Boring business musing
Sep. 20th, 2004 08:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraSo yesterday a couple from the Napa Valley came into the store. They own a couple of successful businesses up there, skimming the cream – or should that be tartar? – off the wine groupies.
They loved the store. “We’d be very interested in buying a franchise,” they told us.
This is not the first time business people have said the word franchise to me but for some reason their interest made the concept palpable. “Sure, there are other hot sauce stores,” said the guy. “And some of them have better selections. But you’ve integrated the chili theme and concept more fully than any other place I’ve ever seen. This place is a blast!”
“We’re a year away from franchise possibilities,” I told them in my best imitation of someone who knows what she’s talking about. “But certainly, it’s part of the business model.”
They left their card. “Call us when you’re ready,” they said.
Now what, you may be wondering, would stop them from starting their own hot sauce store in St Helena?
I know I wondered.
Evidently I am very good on creative concept.
I think Monterey with its dying economy may be the wrong place for a store like mine. Niche stores depend on volume and tourists just aren’t coming to Monterey anymore or if they come for special events – The Jazz Festival, Cherries Jubilee – they’ve shot their wad on gasoline, hotels, overpriced restaurants. The store would be doing much better if it were some place else like Sacramento’s Old Town or the 4th Street district in Berkeley.
Also, of course, in the best Jones Soda tradition, we need to move beyond distribution and into manufacturing. Certainly the SLOW Burn branded hot sauce series, but it’s not worth our while to develop flavors ourselves, much better to OEM from a small, cheap, local producer, spend a few bucks on splashy labels but focus product development on things with a short shelf life like cookies and candies. SparX made a very big splash at the NYC Fancy Foods Show. Proof of the business model – there’s nothing to stop me from developing a similar product line on the west coast.
They loved the store. “We’d be very interested in buying a franchise,” they told us.
This is not the first time business people have said the word franchise to me but for some reason their interest made the concept palpable. “Sure, there are other hot sauce stores,” said the guy. “And some of them have better selections. But you’ve integrated the chili theme and concept more fully than any other place I’ve ever seen. This place is a blast!”
“We’re a year away from franchise possibilities,” I told them in my best imitation of someone who knows what she’s talking about. “But certainly, it’s part of the business model.”
They left their card. “Call us when you’re ready,” they said.
Now what, you may be wondering, would stop them from starting their own hot sauce store in St Helena?
I know I wondered.
Evidently I am very good on creative concept.
I think Monterey with its dying economy may be the wrong place for a store like mine. Niche stores depend on volume and tourists just aren’t coming to Monterey anymore or if they come for special events – The Jazz Festival, Cherries Jubilee – they’ve shot their wad on gasoline, hotels, overpriced restaurants. The store would be doing much better if it were some place else like Sacramento’s Old Town or the 4th Street district in Berkeley.
Also, of course, in the best Jones Soda tradition, we need to move beyond distribution and into manufacturing. Certainly the SLOW Burn branded hot sauce series, but it’s not worth our while to develop flavors ourselves, much better to OEM from a small, cheap, local producer, spend a few bucks on splashy labels but focus product development on things with a short shelf life like cookies and candies. SparX made a very big splash at the NYC Fancy Foods Show. Proof of the business model – there’s nothing to stop me from developing a similar product line on the west coast.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 05:24 pm (UTC)putting the coop back in coopt
Date: 2004-09-20 05:30 pm (UTC)Re: putting the coop back in coopt
Date: 2004-09-20 05:36 pm (UTC)"Putting the coop back into coopt" makes it sound like you're performing chicken imitations though.