Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- It's a mindset switch, take the negative and turn it into a positive.
- One way to ensure repeat customers is to have unique products.
- Here are some ways to attract customers – word of mouth, exhibiting at tradeshows and optimizing your website so you can be found online.
- Instead of searching for people, be available to those specifically looking for you or your products.
- If you’re starting out, consider a pop-up shop for testing before commiting to monthly rent for a retail store.
- Start small, you can always go big later.
- It’s about the experience. Acknowledge customers in your store. If they need help, take time to walk them through some suggestions. No matter what, you want them to leave feeling good about themselves.
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You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 259 it kind of
Speaker:takes the fun out of it having all the chocolate around
Speaker:you. I'd rather have some cake sometimes At gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:It's Sue and as always I'm so happy to have you
Speaker:joining me here today and I've got exciting news.
Speaker:The doors for enrollment into maker's MBA are now open.
Speaker:This is my signature business development program that serves as a
Speaker:resource for you,
Speaker:for the life of your business.
Speaker:I'm only running one class this year,
Speaker:so if you're interested,
Speaker:the time to get a spot is now.
Speaker:How do you know if this program is for you?
Speaker:If you've been dreaming about starting a handmade business?
Speaker:But you felt like it's going to be too time consuming
Speaker:or overwhelming and scary.
Speaker:You're just not sure what steps to take.
Speaker:This is for you or if you've started your business,
Speaker:but you're frustrated and anxious because it's not bringing in the
Speaker:sales you expected and you're not sure what to do.
Speaker:Now, to turn things around,
Speaker:this program is also for you.
Speaker:We worked together for four and a half months and in
Speaker:the end you'll have a business that's set up properly.
Speaker:You'll know all the components and actions that go into owning
Speaker:a business that will thrive and you'll have access to refer
Speaker:back to all the information as your business continues to grow
Speaker:and change.
Speaker:Now, this is the only place that I do hot seat
Speaker:coaching so we can work on your specific issues.
Speaker:This is not an old fashion lecture type class.
Speaker:You learn and then apply what's right for you based on
Speaker:where you are in your own business creation and know a
Speaker:prior business degree is not required.
Speaker:So if you're a gifter Baker,
Speaker:crafter maker and you're serious about starting or growing your handmade
Speaker:product business,
Speaker:go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash makers MBA for all the details.
Speaker:Remember, you only have one chance to get in this year
Speaker:and enrollment is only open for a short time.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA with that major announcement now done.
Speaker:Let's talk about the topic of our show today.
Speaker:We're going behind the scenes in the candy world,
Speaker:kind of like Willy Wonka ish,
Speaker:I guess with food restrictions and allergies continually on the rise.
Speaker:Businesses have to consider what it means for their products and
Speaker:their customers.
Speaker:You're going to hear how one chocolate tier found this trend
Speaker:to be an opportunity and is capitalizing on it big time.
Speaker:You'll get ideas for your own product development and we talk
Speaker:a lot about owning and running a retail shop,
Speaker:including clever advice on how to predict a good employee,
Speaker:interesting stuff coming your way Today.
Speaker:It is my pleasure to introduce you to Kim Decker of
Speaker:Skip's candies.
Speaker:Kim is a second generation chocolate here.
Speaker:Her son Colton.
Speaker:Now 11 was only one year old when he suffered an
Speaker:Anna Filactic reaction to some peanut butter.
Speaker:This immediately provoked a feeling of fear no parent should ever
Speaker:have to experience in learning about cross-contamination and the severity of
Speaker:a peanut and tree nut allergy.
Speaker:Kim and her husband Mike soon learned he couldn't eat anything
Speaker:that was traditional retail candy.
Speaker:This inspired Kim to take a negative and turn it into
Speaker:a positive so no child feels left out or different.
Speaker:Having a safe line of chocolates and candies is very personal
Speaker:and dear to her heart because as Kim says,
Speaker:a nut shouldn't spoil the fun.
Speaker:I just love that quote.
Speaker:Kim, welcome to the gift biz on repped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I am so excited that you're here and I'm going to
Speaker:have you join in with what has become a tradition on
Speaker:the show and that is have you described yourself through a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you had a candle that really resonated with you,
Speaker:what color and quote would be on your candle?
Speaker:My candle color would be green and green.
Speaker:I chose because it's like the earth and I believe that
Speaker:everything, as you said in the intro,
Speaker:I like to take a negative and turn it into a
Speaker:positive meaning.
Speaker:I always like to look on the brighter side of things.
Speaker:So you naturally are then positive just by nature anyway,
Speaker:cause that's how I am too.
Speaker:I try to be,
Speaker:sometimes it's hard and you need to look past the negative
Speaker:and think that there's always something ahead that can make things
Speaker:better. It just takes one thing to change everything.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:So you consciously say,
Speaker:okay, this is a negative situation,
Speaker:but how can I make this positive?
Speaker:And honestly that's the basis behind your whole company.
Speaker:Really? Yes,
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:In the words of a friend,
Speaker:unfortunately a past friend is that he said if you always
Speaker:sat there and said if you change it to I get
Speaker:to from I have to,
Speaker:it could change your entire experience.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I so agree with you.
Speaker:So that is probably a quote that I do live by
Speaker:because a lot of times I will sit there and think,
Speaker:Oh I have to do this,
Speaker:but if I change it to I get to do this,
Speaker:not everybody can what I do.
Speaker:It does make a difference,
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:I think as all women who are listening,
Speaker:who start their business before you start,
Speaker:you're looking from the outside in and you're thinking,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:they're so lucky they get to do this,
Speaker:they get to do this,
Speaker:they get to do this.
Speaker:And then when you're actually in it and challenges come up,
Speaker:the wording flips just like you're saying,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:Oh I've got to do this.
Speaker:Or Oh we got to get into this today instead of
Speaker:I get to do it.
Speaker:I like that you get two quotes on your candle I
Speaker:think cause I really liked that one too.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you shared a little bit about the situation with Colton,
Speaker:where you found out that there was this concern and so
Speaker:how did that start to morph into something that you could
Speaker:even consider a business?
Speaker:Take us back there Making candy and our retail store downstairs
Speaker:when he was just a baby.
Speaker:You already had a candy shop at that point?
Speaker:Yes, we've been at second generation.
Speaker:It was started by my father,
Speaker:so we go back probably about 26 years,
Speaker:27 years IB,
Speaker:11 years ago,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:10 years ago now.
Speaker:When he went on a flack Dick realizing I had him
Speaker:in the candy store,
Speaker:I felt like I couldn't touch anything.
Speaker:I felt like he couldn't be in there when we're making
Speaker:peanut butter fudge,
Speaker:when we were working with peanuts or tree nuts because of
Speaker:the dust.
Speaker:The allergist really told us our house should be completely not
Speaker:free, no peanuts,
Speaker:no tree nuts,
Speaker:and to be extremely careful.
