In our new blog series, “Getting There,” we ask professionals and experts what it takes to be successful and what kinds of advice they can offer. And, as we believe the concepts of curiosity, creativity and communications are vital to contributing to the success of any endeavor, we are also interested in knowing which they have utilized most often and how.
Charles Smith
Daytona Beach, Florida
Charles Smith is owner and candymaker of Angell and Phelps Chocolate Factory.
How did you get your start?
My dad was raised in Holly Hill, Florida and never had a lot of money. He would have been voted least likely to succeed in high school. But, he was determined and decided to make a name for himself and eventually, went to medical school. He became a doctor and as a way to prove to others and himself, became a regular customer of the Angell and Phelps Chocolate Factory, the store where he was not able to afford to buy their chocolates growing up. He became one of their best customers. He got to know the owner and said to him that if he ever wanted to sell the business, to let him know, because he knew a kid who could run it — me. And, that’s what happened. I started in 1983.
Tell me about Angell and Phelps.
We maintain a reputation that was started by the two women who founded the company in 1925 by using the highest quality ingredients in all our products. We still use some of their recipes in making our chocolate. We also strive for excellent customer service. We have free samples and offer a tour where visitors can watch our chocolate being made. We have a wide variety of chocolate products for discerning customers.
What kind of advice do you have for those considering a career in retail chocolate?
Do your homework. Make sure you use only the highest quality ingredients and that you have the appropriate financing for start-up. We are debt-free at Angell and Phelps, but you need to make sure you have enough capital to start and run the business. And, one of the key expenses in your budget should be for advertising and marketing.
How do you use curiosity, creativity or communications?
We use all three. We continually try to be creative with our products, especially with packaging and presentation. We offer everything from chocolate gators to white chocolate conch shells; chocolate-covered bacon to milk chocolate covered gummi bears.
One of our current big sellers is chocolate-covered potato chips. We take Ruffles brand potato chips and cover them in milk or dark chocolate. They’re crunchy and salty sweet and people really have responded to them.
We were curious about things like that. Creativity in our product presentations: some will work, some, maybe not. But we have a huge selection of these creative products.
We used to be known only within the local community. People knew about us and our sales were primarily local. But, we decided to communicate more effectively to others beyond our local customers. We started using billboards along the Interstates and other media to promote our store. Who can resist a billboard offering free chocolate samples?
Now, we sell more to tourists than to locals.
We started running other special promotions and media communications. I believe we communicate pretty effectively through our website, too.
