6 months growing my business challenge

[Franci]

Here I am, back with a full list of tasks ahead of me! 

 

New employee started last week, she needs a little bit of time to get familiar with the recipes. On Friday I went around in Manhattan with samples of cakes and  I was especially curious about the feedback on the new product. I brought it to a Italian friend of mine, he is a chef, working around  the East village and he loved it.  And I acquired one new customer on Friday. 

 

The videos are taking a lot of my time. My husband warned me. It's very slow to build followers and for now I've not had a great result also as traffic on the website. I feel all this requires either a big investment in terms of money or in terms of time. 

 

I also have a couple weeks time to write all I need for the ecommerce: product descriptions, shipping policy, terms and conditions...Ah,ah, the more I write down what need to be done, the more I am panicking   but really if I don't write it down it will take me months! 

[rotuts]

thank you for taking the time to allow us to follow along

 

we ll, mostly Me !

 

 

I know that you will be very successful at some point.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Some of you eG members who would like to help Franci and are members of Facebook, Pinterest or some of the other sites that allow you to share her videos, may want to go to her videos on YouTube. They are autofeeding now, so it would be easy to like them and share them with sites where you are a member. Just a suggestion, of course, but I feel that I'm not the only one who wishes our own Franci much success. These things start slowly, but once they take off on the web, it can become big quickly. We can help.

 

When I liked her video on YouTube a whole bar of different sites I could share it came up. Unfortunately, I'm not a member of any of them, but some people here that I think might want to help her are.  

[Franci]

@Thanks for the Crepes Thanks you! So nice of you thinking this  Very much appreciated!

[Franci]

Update on what happened this month. The new person that I just hired in August resigned  by email with no notice. A lot of my time is devoted to bake in the kitchen until I find a replacement. So grateful I still have one guy with me that is really great. 

I’ve also spent a lot of time on the new product. Thank to @Kerry Beal that helped me to acquire a used Thermomix, I feel my new product on the production is easily repeatable, which was not the case before the machine...I am just waiting for the wrap, which has been printing in Italy to introduce it to the market.I’ll tell you more about this in the next couple weeks. 

I am also having second thoughts on starting the ecommerce. I feel at this stage the appearance of the cakes will suffer too much and also it will require too much of my time on packaging and shipping. I want to try to get more wholesale business. But that’s also though. Maybe I will need a brainstorming session with you guys 

[KennethT]

@FranciSorry to hear about the issues with your employee... unfortunately, that type of thing is all too common.  I can understand your feelings about ecommerce.  I'm a manufacturer (of electrical products, not food) and we are mostly wholesale, but a do a small amount of online retail. While the overall margin is greater with retail, when you take all the aspects into account (shipping and handling time, order processing, answering questions/emails, etc.) I still find it more profitable to sell wholesale... and it is a lot easier and less taxing on sales pressures.  The only issue is that when you have some large accounts, you need to constantly make sure that they are happy with quality/service because they represent a larger portion of revenue, proportionally than any single retail sale could ever be.

[Franci]

@Kenneth thanks, although the field is different, I really appreciate your input . To have a good product is simply not enough...right?  So many more aspect to consider. I am back on thinking what to do next. 

[Franci]

Hi guys. I’ve just started selling my new product this week, I’ve delivered the first 3 cases. I finally received the wrap from Italy. It is a patented paper, love the way it looks. And I am heat sealing it. 

 

 

And here is the new product. A classic Italian: chocolate salami. I thought it was a classic but still I get a lot of funny faces, people thinking of a salami with meat. 

The actual salami is the one on the right, with Valrhona cocoa powder (the salami on the left was made with a different cocoa for comparison)

 

 

I was thinking for tying them like a real salami but it was suicide! I think it’s highly addictive and delicious. Hopefully I can start selling it online in November. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Franci (log)

[cakewalk]

They are beautiful!

[KennethT]

@Franci wow... That looks great. I would love it! Once the wrapper is opened, how long does it last?

[Shelby]

Franci, I am so happy for you!!!!! 

[Alex]

Those look good enough to eat. Will they be in any of the retail shops that sell your baked goods?

[Franci]

1 hour ago, cakewalk said:

They are beautiful!