Speaker:The one thing that they told me was that every time
Speaker:he ingests it,
Speaker:it could be worse and we got lucky the first time,
Speaker:so having him even at our candy store was nerve wracking.
Speaker:We turned around,
Speaker:I started making small batches at home of chocolate and he
Speaker:loved it.
Speaker:Started packaging it up and putting some in the retail store
Speaker:and from there it turns into a lot more people asking
Speaker:for it,
Speaker:some other retail candy stores asking if I could supply them
Speaker:with it.
Speaker:I rented a another building in the same area where my
Speaker:other store,
Speaker:my retail store is,
Speaker:and started trying to produce out of that.
Speaker:I did some birthday parties and I realized it was very
Speaker:hard for me to keep control over the nut aspect of
Speaker:people coming in.
Speaker:You can't lock it down and I didn't feel comfortable saying
Speaker:something was not free at that point with the public almost
Speaker:coming in and out.
Speaker:So I gradually stopped doing birthday parties and realized I needed
Speaker:a bigger facility as more retail customers were seeking me out
Speaker:and I built a facility which now houses all of our
Speaker:nut-free chocolates.
Speaker:This is a second division of the business.
Speaker:We still do nut products.
Speaker:We still have the retail store that still carries our nut
Speaker:products. I see.
Speaker:That makes a lot of sense because skips Candy's was already
Speaker:an established brand,
Speaker:as you were saying from a generation past.
Speaker:Correct. But that had to be such a crazy time though
Speaker:because you had to be thinking,
Speaker:Oh my,
Speaker:like this is our business being the taco tier with the
Speaker:retail shop and now with the concerns about Colton,
Speaker:then having to recreate something that had to be such an
Speaker:upheaval for the entire business.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:it was learning about the cross contamination,
Speaker:it was learning about what his levels are,
Speaker:testing the waters.
Speaker:And one thing I stick by is if I would not
Speaker:give it to my own son,
Speaker:I will not put it in my wholesale line if I'm
Speaker:uncomfortable with something.
Speaker:Because you're dealing with people's lives at this point.
Speaker:And unfortunately the FDA doesn't have as many guidelines for nut
Speaker:allergies as they do.
Speaker:Maybe somebody who's gluten-free.
Speaker:Even today.
Speaker:Even today.
Speaker:Yes. So now do you then produce out of separate kitchens?
Speaker:The factory is where we produce all of our molds,
Speaker:our chocolate covered pretzels,
Speaker:our caramel,
Speaker:our marshmallow.
Speaker:I mean we have a large line under nut-free,
Speaker:but our turtles,
Speaker:anything containing nuts,
Speaker:our everyday fudge,
Speaker:which we do like different flavors with is done in our
Speaker:retail locations.
Speaker:So there's two separate locations.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:And I have to tell you,
Speaker:I wasn't sure when I was tasting the product if it
Speaker:was going to taste different cause I really don't think apart
Speaker:from something that is like a turtle that obviously has the
Speaker:larger nuts,
Speaker:you kind of forget about the fact that there's a lot
Speaker:of hidden ingredients that don't even come out in the final
Speaker:product as you thinking that there are nuts.
Speaker:To your point about the traditional retail candy,
Speaker:there's so much that you can't have,
Speaker:and I know this because we have some members of our
Speaker:family who have the peanut and tree nut allergies too and
Speaker:I was shocked to see how wide it really spans.
Speaker:I had no idea.
Speaker:It's definitely a good cause is where I'll start.
Speaker:You were seeing immediate reception,
Speaker:it sounds like in your retail shop,
Speaker:right? Yes,
Speaker:we were.
Speaker:Usually what we find is when somebody finds us,
Speaker:they are repeat customers and that is because we have such
Speaker:a unique product.
Speaker:The other retail candy stores purchased from us because they cannot
Speaker:recreate what we do.
Speaker:They can recreate the same,
Speaker:maybe Easter bunny,
Speaker:the same design,
Speaker:but they can not guarantee that it's not free.
Speaker:So really my competition is minimal and I don't compete with
Speaker:every local candy store when it comes to that.
Speaker:Well, you have kind of four different facets to your business,
Speaker:so you have regular candy that contains nuts.
Speaker:You have your nut-free and then you have retail,
Speaker:and then you have wholesale,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:So all those combinations together,
Speaker:correct. Do you treat them as separate businesses in terms of
Speaker:employees and structure and all that,
Speaker:or how's your setup with all the variations?
Speaker:Depending on the time of season?
Speaker:I can tell you right now in the factory we are
Speaker:extremely busy because it's Easter,
Speaker:so making funnies and filling orders for Easter becomes extremely crazy
Speaker:this time of year.
Speaker:I do at this time pull people from our retail location
Speaker:and bring them in to help out making stuff.
Speaker:Obviously they're ones who have been trained in the past or
Speaker:that we feel can handle it.
Speaker:Other people are usually specifically hired for the factory or specifically
Speaker:for the retail.
Speaker:There's a couple of floaters.
Speaker:I guess is what I could say.
Speaker:It's all under one corporation.
Speaker:Right. So you almost started a little bit different divisions but
Speaker:you have people who are cross trained and you've got a
Speaker:lot of resources then to pull from,
Speaker:which is nice.
Speaker:You can go back and forth as you were saying.
Speaker:Correct. So a question,
Speaker:I'm going to backtrack a little bit because this question comes
Speaker:to mind for me is how did you even figure out
Speaker:how to make candy that was not free?
Speaker:Cause I was just talking about the fact,
Speaker:and you can correct me if I'm wrong cause I'm no
Speaker:expert here for sure,
Speaker:but there are so many ingredients you would use besides just
Speaker:including peanuts,
Speaker:let's say in a talk bar.
Speaker:Other ingredients also have some element of potential trace nut characteristics,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:I'm thinking,
Speaker:Well what it is is you have your base chocolate cargo
Speaker:carries all different types of chocolates.
Speaker:You have Hershey,
Speaker:any of them.
Speaker:And to tell you the truth,
Speaker:when the chocolate starts out,
Speaker:chocolate is not free.
Speaker:When it initially is made,
Speaker:what happens is is it's the products that you use within
Speaker:the facility that can cause cross-contamination to taint it,
Speaker:so the chocolate that we use is chocolate.
Speaker:Did every other chocolate tier would use.
Speaker:The only thing we do is we make sure that nuts
Speaker:do not make it into this facility.
Speaker:One way of doing that is we contact each manufacturer of
Speaker:items that are our raw materials to see if there is
Speaker:a chance of contamination.
Speaker:If there is,
Speaker:we do not go with them.
Speaker:If there isn't,
Speaker:we do ask for a letter letting us know that they
Speaker:don't have nuts in their facility.
