Neither inexperience nor arson nor a string of not-so-strategic
alliances could close the doors of Blooming Cookies Catalog Co.,
the Atlanta-based gourmet gift service that today boasts nationwide
distributorship and a blossoming Internet partnership with photo
giant Kodak.
Its customer service motto--"Yes is the answer. What is the
question?"--hints at the dauntless drive that has fueled
Blooming Cookies to annual sales of nearly $3 million. "We
liken ourselves to that little windup toy that keeps hitting the
wall until it finds a way around it," says founder Ann King of
her and partner Ashley Ghegan's work ethic. "That's
who we are."
While watching a TV program one morning in 1984, King, 46, was
impressed by the featured product, long-stemmed roses--unique in
that they were made of chocolate--and an idea was born. "I
thought cookies would make an even better product at the end of the
stem," says King. Drawing on a creativity she didn't know
she possessed, King headed to her local crafts store.
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Packaged for maximum presentation value in a florist's
long-stemmed bouquet box, King's creation was an easy sell to
local businesses on the lookout for innovative gifts for clients.
King made deliveries in a white chef's coat and hat with pink
striped pants "just to get attention."
By entrepreneurial standards, King was off to a great
start--complete with the lessons only experience can teach.
"I'm from Columbus, Georgia, and everybody trusts
everybody down there," says King. "I was not prepared for
the business world." Soon, her inexperience started to
show.
The business was growing, but King couldn't afford to
purchase her own commercial oven, so she contracted with a small
bakery in Smyrna, Georgia. "I didn't have it in writing at
the time that my recipe was proprietary information, so they sold
it to another company they were working with," King says. And
not just any company, says King: "Today, when you stay at a
[nationally recognized hotel chain] and they give you a hot
chocolate chip cookie that says on the bag, `We got this recipe
from a little bakery outside Atlanta, Georgia,' that's my
recipe."
A little sadder, but wiser, King forged ahead. A deal with a
local radio station to give away King's products on the air
required her to find a retail space for her enterprise. "I
couldn't have people come by my house to pick up their
prize," she says. She signed a lease for a 500-square-foot
space tucked away in a small shopping center.
King's real estate agent was quick to quell her fears about
her new location. "[He said,] `Don't worry about the
lease. If you're not successful, we'll let you out of it
because we don't want you here if you're not doing
well,' " recalls King.
Not only did the shop's roof leak, says King, "but you
could have shot a cannon through [the shopping center] at any time
of the day and not even come close to hitting anybody. There was no
traffic. I learned later that you don't go into a shopping
center unless it has an anchor, like a large grocery store, to
bring in traffic."
As the lease ran its course, JC Penney Co. approached King about
doing a large promotion for Mother's Day. Customers would
receive a cookie-filled flower pot that said Happy Mother's Day
on it. Pricing was an issue, and King sought advice from her
accountant. Don't worry--just sell the heck out of the product,
he said. Not satisfied, King turned to a banker friend. "She
came up with a pricing structure and said that if we sold the
flower pots for $2.50 apiece, we'd make $20,000," King
recalls.
But there were unexpected costs King and her banker had not
figured into the equation. "We had to rent freezer trucks [to
ship the pots] to Tampa and Jacksonville," King says. "I
had friends driving these cookie pots everywhere." When the
actual cost of making 5,000 flower pots turned out to be $5 each,
she lost $20,000 on the deal.
It wouldn't be the last time someone "in the know"
would advise her poorly. "I at least had sense enough to know
that I didn't know what I was doing," says King. A visit
to two local small-business assistance centers left her frustrated
when neither counselor she met with could grasp her business
concept.
Being left to her own devices proved a winning formula, however,
as King began to navigate her company as she saw fit. Within the
year, Blooming Cookies was growing like a weed. Yearning for more
freedom to pursue the creative side of the business, she took on a
partner with extensive retail management experience to handle the
company's finances.
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