|
 The
Sugar Plum Bakery in Virginia Beach has been serving customers
since the late 80's and has been voted
Best Bakery in Virginia Beach many of those years. In her article
"Sugar Plum serves treats and more for 20 years"
on the HamptonRoads.com website, Hattie Brown Garrow writes that the Sugar
Plum Bakery's business model supports hiring, training, and developing
special needs individuals. In fact they have received state recognition and support for their contributions to the community. One of many
interesting facts was that they "have worked with over 800 people with
mental and physical challenges". In
May 2010 I visited the Sugar Plum Bakery to find out for myself what small
business entrepreneurs can learn from their years of success.
| Small Business
Lessons Learned At The Sugar Plum Bakery In Virginia Beach |
_small.JPG) Branding
- The purple plum can be found on their signage,
throughout the store, on their website, on their
Sugar Plum Facebook page, and even
on their delivery van. Their logo is unique and makes them
immediately recognizable. By being congruent with their identity
throughout their business they build brand recognition. |
_small1.JPG) Work
Ethic -When I was able to take my eyes off of all the sweet
treat displays I noticed that all of the employees were hustling.
They all had a task and were working very hard. If someone wasn't
serving a customer they were cleaning or organizing something. It
was how they seemed focused and intense about caring for the bakery
that caught my attention and made me note my observation. |
 Unique
Products - Sugar Plum Bakery's products stand out from
their local competition in that they are unique. What you find at
their competitors is typical big box store selections. I found that
the Sugar Plum bakery didn't just offer one or two unique products;
they offered many. Additionally, they gave many of their products
interesting names like "White Lightening", "Black Velvet", and "Snapping
Turtle"!
|
From the
Sugar Plum Bakery website:
Sugar Plum, Inc. was
founded and incorporated in 1985 in Virginia Beach, VA as a not-for-profit
organization following a demonstration grant award from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on
Developmental Disabilities. To receive this grant award (200 awarded
out of 2200 applications) a market and investment feasibility study was
undertaken to satisfy the retail/commercial need for a bakery business in
this particular location and community. Many business ideas were
considered, but the bakery idea not only met the criteria for a market
need, it also provided various skill levels and employment opportunities
in a business which would produce everything it sold every single day.
Following notification by the Department of Health and Human Services in
Washington that Sugar Plum was in line for one of the
grants, hands-on managerial training began at the Ukrops Bakery
Production Center in Richmond. The initial Board of Directors as well
as an Advisory Board of various agencies working in education and services
for persons with disabilities began laying the framework for Sugar
Plum, Inc.
|
 Owning
your own micro or small business is the best way to reduce your taxes and
generate additional income for yourself even if you are still working for
someone else. Do you have a skill or idea that could be a business?
Getting started and knowing how to keep the business running are hurdles
many people need help with. The profiles provided in this section of
BowmansMoneyCollege.com give advice and lessons from small business
owners, some of them still employees of someone else, on the things they
believe will make your small business venture more successful. Read more small business
profiles
here.
|
|