Speaker:A lot of the products that we use or that we
Speaker:make, I should say,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:right now our bunnies are solid or they're semi-solid,
Speaker:so it's just plain chocolate.
Speaker:There's nothing else added on.
Speaker:Sometimes there's little decals we put on that supplier is a
Speaker:nut-free suppliers.
Speaker:They don't carry anything in their system,
Speaker:in their facility.
Speaker:That would be with nuts or tree nuts,
Speaker:peanuts, tree nuts,
Speaker:our Carmel we make ourselves and that's just,
Speaker:you got Brown sugar,
Speaker:you got your base ingredients and a lot of times dairy
Speaker:doesn't seem to have nuts in it unless you're going to
Speaker:an almond milk or something.
Speaker:If they would produce something like that in their facility.
Speaker:Right. But the one thing that you can't do then,
Speaker:like let's say you're buying from a certain,
Speaker:where you buy your chocolate,
Speaker:let's say one of your chocolate vendors,
Speaker:they then have to ship chocolate to both your retail shop
Speaker:where you're making candy and then also your factory where it's
Speaker:not free.
Speaker:Yes, but we use the same chocolate in both places.
Speaker:So usually the shipment of chocolate comes to the factory and
Speaker:it's stored in a chill room.
Speaker:And as the retail store needs it,
Speaker:we bring it over,
Speaker:But then it never comes back in.
Speaker:Like let's say you were short in the factory,
Speaker:it would never come back that way.
Speaker:Absolutely. Once it makes It out of here,
Speaker:never comes back.
Speaker:Right. For the reasons we were just describing.
Speaker:So and then are there certain legal things that you have
Speaker:to do to then classify yourself as not free?
Speaker:Unfortunately, that goes back to the FDA and their rules again
Speaker:and there is no guidelines that at this time there are
Speaker:talks of some things changing.
Speaker:I take precautions myself.
Speaker:Uh, we happen to have an allergen detection dog,
Speaker:her name is Chessy and also what we do is we
Speaker:swab our machines and send them out to a lab to
Speaker:have them test it for any traces.
Speaker:Just make sure nothing got in.
Speaker:If for some reason,
Speaker:God forbid something ever made its way in,
Speaker:that's when you do a recall obviously.
Speaker:And that's what you see a lot of times on TV.
Speaker:They have those big recalls because of whatever may have happened.
Speaker:Right. So that's really interesting because well first off you've seen
Speaker:the market and you've seen the need and you've kind of
Speaker:niched yourself in.
Speaker:We're just going to talk about the allergy free side of
Speaker:the business.
Speaker:Okay. Yup.
Speaker:So you've niched yourself in because a lot of people aren't
Speaker:going to go to the extent that you've gone to.
Speaker:Just to confirm that that's the case.
Speaker:So that's been really helpful for you,
Speaker:it sounds like,
Speaker:because there are a lot of retail shops who want to
Speaker:buy from you because they're not going to make it themselves.
Speaker:Right. So correct.
Speaker:They're getting it from you,
Speaker:so that's a huge opportunity,
Speaker:a huge opening for you.
Speaker:When you're talking with them,
Speaker:do you go through,
Speaker:is this part of your sales pitch or do you even
Speaker:need that anymore because you're so established in the industry of
Speaker:being not free?
Speaker:I think that there's still a lot of people out there
Speaker:who do not understand what nut-free is unless you've experienced it.
Speaker:A lot of retail businesses are getting people who come into
Speaker:their store asking for chocolate,
Speaker:so they're learning a lot from their customers there to help
Speaker:fill in the gaps and answer other questions or explain to
Speaker:them. Even if you bring in the small order,
Speaker:that's mostly what I say is bringing in something and you
Speaker:will have repeat customers because it is such a unique thing.
Speaker:So the performance is really proven if they just take the
Speaker:chance. Correct.
Speaker:They bring in the product and they and they see that
Speaker:the product moves and then you've got the client correct.
Speaker:Moving in a little bit then on a sales angle,
Speaker:I know you go out to trade shows cause that's where
Speaker:we met.
Speaker:How many shows do you do a year?
Speaker:I only do two shows a year.
Speaker:I've tried other shows and what I found was,
Speaker:because I think there's still not a lot of people who
Speaker:are familiar with nut-free or it doesn't so much fit into
Speaker:a huge display,
Speaker:maybe at a larger chain store that we are better off
Speaker:taking our money and this is what we started doing and
Speaker:we hired a marketing company and that marketing company is able
Speaker:to help with our website.
Speaker:They blog for us,
Speaker:they do other that I don't have the time to do
Speaker:and one of the things they'll even do for me is
Speaker:contact anybody who I've met at a trade show and follow
Speaker:up with them with an email.
Speaker:And that has proven to really be beneficial in addition to
Speaker:the fact that they do so much with the website that
Speaker:we move up in the rank when people do web searches.
Speaker:So that is how I'm gathering my customers.
Speaker:Basically. There's three ways,
Speaker:word of mouth,
Speaker:the trade shows,
Speaker:and then my marketing company.
Speaker:And is your marketing company focusing on getting your Hugh wholesale
Speaker:business and consumer business both at the same time?
Speaker:No, I'm only focused right now on the wholesale part of
Speaker:it. The retail side has been established for many years.
Speaker:It's a walk in tourist area,
Speaker:so I don't feel the need for it.
Speaker:So you don't have retail direct to retail on the website,
Speaker:correct? It is only wholesale.
Speaker:Okay. So your marketing company is really specifically focused on wholesale
Speaker:accounts, probably more boutique type accounts at this time.
Speaker:Yes. You know,
Speaker:it really surprises me what you say,
Speaker:that the nut allergies aren't as known because just from my
Speaker:limited thinking,
Speaker:like that's the first allergies you started hearing about with kids
Speaker:going through school was specifically peanuts because peanut butter is so
Speaker:prevalent. Well,
Speaker:it used to be anyway in the schools,
Speaker:but it's really interesting that the industry overall doesn't have that
Speaker:as a more significant point because you hear about gluten free,
Speaker:you hear about all the different types of diets.
Speaker:I'm shocked that not allergies aren't right up there with them.
Speaker:It's surprising.
Speaker:Correct. I agree.
Speaker:I think it's more that people are not educated enough about
Speaker:it to understand the cross contamination and what can happen if
Speaker:these people who are allergic Eden,
Speaker:how severe it can be.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean it's kind of like a seafood allergy too.
Speaker:Like you do the same thing if you're just in the
Speaker:room. Any of those allergies I guess.
Speaker:Yeah. So it could be life threatening.
must be like really happy that the whole business now has
Speaker:taken another turn would have him.
Speaker:Yeah. Colton's our official taste tester and there you go.
Speaker:That's beautiful.
Speaker:That is beautiful.
