CANDY BOUqUET

							candy Bouquet
www.candybouquet.com
    candy Bouquet

Sweet treatS
into franch
2
                                                                    cB     food & drinK




 S flower
hiSe fortune
 Sometimes it is the simple ideas that bloom into business gold. For Margaret McEntire,
 the combination of flowers and chocolate proved to be just that. Creating unique gift
 bouquets made not with petals, but from beautifully arranged candy and chocolates,
 McEntire turned her basement business into a franchise empire. For more than 22 years,
 Candy Bouquet has been an extraordinarily successful franchise and has more than 550
 locations across the globe. This issue, The Canadian Business Journal explores why this
 simple idea is such a great investment.
4    SECTION • Company




    Candy Bouquets are gift arrangements          Accolades abound
sent for occasions. “I had a dream that flowers   McEntire now has Candy Bouquet franchisees
and candy could somehow roll together.            all over the world and has won numerous awards
Florists had been toying with the idea 30 years   and accolades over the years for her franchise
before I got to it,” says McEntire. “You would    model. Most recently, in January of 2011, Candy
see bouquets with a box of chocolates tied        Bouquet was awarded the No.1 Top Franchise
on the front. I think that basically I just got   Deal in the ‘Low Cost’ Category by Entrepreneur
the idea perfected.” McEntire started her first   Magazine’s Franchise 500 issue.
business out of her home with a mere $1,000.          It is no surprise that Candy Bouquet is the
Through successes and failures and a lot of       world’s largest candy franchise, likely because
hard work, McEntire realized the business had     of the simple structure and ease of starting the
incredible potential as a franchise.              business. A Candy Bouquet franchise has a
                                                  relatively low startup cost, allowing more people to
                                                                     JUNE 2011 • The Canadian Business Journal   5




                                                                 rockmann’s Chocolate is a
                                                                 private label manufacturer of
                                                           premium chocolates. Located in
                                                     Delta, BC, Canada, we are dedicated to
                                    our founders’ principles of quality, reliability, service and
                                           tradition. All natural, premium, no preservatives,
                                           no trans fats, no artificial colours or flavours —
                                       are hallmarks of our lovingly crafted brand, Truffini.
                                     Only the best goes into our — and your — products.

                                   To see our full line of products, please visit           www.truffini.com

                                   Congratulations to                      for their continued success!

  7863 Progress Way, Delta, BC, Canada v4g 1a3 t: 604 946 4111 F: 604 946 4114 E: info@brockmannchocolate.com




enter into business for themselves. There are no              ness, arrange the bouquets, design their store-
high franchise and royalty fees, allowing those with          front, and other useful additions.
an entrepreneurial spirit—rather than $1 million in                Every new franchisee attends a weeklong
startup capital—to start a Candy Bouquet franchise.           training conference which outlines the basics of
    “It’s an easy thing to do because you can do              business that someone needs to know. This in-
it from your home,” says McEntire, who has fran-              cludes such things as inventory control, product
chisees operating Candy Bouquet’s from both                   pricing, marketing and advertising, accounting—
their homes, as well as in highly visible retail              pretty much any aspect of business an owner
areas such as malls or hospitals. There are no                may need to know, wrapped up neatly into a well-
royalty fees to pay, simply a small monthly asso-             organized one week course.
ciation fee. In exchange for this, Candy Bouquet’s
valued franchisees are given the support they                 Future forecast
need and advice on how to manage their busi-                  Candy Bouquet is an easy model to roll out on
6    SECTION • Company




a global scale, and the standard introduction        says. Given the easily translation of the brand
package for franchisees is now operational           into multiple markets, it seems entirely likely.
in other business environments as well.” It is           During the recent economic downturn, small
something that will work worldwide and I don’t       nice businesses such gift or flower shops were
think there are a lot of franchisees that can do     particularly hard hit. “It was tough on every fran-
that,” says McEntire. “The entire world loves        chise company you can think of,” says McEntire
candy and they love flowers.                         of the recession. Fortunately, Candy Bouquet
    “We are teaching in three different countries    has a strong brand, a resilient business model,
this week; we have a class in Saudi Arabia right     and a smart, strategic leader at the helm that
now.” Further global expansion is definitely some-   helped to carry it through.
thing McEntire has her eye on. “China and India          “Fortunately I am an extremely conservative
are two markets we would like to break into,” she    person and I don’t have bank loans against the
                                                        JUNE 2011 • The Canadian Business Journal       7




business. We had some cash and held on to it       speech, ‘Never, never, never give up’, she says
and we survived it, but I did have some stores     this is a secret to success.
that we lost. These were small candy stores and        “I think that is such a key, especially in any
we saw a lot of these types of businesses go       kind of small business. People say you have to
under at that time. Fortunately we have a lot of   give something five years and that is so true.”
home-based businesses, and that saved a lot of     Candy Bouquet is a perfect example of how that
my franchisees.”                                   sentiment rings resoundingly true. cB
    Candy Bouquet has been in business a long
time, and has proven time and again to be a        www.candyBouquet.com
business worth an investment. As for McEntire,
what is her philosophy for running a business?
Quoting Winston Churchill’s famous five word
  aS Seen in the June 2011 iSSue
of the canadian BuSineSS Journal