Frann Edley Of Sugar Plum Chocolates On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Marketing: Years ago, Sugar Plum was running newspaper and radio ads, and that met our needs at the time. But as the media landscape changed, so did our approach to marketing. Today, the majority of our marketing is executed through social media, PR and email. That said, word of mouth remains one of the best advertising routes around — you have to sell yourself!
As a part of our series called “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Frann Edley.
Frann Edley is the founder of Sugar Plum Chocolates. Perfecting her hobby of making chocolate-covered treats, the creative mom, wife, and former teacher knew that hard work and dedication don’t just happen, it’s the foresight and willingness to take the good with the bad and realize that nothing is perfect. In 2002, Frann moved the company into its current factory in Forty Fort, PA where they ship across the country but also offer curbside pick-up. Today, the female-founded chocolate company continues to focus on the larger, chocolatey picture. Sugar Plum sells online, offers curbside pickup and produces candy ingredients for other companies too. Proud of Sugar Plum’s evolution, Frann continues to be fearless for the future and confident in trying new things for the company’s retail and wholesale initiatives. To learn more about Frann and all of Sugar Plum’s sweet treats, visit www.sugar-plum.com.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I grew up in New York and earned my elementary school teaching degree at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. My father owned a commercial bakery business, and his father (my grandfather) ran a successful deli in New York. So, I grew up in an environment learning how successful businesses were run and where entrepreneurship was encouraged. Some may say entrepreneurialism has always been in my blood.
However, as I wanted to raise my children and be a hands-on Mother, I knew I didn’t want to start my own business before they were young adults. Once my children were independent and focused on their education and entering their careers, that’s when I pivoted my career and focus to opening my own business.
Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?
I initially started creating chocolates on a bridge card-playing table. I would melt the chocolate in our crockpot and microwave popcorn to create treats. After making homemade goodies for family, friends, and local events, I knew there was a greater demand for these types of treats, and I started to approach how I create treats differently. Eventually, the demand grew so great that I decided to open my first store on March 1, 1995, in Wilkes Barre, PA.
However, I was only in that space for one year, as the business grew even more. In fact, the business continued to outgrow spaces and needed to relocate three times within 5 years! In 1996, the Sugar Plum website launched, and just four short years later, Sugar Plum was officially selling online and nationwide.
In 2002, I moved the company into its current factory in Forty Fort, PA and kept multiple retail stores in the Kingston, PA area. Eighteen years later, I opted to close the brick and mortars and work full time from the factory, where we ship across the country but also offer curbside pick-up. Today, Sugar Plum Chocolates continues to focus on the larger, chocolatey picture. Sugar Plum sells online, offers curbside pickup and makes candy ingredients for other companies too.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
As I mentioned above, I moved our confectionery three times in five years, because I thought since we were doing well, we should expand. At the time, we were an all-retail based business, and not manufacturing. What I learned was, we were a small fish in a big pond, but had underestimated our potential and skills. I knew we didn’t want to have to keep picking up and moving, so we finally settled into our current space in Forty Fort, PA, and haven’t looked back (or moved!).
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Not planning. You can’t rush into a product; you need to foster it just like you would any other business idea or relationship. Foster its growth, love it, push it, understand it.
I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs over the years make the mistake of thinking that just because their business is growing, they should expand rapidly. As the famous saying goes, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
I was always the creative mind behind Sugar Plum rather than the nuts and bolts of the business end. So, I had to learn what Sugar Plum was from a business perspective rather than simply a creative one.
When I started the business, you didn’t hear a lot about women in business (at least not where I was located), so I felt like a pioneer. However, I researched and met other professional women and female entrepreneurs, and eventually started groups, so I and others could learn how to grow in a smart way, while also supporting one another at the same time.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
Plan, plan, and then plan some more. You can’t start at the top; you have to work your way up. It’s great to think big, but you also have to work smart. Know that it’s OK to take your time in building your business, and don’t give into outside pressures to grow your business too rapidly. Outside opinions will constantly be knocking at your door but stay true to your vision and plan your growth in a thoughtful way that doesn’t compromise your product or service.
Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?
If you’re starting a business, you’re going to face a lot of hurdles; so you can’t let these temporary obstacles get you down or halt your process. I advise anyone starting a business to create a business plan, so you have a roadmap that works for YOU (not someone else). As I mentioned before, plan, plan, and then plan again. If you jump into a business without any guidelines (a plan or strategy), you’ll feel overwhelmed, start to lose momentum, and maybe not be able to see your dream business come to fruition.
There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?
I would advise working on your own to get in touch with the roots of your business and vision for growth. Once your business is launched and growing, then consider bringing in a consultant to help project steady growth and provide support.
That said, I strongly recommend having a solid internal team working alongside you. You can’t do everything yourself, so having a strong support system / team is going to help you personally and the business in the long run.
What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?
I’m all in on Bootstrapping. I can’t emphasize enough that you *need* to learn the business. Plus, if you’re working with someone with higher stakes, such as a VC, they can have the power to pull your business right out from under you.
Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?
Start with good old-fashioned research. Understand who your competitors are, who your target clients / consumers are and what they want and understand if you can fulfill a need in a new or more unique way.
Secondly, grow your network. Fill your network with likeminded individuals, network online and in-person, and learn as much as you can from the people you surround yourself with. Then, once you launch your business, I promise you, this network of people will be some of the first to support your business and help grow your client / consumer base.
Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why?
- Come up with your idea. For example, Sugar Plum was selling gift baskets, and we wanted to sell them in retail and corporate.
- Strive for success but understand that every idea you have may not be successful (and you can’t let this get you down). At one point, Sugar Plum was making a specific kind of cupcakes — Chup Cakes. We had custom packaging, they tasted great, and customers loved them. However, when we looked at the bottom line and sales, we learned that they were too time-consuming to make, and we couldn’t make them as cost effective as we needed to. Luckily, this was during the cupcake peak, and while we created an excellent product, specialty / unique cupcakes were never going to be the ‘bread and butter’ of our business; so we decided to stop creating them and focus on other products that customers loved and were profitable.
- Research and test. One day, we had a customer who wanted chocolate bars. So, we started developing different flavors, tested them, taste-tested, garnered feedback and took a poll. Through this trial-and-error time during product development, we learned that just because we liked a certain flavor of candy bar, didn’t mean that everyone else did. The lesson here is that you need to ensure your product is well received by your target audience before you order an abundance of ingredients and packaging. Feel secure in your product, then plan for expansion.
- Source. It’s easy to be tempted to utilize ingredients from a vendor you’ve known for a long time or one that you’ve used in the past; but it’s really important that you shop around and source ingredients that meet your quality check, as well as offer the best prices for your business. You need to source at the right price point if you’re selling wholesale. At Sugar Plum, we took the time to secure our costs upfront, which lead us to securing exclusive contracts / private label deals with many large retailers.
- Marketing: Years ago, Sugar Plum was running newspaper and radio ads, and that met our needs at the time. But as the media landscape changed, so did our approach to marketing. Today, the majority of our marketing is executed through social media, PR and email. That said, word of mouth remains one of the best advertising routes around — you have to sell yourself!
Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about’?
Taking a product that people love and redeveloping it into something unique. For example, everyone knows about chocolate bunnies during Easter, but we realized zombies were trending. So, we developed a Zombie Bunny. And our customers love it. The Food Network even came here to film us making it in our kitchen!
Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I consistently give back to my local community — whether I volunteer or provide monetary donations. Sugar Plum also gives away a lot of product to support fundraisers. You need to stay in touch with your community and causes that are important to you and give back any way you can. You can make all of the money in the world, but if you’re not putting money back into your community or causes you’re passionate about, you’ll never be as fulfilled or successful as you want to be.
You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
You never know what your idea can trigger. We bring a taste of happiness to the world. Our products put a smile on people’s faces. And the world needs more of that.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Frann Edley Of Sugar Plum Chocolates On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.