Speaker:So talk with me a little bit more about your marketing
Speaker:company. And the reason I'm curious is,
Speaker:and you might have been like this for a while too,
Speaker:is people who own own their own businesses and as they're
Speaker:getting started,
Speaker:every dollar is precious,
Speaker:right? And where do you spend your dollars?
Speaker:You need a return to keep growing the business and we
Speaker:all have this concept of,
Speaker:well, I'm just going to do it all.
Speaker:No, I'm growing.
Speaker:I'm super woman.
Speaker:I'm going to do it all.
Speaker:What was your thinking and at what point did you decide,
Speaker:okay, yes,
Speaker:I need help and the place that I need help is
Speaker:the marketing.
Speaker:That's a good question and I can tell you where all
Speaker:this came about.
Speaker:I did a trade show in Atlanta.
Speaker:It's a very large trade show and it costs me a
Speaker:significant amount of money to get my product down there.
Speaker:It's chocolate,
Speaker:it does melt.
Speaker:Plus I had to fly myself and another employee down to
Speaker:work the booth and set it all up,
Speaker:how to pay for a hotel room.
Speaker:And by the time I was done,
Speaker:I came home with not one sale.
Speaker:And when I sat and I looked at the dollar amount,
Speaker:it was very discouraging because at the other shows I do,
Speaker:I do fantastic.
Speaker:This just wasn't my market.
Speaker:And to spend that much money and learn that that's not
Speaker:your market is devastating.
Speaker:I then decided that instead of attending more trade shows that
Speaker:it was better for me to be available to people who
Speaker:are looking specifically for me instead of me going searching for
Speaker:them, let them search for me or put yourself in their
Speaker:path. Exactly.
Speaker:And today everything's the internet.
Speaker:The first place I know I go when I'm doing research
Speaker:is the internet.
Speaker:You can find good stuff.
Speaker:You can find bad stuff.
Speaker:Correct. Incorrect information,
Speaker:but mostly it's at everybody's fingertips on their phone.
Speaker:So why wouldn't I rebuild my website,
Speaker:make it easier for people to place an order online.
Speaker:So that gives me more time than having to always pick
Speaker:up the phone,
Speaker:write the order,
Speaker:which takes me away from making candy.
Speaker:Yes, I agree that the one Oh one face time is
Speaker:valuable. Unfortunately,
Speaker:the generations that are coming up like to sit home at
Speaker:night and place their orders and not have to talk to
Speaker:anybody because that takes away from their time as well.
Speaker:So it's a balance there.
Speaker:Some customers still call some email me.
Speaker:It just depends on who they are and what their preferences.
Speaker:Making the website available to them,
Speaker:putting the money towards the website has increased sales.
Speaker:I believe it is also giving us a higher ranking on
Speaker:Google, which is very hard to continually rise,
Speaker:but that's what the marketing company works towards and if you
Speaker:are not on the first one or two pages of Google,
Speaker:you might as well just not even almost exist.
Speaker:Most people,
Speaker:so when they Google something,
Speaker:you're lucky if they go to the second page.
Speaker:Usually it's the first page.
Speaker:The ones that pop up mostly are,
Speaker:if you look it says add those.
Speaker:Google ads are very heavily paid for those people pay a
Speaker:lot of money for them.
Speaker:So if you're just starting out,
Speaker:it's easier to chew off spending what you can with the
Speaker:marketing company and having them help you.
Speaker:Then trying to figure out just placing your own ads.
Speaker:It sounds to me like in your mind,
Speaker:your justification for hiring jobbing the marketing out,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:was all right.
Speaker:I spent all of this money on a show in Atlanta.
Speaker:It didn't produce a thing the next time,
Speaker:I'm not going to repeat the same thing because it's not
Speaker:your audience.
Speaker:To your point,
Speaker:I'm going to take those dollars that I would have spent
Speaker:somewhere else and I'm going to redirect them into hiring a
Speaker:marketing company,
Speaker:someone who knows what they're doing.
Speaker:So we're not,
Speaker:once again,
Speaker:shooting in the dark trying things and you're setting yourself up
Speaker:for a higher potential of success when you bring somebody in
Speaker:who knows what they're doing.
Speaker:Would that be right?
Speaker:That is right,
Speaker:and I actually come from a technology background.
Speaker:I was a software tester in corporate before I joined the
Speaker:family business.
Speaker:So I have a lot of experience in technology.
Speaker:I created all of our websites in the past,
Speaker:so that was something that was very hard for me to
Speaker:give up doing our own website and being able to do
Speaker:it. Since I had done it for about 20 years for
Speaker:our business,
Speaker:when I hired the marketing company,
Speaker:I knew exactly what I wanted,
Speaker:but with technology and how fast it changes and with the
Speaker:security risks of credit cards and credit card fraud,
Speaker:everything you really need to understand that you're a specialist in
Speaker:one area,
Speaker:they're specialists in another and you need to relinquish.
Speaker:Sometimes it'll turn out cheaper in the long run.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Have you ever heard the saying just because you can do
Speaker:it doesn't mean you should correct.
Speaker:This is a perfect example because you could definitely have done
Speaker:it, but then that's pulling you away from something you're better
Speaker:at maybe and then something that you enjoy more too and
Speaker:sometimes you know,
Speaker:just enough to be dangerous too.
Speaker:I'll go with you there.
Speaker:I agree with you there,
Speaker:but now it's interesting that you say that you can spend
Speaker:more time making versus marketing is really the summary of what
Speaker:you're talking about.
Speaker:Are you still heavily involved in making of the candy versus
Speaker:running the business?
Speaker:Absolutely. I do everything I hire,
Speaker:I do payroll,
Speaker:I pay the bills,
Speaker:I do all the accounting.
Speaker:I do have an accountant,
Speaker:but I do all the bookwork.
Speaker:I make stuff,
Speaker:I do all the purchasing.
Speaker:I go to trade shows,
Speaker:I find new products.
Speaker:I manage the retail store.
Speaker:I wear many different hats.
Speaker:It's not just this is what I do.
Speaker:When you own a business,
Speaker:you have to do everything.
Speaker:And although you have people assigned to certain things,
Speaker:you still have to oversee and improve what they're doing.
Speaker:Do you have structure underneath you,
Speaker:like someone who is overall of retail?
Speaker:Cause obviously you can't be everywhere.
Speaker:You've got two locations.
Speaker:You're also out at trade shows.
Speaker:Do you have some type of hierarchy that you're starting to
Speaker:set into place so you know things are covered when you're
Speaker:not around?
Speaker:Yeah, we did do that numerous times.
Speaker:We've had managers,
Speaker:we've had assistant managers.
Speaker:The factory is,
Speaker:I have a right hand girl,
Speaker:I consider her my factory manager.
Speaker:She is the one that is very talented,
Speaker:comes from a baking background,
Speaker:so comes up with new ideas,
Speaker:new things to cook.
