Speaker:We had to pull it off that night.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:I don't want to make candy canes like that.
Speaker:But your PMs bar is something that you can produce more
Speaker:in mass.
Speaker:Absolutely. That's more the direction we want to go and the
Speaker:product we want to push.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:that's what I want.
Speaker:So now all our listeners are curious about the PMs bar,
Speaker:where can they go and find it?
Speaker:Easiest place is our website.
Speaker:That's www dot Lucas,
Speaker:candies.com. And it's featured on there and you can see RPMs
Speaker:bar and some of our other products and read a little
Speaker:bit about us.
Speaker:That's the place to go.
Speaker:Perfect. So you guys know show notes page will have all
Speaker:the links so you can go there,
Speaker:check all of it out,
Speaker:check out the videos.
Speaker:I am going to try and find the candy cane making
Speaker:video, and also have that on the show notes page.
Speaker:So you'll be able to find it really quickly and easily.
Speaker:Great. Thank you.
Speaker:Yeah, Nick,
Speaker:seriously, I'm already thinking of a couple of names.
Speaker:I will tell you them after we're done recording of places
Speaker:where I bet you,
Speaker:your chocolate is going to be showing up and I'm going
Speaker:to give it at the most two years.
Speaker:So I totally see your virtual gift happening.
Speaker:Absolutely so exciting for your future.
Speaker:Some of the stuff that you shared here are totally the
Speaker:keys to success.
Speaker:You guys are so right on in terms of taking the
Speaker:really, really important skills and steps that you need to grow
Speaker:a business,
Speaker:you're already doing them.
Speaker:So I see nothing but a bright future for you.
Speaker:And going back to that candle of yours,
Speaker:go big or go home.
Speaker:I think you're nailing it.
Speaker:So may your candle,
Speaker:Nick and also for Deb,
Speaker:always burn bright.
Speaker:You Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever brand your products of
Speaker:your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica ribbon to add to a gift,
Speaker:right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop.
Speaker:We'll cross studio in seconds.
Speaker:Check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information after you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
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Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the
Speaker:visibility of gift biz on raft.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
Speaker:to help others with their entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker:And one more super important thing.
Speaker:If you aren't already a member of our Facebook group,
Speaker:don't forget to jump over there now to do that,
Speaker:just go to gift biz,
