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EDIBLE GIFTS
Practical is a important concept these days. How can you express your appreciation or congratulations with something practical? Send an edible gift! There’s nothing more practical than food. And edible gifts allow you to use your creativity to the max.
Of course, giving a box of chocolates is perhaps the granddaddy of all edible gift giving. But fruit arrangements made to look like a bouquet of flowers—melons shaped like daisies and strawberries atop long skewers—are an attractive option. And there are other possibilities for edible arrangements: homemade chocolates (always a welcome sight), or fudge can be hardened around a stick, which allows you to use them decoratively. Cookies are also a food item with great flexibility. Again, you can embed Popsicle or lollipop sticks into the dough before it cooks, which allows you to make unique creations.
Another edible gift is the old-fashioned gingerbread house. You don’t have to relegate this to Christmas. Making a gingerbread house portrait of a family home can make a great housewarming present. Or mimic something in a favorite children’s book and eat the house at a kid’s birthday party.
Edible gifts are great fun, and the possibilities are as endless as your own imagination.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
This business involves perishables and edible arrangements often require refrigeration. You need to have stamina to withstand the stress of dealing with perishable items. If you create a menu of specific items, you will quickly learn exactly how much to purchase of each item you use in any one edible creation. And most things are so easy to get these days that you can order a lot of the more perishable items last minute and per order. You may want to keep some extra on hand to cover those unexpected orders. Also, find a storefront that might carry a couple of your creations on consignment. If you end up ordering more than you need for a specific order because the supplier has a minimum, you can make up a couple of extras and display them on consignment.
HOW DO YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR DAY?
You will spend your days putting food items together into your edible gifts. The hardest part about a business such as this is the rush at holidays such as Mother’s Day and Christmas. You can be overwhelmingly busy a few select times a year. Your challenge will be to stay busy all times of the year.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
Depending on what you decide to offer for edibles, you may need a refrigerator to store perishables. If your business starts to grow, you can purchase a used florist cooler for your finished products.
MARKETING ANGLE
Definitely emphasize the practicality of your edible gifts. People have to eat, and most people love to eat—what better gift to give than one that is edible? There is little waste, and, depending on what you put together, the gift can be nourishing and shared with others.
Don’t leave it up to people to think of you when they need to give a gift. Remind them that what you offer would be a perfect graduation gift or a new baby gift. People these days want to have some of the creative thought done for them.
NICE TOUCH
In your delivered edibles, include a coupon for the recipient worth 10 percent off one order. If they enjoyed their gift, the discount coupon can be one more incentive for them to think of you when they need to acknowledge someone.
EXPANSION POSSIBILITIES
One way to expand is to buy into the franchise business, Edible Arrangements has become popular but is still not on every street corner. You will probably have to give up your own edible gifts business, but it may have provided you with the funding to buy into the franchise.
If franchising seems too corporate, you can expand beyond the arrangements idea and sell edible gifts and tins, and perhaps incorporate the edible gift baskets idea covered earlier.
WORDS TO KNOW
Dipped: One way to dress up an edible arrangement is to include chocolate-dipped berries.
Tower: A popular type of arrangement where multiple containers, each slightly smaller than the last, contain different items and are stacked and tied at the top.
RESOURCES