Speaker:She's fantastic.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:she is my main person in the retail store.
Speaker:It's not as easy as just having a manager.
Speaker:We've tried that.
Speaker:The retail store is our baby and once you hire a
Speaker:manager you give up some of your beliefs I believe to
Speaker:that manager.
Speaker:So what happens is is they are you when you're not
Speaker:there and if they handle a situation and correctly not the
Speaker:way you'd like it,
Speaker:then it reflects on you.
Speaker:So we have learned that we still are the managers,
Speaker:we have team leads,
Speaker:but most of the times if there's a problem,
Speaker:if there's something that needs to be handled,
Speaker:it comes directly to us.
Speaker:Especially with a retail customer.
Speaker:It's always interesting to try and think of the future and
Speaker:understand where you would go next for growth or help because
Speaker:you are doing a lot of things so far.
Speaker:And I think a lot of our listeners are going to
Speaker:be like,
Speaker:yeah, I'm still doing everything.
Speaker:Like if I just had one other person that would be
Speaker:nice. Yes.
Speaker:The one thing that I'm hoping is that my husband is
Speaker:close to retirement and when he retires he will come in
Speaker:and help me as my parents have helped me and as
Speaker:my son gets older,
Speaker:he takes on some responsibility as well.
Speaker:We're going to carry on with Kim's story right after a
Speaker:quick break.
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Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:it's nice Kim,
Speaker:that you know where your interests are and your focuses too
Speaker:because as you're saying,
Speaker:you have someone who's helping you in the factory right now,
Speaker:but retail really has to stay closest with you.
Speaker:And you also like that it sounds like too.
Speaker:So being there,
Speaker:interacting with customers,
Speaker:making sure that the presence and the vibe,
Speaker:and I'm going to just say the brand who you are
Speaker:as a company is shown through when people walk in the
Speaker:door. That is correct.
Speaker:My father started the business and my mother left corporate and
Speaker:joined the business and they both have instilled in me how
Speaker:they want that business to present itself to the customers.
Speaker:To this day I still continue to try and implement that.
Speaker:So there's a super emotional connection with it as well.
Speaker:Correct. So were you like the little girl that I would
Speaker:be envious of because your parents had a chocolate shop?
Speaker:I was not that little girl.
Speaker:My father was actually a Philadelphia fireman when I was little.
Speaker:He did not start into the chocolate industry,
Speaker:probably tellers in my twenties my son though,
Speaker:he is the one that all the other kids think it's
Speaker:fantastic that he has a candy factory and a candy store
Speaker:and he can go in at any time and have some
Speaker:chocolate. Yeah,
Speaker:I'm kind of jealous of him too.
Speaker:It kind of takes the fun out of it.
Speaker:Having all the chocolate around you.
Speaker:I'd rather have some cake sometimes.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:So let's flip over and talk a little bit about retail
Speaker:now, because I think a lot of the people that are
Speaker:listening might be making their product out of their house,
Speaker:but in the back of their mind,
Speaker:there's always this little thought of,
Speaker:Oh, you know what?
Speaker:I see a shop open in the main street of my
Speaker:community. I wonder if I should think about retail.
Speaker:Maybe that would be interesting.
Speaker:Talk to us a little bit about the retail environment as
Speaker:a business owner now,
Speaker:like what do you love about retail and maybe a couple
Speaker:of things for you to consider for someone who's just now
Speaker:thinking about starting a physical location?
Speaker:Retail is challenging,
Speaker:especially in today's world.
Speaker:The one thing I can say is location,
Speaker:location, location,
Speaker:and here's a good example of it.
Speaker:Our retail location is in a tourist destination.
Speaker:We've been there,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:over 26 years in that same location.
Speaker:I can tell you that it has grown.
Speaker:It is a fantastic retail store.
Speaker:Knowing that the name locally is well known and it's also
Speaker:known in other States because people travel here.
Speaker:I decided to open another retail store for more local customers.
Speaker:I picked what I thought was a fantastic location as did
Speaker:a lot of other people.
Speaker:It was right next to the largest liquor store in Pennsylvania
Speaker:thinking that they get a lot of traffic.
Speaker:Who wouldn't stop and pair chocolate with alcohol,
Speaker:wine, whatever.
Speaker:Yeah, it makes perfect sense to me.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:Unfortunately the name,
Speaker:I mean we had our customers,
Speaker:but it did not support itself,
Speaker:meaning that I felt it was too much.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:for me to have two retails and a wholesale.
Speaker:I spent my whole day on Fridays running back and forth
Speaker:between the two retail stores and I had to evaluate what
Speaker:was going on and what made sense.
Speaker:It was a growth,
Speaker:but it was a very slow growth and mainly I got
Speaker:the holidays because it wasn't an everyday thing.
Speaker:My Valentine's day was fantastic,
Speaker:their Easter was good,
Speaker:but not the daily,
Speaker:everyday business,
Speaker:which you need in order to pay rent or pay your
Speaker:employees. And as a business owner that already was established,
Speaker:I could not be in there myself.
Speaker:I had to pay somebody to be there.
Speaker:And that also made it difficult because whoever's in there is
Speaker:the face of your company.
Speaker:Right? So you had extra overhead over and above your first
Speaker:location because your first location was quote unquote your home base.
Speaker:Correct. Got it.
Speaker:And I realized that that just wasn't the right move.
Speaker:Today's world.
Speaker:A lot of people are doing these online sites online.
Speaker:I'm going to just say Etsy,
Speaker:but it's not even Etsy.
Speaker:If you pay again a marketing company to help you create
Speaker:a online presence.
Speaker:I think that that would help also go into fairs and
Speaker:festivals. You can have a bad day there,
Speaker:but you could also have a really good day and you
Speaker:don't have the overhead that you would have in a more
Speaker:retail setting.
Speaker:Meaning the rent,
Speaker:the electric,
Speaker:the water may be cam charges,
Speaker:which is common area maintenance.
Speaker:So to start out see how it's perceived.
Speaker:Maybe at some fairs,
Speaker:some festivals,
Speaker:even if you're into food trucks,
Speaker:maybe you're in a food business.
Speaker:I would say a food truck or a trailer.
Speaker:I recommend the trailer cause then if your truck breaks down
Speaker:you can just hook up another trailer,
Speaker:hook up another truck.
Speaker:I mean to the trailer Popups.
Speaker:You know how sometimes they'll have the popups available,
Speaker:like there's an empty space and you can just rent it
Speaker:for a month or two just to go in there.
Speaker:And that way you don't have to build out the whole
Speaker:space either.
Speaker:Correct. And we see that a lot in our area where
Speaker:our retail stores,
Speaker:they do a lot of popups.
Speaker:The one thing that I try to warn people about is
Speaker:popups are great during holiday seasons.
