Specialty Food Store Pairs with Gift Basket Business for Success
Read the full story about Top Taste, a full service specialty food store that created a special niche for business in Sioux City, Iowa. When owner Brent Fowler bought the business over 5 years ago, he decided to add a new twist to his food market not seen before in his city. To the basic grocery store items that the store had been carrying, he added fine foods, candies, and chocolates, baked goods, and natural foods to his product line. More importantly, he committed to learning all about the products he carried so that he could foster “shoppers’ initial hesitation with unfamiliar products into zealous discovery”. He created a unique shopping experience for his customers!
Fowler also discovered that “building gifts into year-round sales offers major growth potential. He recently brought in a nearby gift basket merchant, Balloons, Bears and Bouquets, to sublease part of the store.” The basket business, which was primarily a phone order business, was a perfect complement to his business. He and the basket business owner created a website, www.toptastegourmet.com, and they offer upgraded gourmet gift baskets in addition to standard baskets available year-round. Products used in the baskets include both the items that had always been used by the gift basket designer along with more ususual foods and gifts that Fowler carries in his market.
Pairing a gift basket business with a specialty food market is a natural combination. Visit your local food or meat market or bakery and see how your design skills might be used to enhance the market’s business. You may find that you are reaching a new customer base that regularly goes to the market, but never considered the idea of a gourmet basket.
1 comment March 24th, 2007