Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/654717
Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 2046 Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 2774 producer profile "I wasn't afraid to knock on doors and meet people," she says. For a year, she sold the cookies at local health food stores in the Sacramento area, then stepped back to assess the situation and con- cluded, "I was making money, but it wasn't big money, and I needed to make more of a living." To help reach that goal she took market- ing and graphic design classes at local community colleges. Baking cookies, at least as a profession, was done. A Skill for Sales Since Cooper had no fear of knocking on doors, she pursued a career in sales, working on commission for other specialty food companies. She took on top brands of biscotti, chocolate, snack foods, and bottled items and sold them all over Northern California as well as in Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada. "If I didn't make the sale, I didn't get paid," Cooper says. "I've always been independent. Being self-employed was the way I wanted to live." The eight years Cooper spent as a sales rep for other companies turned out to be the most valuable education. "I watched who was being successful and who wasn't and for what reasons," she says. "I'd notice that somebody had great packaging but was in denial about the quality of the product. Or the packaging was bad, but the prod- uct was really good and homespun." The winning formula, she recognized, was a fantastic product, great packaging, smart marketing, and attentive customer ser- vice. "There are a lot of amateurs out there who don't understand customer service," she notes. "You have to do what you say you're going to do and follow through." Out on the road, while constantly meeting with retailers and consumers, Cooper came to sense there was a vacuum in the mar- ketplace for high-quality, versatile preserves. In the summer of 1997, she and her husband, Ron, took out a one-year lease on a vacant pizza parlor in Loomis, California. The couple and various family members came together to cook up ideas. They tested all-natural, preservative- free jams that went beyond spreading on toast, and were good for brightening cheese boards, glazing meats, and giving sandwiches a f lavor boost. Produce was sourced locally as much as possible. Cooper, as the president and "taste creator," had the final say. The winning formula, she recognized, was a fantastic product, great packaging, smart marketing, and attentive customer service. 68 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com