Speaker:You're going to spend,
Speaker:if you do it right,
Speaker:probably about five to $6,000
Speaker:maybe getting it set up,
Speaker:you're hitting the market of the holiday season,
Speaker:so don't be fooled that come January,
Speaker:it's going to be a ghost town.
Speaker:So if you decide like,
Speaker:Hey, this is great,
Speaker:and then you want to sign a lease because you think
Speaker:it's always going to be like that.
Speaker:It's not January,
Speaker:February, March in retail are pretty slow.
Speaker:Usually. We've been very fortunate.
Speaker:We're weather based,
Speaker:so we've been having some warmer weather here in Pennsylvania that
Speaker:our retail store this year is doing much better than it's
Speaker:done in the past.
Speaker:So definitely,
Speaker:I mean there's ebbs and flows by month of the business
Speaker:that you're going to get.
Speaker:So couple of questions here.
Speaker:How long did you keep that second shop open?
Speaker:Usually a business can make it a reggae within,
Speaker:I think it's three to four years,
Speaker:if I remember correctly.
Speaker:That's usually your timeframe.
Speaker:I believe I did it for almost a year and a
Speaker:half, so I cut it short.
Speaker:I saw the writing on the wall and decided that the
Speaker:money that I was spending,
Speaker:all of my retail location could be utilized elsewhere.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:the marketing company and build up what I already have rather
Speaker:than try to build up another retail store.
Speaker:And it sounds like it was wearing you down too with
Speaker:all the commuting back and forth and all.
Speaker:Yes, it was.
Speaker:I'm really glad we talked about this because it just shows
Speaker:that a successful business owner such as yourself can try things.
Speaker:You already talked about Atlanta by the way.
Speaker:I went to Atlanta.
Speaker:My only show ever I did wear also,
Speaker:I didn't sell a thing.
Speaker:Kind of interesting when you were saying that.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:my heart was like,
Speaker:I know that story,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:it just shows that there are things to try.
Speaker:Like you said,
Speaker:Atlanta and then the second shop,
Speaker:and just because that didn't work doesn't mean you're not doing
Speaker:things right.
Speaker:It was something that you tested,
Speaker:you saw that it wasn't right.
Speaker:You readjusted back and you're successful based on the things that
Speaker:you're doing here,
Speaker:so I don't think it's bad to try anything.
Speaker:Calculated risk maybe.
Speaker:I'd say don't bet everything and start a retail shop from
Speaker:scratch. That's pretty risky if you ask me.
Speaker:Yeah, don't put all your money out there.
Speaker:I've been taught through the years,
Speaker:we try not to take loans.
Speaker:A lot of retail businesses take loans.
Speaker:The loans will you,
Speaker:if you have your own money,
Speaker:it's better to loan your business,
Speaker:your own money and then be able to pay yourself back.
Speaker:Then pay those interest rates.
Speaker:Yeah, good point.
Speaker:That is something that I've learned through the years.
Speaker:If you don't have the money,
Speaker:then maybe you can do without that extra melter or maybe
Speaker:you should not go into taking on such a large amount
Speaker:of rent each month.
Speaker:If that's the case,
Speaker:take a smaller store,
Speaker:start smaller,
Speaker:you can always go bigger,
Speaker:right. Or wholesale and see how things are going through wholesale
Speaker:accounts to your point.
Speaker:Correct. And so what do you then attribute the retail spot
Speaker:you have now?
Speaker:You said it's more of a tourist market.
Speaker:What do you attribute the success of that store to cause
Speaker:it's still retail.
Speaker:Yes, it is still retail.
Speaker:We have a lot of suppliers that we carry a lot
Speaker:of different things.
Speaker:One thing is my father always his niche years ago was
Speaker:nostalgic candy.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So people coming in,
Speaker:walking down memory lane and in addition to all the new
Speaker:things that are out there,
Speaker:the spicy things,
Speaker:just things that you don't see every day.
Speaker:We try to carry in our store along with the everyday
Speaker:things in addition to the everyday things.
Speaker:We also have the nut-free line.
Speaker:Now the nut-free line has now taken over what was the
Speaker:nostalgic line?
Speaker:We're still doing nostalgic,
Speaker:but a lot of the manufacturers of nostalgic candy have been
Speaker:going out of business in the several past several years.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:I don't know if you know marshmallow cones,
Speaker:they're the two little marshmallows in a thing that looked like
Speaker:a cone.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah, yeah.
Speaker:They have just closed their doors,
Speaker:so you will not be seeing them unless another person,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:another chocolate tier and another candy maker decides to purchase their
Speaker:equipment and try making their product.
Speaker:That was one of our big sellers,
Speaker:marshmallow cones.
Speaker:So as those items start to go away,
Speaker:you need to find another new niche and our niche is
Speaker:the nut-free.
Speaker:Now that's today's world.
Speaker:In addition to the Stalgard candies can be found online.
Speaker:I'm competing with Amazon and that makes it very challenging when
Speaker:you have Amazon involved,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:You referred to this a little bit earlier,
Speaker:especially when we were talking about your retail shop and that
Speaker:you have a certain way you want the business to be
Speaker:presented. And how people will interact with customers,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Can you give us a couple of warnings or thoughts or
Speaker:your impressions of how interactions should be handled in the store?
Speaker:Our policy,
Speaker:and it's also the location where we are as policy,
Speaker:so it's not just our policy alone and it's something that
Speaker:I guess that the village where we are has implemented saying
Speaker:that this is something that's successful,
Speaker:which is as a customer walks in,
Speaker:you say hello,
Speaker:acknowledge who they are,
Speaker:ask them if they need any help,
Speaker:find in anything.
Speaker:If they need help,
Speaker:take the time to walk them through some suggestions.
Speaker:Make sure that you're always smiling,
Speaker:always helpful,
Speaker:being personable.
Speaker:You're always going to have that one customer that comes in
Speaker:that's having a bad day and retail can be challenging because
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:But at the end of the day,
Speaker:you want them to walk out of your store feeling good
Speaker:about themselves and knowing that they want to come back.
Speaker:Yeah, because I think the thing now about retail,
Speaker:it's everything about the experience.
Speaker:You know as you were talking,
Speaker:you can buy pretty much everything online.
Speaker:Amazon, you can have it tomorrow.
Speaker:Even if you're traveling,
Speaker:right? You can have things delivered to your hotel in the
Speaker:day or two.
Speaker:So it's all about the experience and having people feel good
Speaker:about the interaction in your store.
Speaker:Have you ever been in a shop where you walk in?
Speaker:No one says anything to you and they might as well
Speaker:not even be there.
Speaker:It's very awkward.
Speaker:It's super awkward.
Speaker:And then you have the opposite side where someone is like
Speaker:hovering over you as if they think you're a thief or
Speaker:every single thing you pick up and look at,
Speaker:they want to sell it to you.
