Planning to start your own chocolate shop and looking for some tips? Here are 4 steps that will give you a clear vision on how to proceed.
Define your target, location and name
First of all, you should specify who you should be selling chocolate to. Targeting individuals and private events such as wedding, engagements, and newborn would be a good start for your business.
Second of all, a location for your shop must be chosen. After defining your target as individuals, look for an available spot in a crowded place, like in the center of the city, or in a mall. Somewhere you can attract pedestrians and passersby.
In the meantime, you should be thinking of a name for your shop. Pick an attractive name that is easy to remember and that people can directly associate with chocolate. Make it a reference. Don't forget the sign.
Determine what will you be selling
As a chocolate seller, you have a wide variety of sweets to offer. At this point, the best choice to make is to please all tastes. Keep the options open by offering the main types: milk, white and dark chocolate. Extend your product line by adding mixture of chocolate with different fillings (nuts, coffee, pistachio... ).
After deciding on your product line, start looking for a trustworthy chocolate factory. Compare the quality of chocolate provided by different chocolatier and choose the supplier that offers you the best products. For the consistency of your business establish a long-term relation with your provider.
Now that you have secured your product, it's time to package it to please the demand. Some might want to offer a sweet gift, others might want to distribute chocolate during events. Therefore, you need to present pre-packaged gift items with attractive wrappings, customized boxes, and tags of your brand name. Also, you can hire a designer to create tailor made chocolate decorations for events. Put all your personality and creativity to double the happiness of your customers during a birth or a wedding celebration by giving life to your chocolate.
Decorate your shop
Your location and products are ready, so you can move to the fun part of decorating your shop. Get in touch with an interior designer to set the decor. Create a charming vitrine, as it's the first thing that attracts the passersby's attention. Display your most fascinating items to engage people and push them to enter. Once they do, the decoration inside the shop must increase their appetites. This will be achieved with the colors used. Red, orange and yellow are the most appetite stimulant colors. Use them on your walls, shelves, and covers. Stay away from using black, brown, gray and purple. Those colors are known for cutting the desire for food.
Acquire customer loyalty
Are you ready to welcome customers now? Not yet. The final step is to determine the experience lived inside your shop. Start by greeting them with a smile, a genuine one of course. Then, assist them and understand what they are looking for. Don't leave them alone. You and your staff should answer all questions and act as consultants. Therefore, you should educate your team about the production process and ingredients of each item. Bottom line, turn your personnel into chocolate experts.
Spending this quality time to advise your visitors will help you build tight relationships and, therefore, increase customer loyalty. In addition, following up on your services will increase your customer satisfaction, which will make them come back. So don't forget to pick up the phone and ask your client for feedback on the chocolates received for a specific event.
Congratulations, now you are ready to start your business as a chocolate shop. Remember, everything you do must be for the best of the customer. Get your visitors attached to your products and quality of service you offer. Good luck!
Crystal Chocolatier is a chocolate factory established in 1998, providing a wide variety of unwrapped chocolate; from milk, white and dark chocolate with fillings to mixture of chocolate and dip in chocolate.
