Wade Armstrong

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We Mean Business: Berry Elegance

Posted Wednesday November 5, 2008 in Entrepreneurship

This week, the We Mean Business team takes on Berry Elegance, a store that makes berries and other desserts dipped in chocolate. Berry Elegance is stalled, with sales falling short and the two owners in disagreement on how to run the business.

It quickly becomes clear that the problems are:

• Location offers few opportunities for walk-ins
• Average sale per customer is small - just a few dollars
• In-store merchandising is unattractive and unclear
• The point-of-sales system is truly abysmal
• One owner, Todd, acts like a dictator
• The other owner, Amy, is rarely in the store

Their Solution

The team really tackles the problems with verve this week. Peter Gurski redesigns the store to bring a much more Godiva Chocolates-type vibe, with clean organization of the space and luxurious colors. Bill Rancic gets Todd to reconsider how difficult he’s being, and gets tough with Amy to try to get her to commit time to the store. Unfortunately, it seems he’s not so successful; this single mother wants to spend even less time at work and more time with her son. Rancic also aggressively tackles the low per-customer sale by setting up the owners with event and wedding planners who can make bulk orders multiple times a year. Katie Linendoll finally contributes by setting up a good point-of-sales system - although it is made over-complex by bar-coding everything - and inventory-tracking with QuickBooks, and, best of all, a laptop that Amy can take home so that she can get her work done around her son.

My Recommendation

First of all, I’m very worried about Berry Elegance’s location. In a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, just north of Los Angeles, they’re not likely to get a lot of walk-ins. They’d be better off in a location with a ton of foot traffic, like a mall. Berry Elegance seems to be the kind of shop that does very well in a small stall in a mall, with a lot of people walking past every day, ready to spend a couple of bucks on a treat. I realize that the store probably can’t get out of its lease, but more foot traffic would probably make a big difference.

I also am concerned that Rancic’s come-to-Jesus talk with Amy didn’t make her more invested in the business. She seems to feel that having her own business will give her more time with her son, which will be true once her business is successful but isn’t until then. Todd and Amy need to split up the tasks they do so that Amy can find some that she can take home - advertising, sales calls (which she seems to be suited to), and maybe even some bookkeeping can be done at home. That way, she could spend 15-20 hours at the store and the rest with her son. This could’ve been a fun on-screen conversation.

Linendoll did a much better job this time, but I’m not sure they needed a fancy point-of-sales system. How many items do they really sell? (It’s not that many.) While having computerized inventory is handy, here’s a place where sweat can substitute for cash for a start-up. A store like Berry Elegance should buy the simplest register that they can and update inventory by hand daily or weekly, at a cost of a few hours of the owners’ (free!) time. I’m also not sure what she’s getting at with the big flat-screens with slideshows that she puts up in every episode; rather than a $2-$3000 flat-screen, why not buy a Fotoflot at the same size for only $235? For a business owner who’s not getting it free from Dell, that’s much nicer to the cash flow. Frankly, the biggest tech investment Berry Elegance needs to make is in a Web site and online advertising. Red Envelope, a top corporate gifts site, is associated with Shari’s Berries, a store just like Berry Elegance. Can Berry Elegance find a good partner online? Can Berry Elegance learn anything from the design of Shari’s Berries Web site?

Finally, Berry Elegance needs to continue to advertise to get volume orders. Corporate gifts are an obvious idea, and a direct mail campaign, with coupons to try some free berries, to area businesses should pay off well. They should send their mailers to receptionists and administrative assistants, who rarely get mail addressed directly to them and who are the ones who really make the gift decisions at most companies. Gurski could’ve pitched in on the design of a mailer in a fun 20-30 second montage.

More Thoughts on the Show

I was impressed with this episode. Bill Rancic showed a lot more charisma than he had before, and really appeared to be the star of the show. The moment of change also finally didn’t include any whining from the We Mean Business team, although Linendoll continues to look down her nose at the show’s subjects. The camerawork is still jerky and filled with excessive motion, although it’s better than before. It seems like the show really is starting to come together.