Speaker:You know when you're just really looking and thinking.
Speaker:I think there's a fine balance.
Speaker:I don't know if it's intuition on behalf of the people
Speaker:who are working in a store.
Speaker:I would tend to say that it probably is like there
Speaker:has to be that fine balance of welcoming them,
Speaker:letting them know that you're available and then backing off and
Speaker:just letting people lock.
Speaker:Yeah, And one of the other things is is today in
Speaker:retail, one of the biggest problems is social media.
Speaker:And reviewing customers and getting a fair review.
Speaker:Unfortunately, a lot of shoppers today are quick to judge you.
Speaker:If they walk into your store,
Speaker:you don't say hello or they feel as though you looked
Speaker:at them funny.
Speaker:You could get a negative comment put up on the internet
Speaker:so everybody can see it.
Speaker:Now these star ratings,
Speaker:you have to be cautious enough to read through and read
Speaker:between the lines that somebody else was having a bad day
Speaker:maybe and they gave you a bad review.
Speaker:As an owner,
Speaker:you have to take the time if you can reply to
Speaker:their comments,
Speaker:but you also have to know when to respond and when
Speaker:not to even open a can of worms in my opinion.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean I bet that's tricky because if there is
Speaker:an issue you want to know about it,
Speaker:you want to try and at least in some way do
Speaker:right by that customer.
Speaker:But then let's also face it,
Speaker:I mean people are so easily able to put a negative
Speaker:review and it's almost like the reviews that usually go up,
Speaker:but people are going to say,
Speaker:Oh, I'm going to say something on social media about this
Speaker:because I think that it's kind of a power move actually.
Speaker:Correct. I agree.
Speaker:Versus just,
Speaker:I don't know what they do well.
Speaker:They could just not come back,
Speaker:which is equally not good.
Speaker:I guess you want to know if there's a problem,
Speaker:but I think people are too trigger happy with social media,
Speaker:I guess I'd say.
Speaker:Yeah, That I agree with that.
Speaker:So are there any tricks or tips that you'd give that
Speaker:help attract people to come into the store?
Speaker:Cause you can't do all this goodness with interacting with customers
Speaker:unless they walk in the door.
Speaker:One of the things that,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and again,
Speaker:we're in a unique situation.
Speaker:We're in a village area so everybody works together pretty much.
Speaker:There's a corporate office that puts things together and festivals have
Speaker:special events.
Speaker:I guess to kind of draw attention to your business would
Speaker:be good.
Speaker:We do several festivals a year.
Speaker:I'm going to say there's almost a festival every month sometimes
Speaker:too, and it takes a lot of time.
Speaker:It takes a lot of effort,
Speaker:but in the end I think it brings more people to
Speaker:you And that is put together by the group of you
Speaker:or The village that you're leasing from?
Speaker:Yes, they put out a calendar of all of our events
Speaker:and they help market it.
Speaker:I mean we pay for that marketing and for everything,
Speaker:but we have our own items.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:on Apple festival we will do candy,
Speaker:apples, caramel apples,
Speaker:and we will advertise that.
Speaker:We'll do cotton candy,
Speaker:which we usually don't usually do in the store,
Speaker:but we'll do a booth outside.
Speaker:I think it's important to do things like that.
Speaker:People get to come out and enjoy different products at the
Speaker:time. They look forward to it,
Speaker:I think as well.
Speaker:Well that sounds good,
Speaker:but for someone who's looking for a retail spot,
Speaker:if they have that type of situation like I know in
Speaker:our community and also the community over there are a specific,
Speaker:apart from the chamber of commerce,
Speaker:there are specific groups that are there.
Speaker:Our whole purpose in living is attracting people into our small
Speaker:hometowns. Our one here is visit bucks County and visit bucks
Speaker:County. I mean we're a member of them and they are
Speaker:fantastic in helping businesses connect with other businesses.
Speaker:So I would even say if your town or wherever you
Speaker:are has something like that.
Speaker:That is also a great Avenue.
Speaker:They do a lot of marketing.
Speaker:You can be teamed up with other businesses and I think
Speaker:that that's something nice to do Well and I'm kind of
Speaker:thinking if you don't have anything like that,
Speaker:you don't necessarily need to throw up your hands.
Speaker:Maybe there are a couple of compatible businesses in your area
Speaker:where you could initiate and maybe find two or three other
Speaker:businesses and do something together.
Speaker:Correct. So it doesn't have to be someone else doing it
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:We can do it for ourselves.
Speaker:What has been a big challenge in your business that you
Speaker:could warn people about and what have you done to figure
Speaker:things out?
Speaker:We've talked about a couple already with the retail shop,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:but can you give us another one?
Speaker:Another one that is a challenge.
Speaker:Employees. Employees are probably my number one challenge and the reason
Speaker:being is it's hard to find people who want to work
Speaker:are reliable,
Speaker:that are within budget and I'm not the only one who
Speaker:says that.
Speaker:All other business owners that I speak to mostly all have
Speaker:the same complaint.
Speaker:It's finding employees to work.
Speaker:I've heard that too.
Speaker:Finding good employees.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:That just goes against my morals I guess like if you
Speaker:have agreed to accept a job,
Speaker:it wouldn't even be on my radar to just not show
Speaker:up. Well,
Speaker:I can go one step further on that.
Speaker:I have placed ads out there.
Speaker:I have had people reply to them,
Speaker:send me their resume,
Speaker:fill out an application.
Speaker:I schedule an interview,
Speaker:they canceled to reschedule to not show up or they just
Speaker:never show up or contact me and it's not a onetime
Speaker:occurrence. We're talking this could be happening.
Speaker:This happened at least three,
Speaker:four times.
Speaker:I've heard it happen to other people.
Speaker:Well too.
Speaker:And retail staff does turn frequently,
Speaker:right? So it's not,
Speaker:I mean you hear that certain person who stayed in retail,
Speaker:not being the owner now,
Speaker:but working the floor and working with customers,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:who has stayed for years.
Speaker:But for the most part there's a lot of transition in
Speaker:your staff.
Speaker:I would imagine There is.
Speaker:And it's mostly our high school girls.
Speaker:We've been very lucky.
Speaker:We have one woman who's been with a 17 years.
Speaker:She, her daughter had started working for us and then she
Speaker:did and she stuck with us.
Speaker:And another one that started with us when she was 15
Speaker:she is now married with a kid and in her thirties
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:So she has gone come back,
Speaker:go and come back and she's back again.
Speaker:She went to college,
Speaker:everything didn't like her field.
Speaker:So she's one of my go to girls in my retail
Speaker:store and then in my factory,
Speaker:the other one has been with us over 10 years.
Speaker:So we do have some of our core people that I
Speaker:will do whatever I can for them and to hold onto
Speaker:them. They are the ones that know the business,
Speaker:they know the product line,
Speaker:which is extremely important if somebody walks into the store or
Speaker:comes ask questions about the products and the wholesale.