Thank you

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

@Franci wow... That looks great. I would love it! Once the wrapper is opened, how long does it last?

 

For now I put an expiration date of 6 weeks. I need to make a longer lab test analysis. But I personally had some that were 2 months old. 

 

 

19 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Franci, I am so happy for you!!!!! 

 

Thanks Shelby  

11 minutes ago, Alex said:

Those look good enough to eat. Will they be in any of the retail shops that sell your baked goods?

 

For now I only delivered to Fleisher’s Craft Butchery in the UES in Manhattan, Dellapietras butcher in Brooklyn and Caputo’s Fine Foods in Brooklyn. But I think these salamis can be easily be shipped anywhere. I am going to start to contact places all over to see to place them. 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Franci (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I'm so excited for you Franci!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'm so excited for you Franci!

Me too!  

[Franci]

@Kerry Beal the Thermomix was essential! Thanks so much  

@Anna N I hoping it does well! Timing is good. Not too far away from Thanksgiving. 

[rotuts]

terrific !

 

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Franci said:

@Kerry Beal the Thermomix was essential! Thanks so much  

@Anna N I hoping it does well! Timing is good. Not too far away from Thanksgiving. 

 

Franci, the timing really does look good.  I can see these being featured at some Christmas and New Year's parties.  They look beautiful and tempting - both wrapped and unwrapped!

[quiet1]

My mother actually NEEDS one of those for her birthday (in December) as long as there isn't too much sodium. Where can I find the nutritional information (she's on a low sodium diet  ) and any idea who might be able to ship one to me? It doesn't look like you're doing mail order from your website. But it would be a super gift for her as she likes fancy chocolates and she loves charcuterie but with the sodium restrictions most tasty preserved meats are really not in her diet.

 

ETA: I'm picturing this for a party as part of a dessert 'cheese' plate which has items similar to what you'd find on a cheese/charcuterie plate but with a dessert spin, so not as heavy on the savory flavors. I think it'd be quite fun and a good conversation piece.

Edited October 28, 2017 by quiet1 (log)

[Franci]

On 10/27/2017 at 11:46 PM, quiet1 said:

My mother actually NEEDS one of those for her birthday (in December) as long as there isn't too much sodium. Where can I find the nutritional information (she's on a low sodium diet  ) and any idea who might be able to ship one to me? It doesn't look like you're doing mail order from your website. But it would be a super gift for her as she likes fancy chocolates and she loves charcuterie but with the sodium restrictions most tasty preserved meats are really not in her diet.

 

ETA: I'm picturing this for a party as part of a dessert 'cheese' plate which has items similar to what you'd find on a cheese/charcuterie plate but with a dessert spin, so not as heavy on the savory flavors. I think it'd be quite fun and a good conversation piece.

 

 

Sorry @quiet1 for the late response. 

 

Here is the nutritional info 

 

 

I hope I’ll be able to start selling online by the of November. But in case email and I’ll happy to arrange. 

 

[Steve R.]

We had friends coming over for a holiday dinner last night, so we went to our usual neighborhood butcher, Della Pietra.   While there, we picked up a limoncello cake for dessert.  Everyone loved it.

 I just figured that this would be a good time to let you know that, whenever we’ve been in there, the guys at Della Pietra have regularly been overheard recommending your baked goods.

Sorry you’re leaving Brooklyn.  Best wishes in Florida.

[Alex]

2 hours ago, Steve R. said:

We had friends coming over for a holiday dinner last night, so we went to our usual neighborhood butcher, Della Pietra.   While there, we picked up a limoncello cake for dessert.  Everyone loved it.

 I just figured that this would be a good time to let you know that, whenever we’ve been in there, the guys at Della Pietra have regularly been overheard recommending your baked goods.

Sorry you’re leaving Brooklyn.  Best wishes in Florida.

 

Florida?

[Smithy]

4 minutes ago, Alex said:

 

Florida?

 

Miami, Florida.

[Alex]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

Miami, Florida.

 

Ah, thank you. I'll be in NYC in March, so perhaps I'll have an opportunity to enjoy Franci's cakes in person, so to speak.

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, Steve R. said:

We had friends coming over for a holiday dinner last night, so we went to our usual neighborhood butcher, Della Pietra.  

Wait...you cooked?