Speaker:If your staff doesn't understand the product or know the product,
Speaker:you could possibly lose a sale or they could get misinformation.
Speaker:Well, you're definitely doing something right.
Speaker:When you mean you don't just have one.
Speaker:You have several people who have stayed with you for a
Speaker:long, long time.
Speaker:So apart from people not showing up and rescheduling interviews,
Speaker:is there anything that you look for that you feel kind
Speaker:of weights the scales that they're going to be a good
Speaker:employee? You know,
Speaker:one thing that we've noticed and sometimes it makes it hard
Speaker:to schedule,
Speaker:but if we're talking about the high school kids,
Speaker:we find that the kids are,
Speaker:and I'm not pushing sports or anything,
Speaker:kids are involved in sports,
Speaker:music, some kind of extracurricular activity where they have to be
Speaker:part of a team,
Speaker:have proven to be some of our best employees.
Speaker:I don't know if it's because they're used to having to
Speaker:work together,
Speaker:know that there's a responsibility you need to show up for
Speaker:things. But I find that a lot of our extracurricular activity
Speaker:kids have been very talented.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:It makes sense because there is a responsibility to their teammates
Speaker:or whatever.
Speaker:So they have that already instilled in them.
Speaker:And you know how they say that if you ever need
Speaker:anything done,
Speaker:ask someone who's busy.
Speaker:You know they're already busy but somehow they fit it in
Speaker:and get it done.
Speaker:But I'd never heard that before and that was a great
Speaker:tip. The other kind of side note with that is if
Speaker:their team knows that they work for you,
Speaker:maybe they'll be coming in to say hi and buying some
Speaker:candy. That's true.
Speaker:So there's that.
Speaker:We can put that in the word of mouth sales.
Speaker:They are,
Speaker:they bring their friends in to get an a job as
Speaker:well. Right?
Speaker:We hire friends of employees.
Speaker:Yes. Excellent.
Speaker:So as you look out into the,
Speaker:what do you see happening with Skip's candy,
Speaker:and I'll include the whole nut-free category.
Speaker:Where do you see it all going?
Speaker:Well, I see it getting bigger.
Speaker:I mean that that's always the goal is to grow it.
Speaker:I would like eventually to have a third generation chocolate tier.
Speaker:I do have a third generation chocolate here.
Speaker:Whether or not this is what he wants to do,
Speaker:it's up to him.
Speaker:Does Colton know this yet?
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:He makes a lot of stuff.
Speaker:He has different ideas.
Speaker:He wanted to be a chocolate tier for many years now.
Speaker:He wants to be a police officer.
Speaker:We'll see where it goes.
Speaker:I know people who are third or fourth and even fifth
Speaker:generation in the chocolate business,
Speaker:and that does not mean that he has to jump right
Speaker:in. He can go out and explore other areas,
Speaker:but this is something that I would like to continue and
Speaker:to grow so that if he decides he wants to do
Speaker:it, he can just take it over and have something that
Speaker:is enjoyable.
Speaker:The candy business itself is a fun business.
Speaker:It's a very unique group of people.
Speaker:They're willing to help each other.
Speaker:It's not like other businesses where you see some negativity,
Speaker:some cutthroat.
Speaker:We all help each other.
Speaker:So I think that that,
Speaker:that's also very important.
Speaker:Something that I would like to see somebody who has the
Speaker:passion for it and the love for it,
Speaker:take it over.
Speaker:If my son didn't take it over,
Speaker:as I would get into my retirement years,
Speaker:I would probably go to one of my longterm employees and
Speaker:see if we can't work something out where they would take
Speaker:it and they continue in my path and still let me
Speaker:do whatever once in a while.
Speaker:But the assets,
Speaker:so you still have a hand in,
Speaker:Well I'm guessing no matter what,
Speaker:you'd still be able to walk in and get some free
Speaker:samples here and there,
Speaker:no matter what.
Speaker:That would be part of the contract for sure.
Speaker:Absolutely. At least it would be part of my contract if
Speaker:I had a company like that.
Speaker:Well, it's interesting.
Speaker:I mean I know you're nowhere near that,
Speaker:but it's always something as you look out into the future,
Speaker:these years go faster than we all think.
Speaker:And it's good to think of what the next steps would
Speaker:be even if they're far off.
Speaker:Yes. Wonderful.
Speaker:Well I so appreciate you being on the show today.
Speaker:Where could people go and learn more about Skip's candies?
Speaker:Both from a retail aspect and then we do have shops
Speaker:who may be interested in having some nut-free categories displayed on
Speaker:their shelves as well.
Speaker:So where would you send people If you wanted to go
Speaker:and use the web?
Speaker:We have two different websites.
Speaker:Wholesale website is Skip's Candy's dot com and the retail website
Speaker:is skips candy,
Speaker:corner.com perfect.
Speaker:Okay. And Gift biz listeners.
Speaker:You know there's a show notes page that's going to be
Speaker:attached to the episode.
Speaker:We'll have all the links there as well as social media
Speaker:site links,
Speaker:all the things that we normally do of course.
Speaker:So you can get to Kim and Skip's candies in many
Speaker:ways. So Kim,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:This has been so interesting.
Speaker:I've met you and Mike as we were talking earlier at
Speaker:a trade show when you were exhibiting,
Speaker:and I was honestly,
Speaker:I don't know why this would be,
Speaker:but I was surprised how delicious the candy was and I
Speaker:don't know why I would have thought,
Speaker:I guess I was kind of equating it to sugar-free.
Speaker:I don't know why I would place them in the same
Speaker:category, but now I understand how it's so different and your
Speaker:products are delicious.
Speaker:I absolutely love them.
Speaker:It's been a pleasure having you on hearing your story and
Speaker:really, really great insight and information not only into wholesale perspective
Speaker:but also the retail shops.
Speaker:So I know it's going to be really helpful for all
Speaker:of our listeners here,
Speaker:so I appreciate you being on the show today.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:As someone who has family members with nut allergies,
Speaker:I'm so happy to know more about how skips candies ensures
Speaker:the purity and take serious steps against contamination.
Speaker:A little discouraging that there aren't more federal regulations,
Speaker:but good to know where things stand overall and speaking of
Speaker:federal regulations,
Speaker:we're going to talk about CBD next week.
Speaker:Regardless of where you stand on the CBD topic or if
Speaker:you don't even know what I'm talking about.
Speaker:It's a hot issue these days and only getting more and
Speaker:more popular.
Speaker:You'll get all the details and some things you might not
Speaker:know, even if you think you've got this topic covered.
Speaker:That's all coming up when we get together again next week,
Speaker:and as we close out today,
Speaker:one more reminder,
Speaker:go check out maker's MBA at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash makers MBA.
