Pictured
Sweet Occasions: John Richardson (left) and Andy Singer.
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If there's a business that exemplifies the term 'hidden jewel,' then Sweet Occasions and More—which currently has two stores in Chicago and is opening a third next year—would be it. However, this company is not likely to stay hidden for long. With breakfast items, a boatload of candy, more than 100 flavors of ice cream, and gift baskets galore (among other tasty items), Sweet Occasions offers something for everyone. Oh, and it definitely helps that the co-owners—business and life partners John Richardson and Andy Singer—are among the nicest people you'll ever encounter.
Windy City Times met Richardson and Singer at their North Damen store and dished about everything from their unique business plan to the upside of soy ice cream.
Windy City Times: Is Sweet Occasions part of a national chain? I've noticed other businesses across the country with the same name.
John Richardson: Our stores are not part of a chain. While there are many companies named Sweet Occasions, most of them are not incorporated in their direct states. The only other Sweet Occasions that is incorporated is out of Ohio and it specializes in making personalized candy bars for different events.
WCT: Is this location [at Damen Avenue] smaller than the store on Morse Avenue?
Andy Singer: Our Damen Avenue store is our largest store to date Ƒ,100 sq. ft.), but will soon be the second largest. (The new store at Lawrence and Broadway will be our largest at approximately 2,200 sq. ft.) This new store will have a full production facility for our baskets, pastries, and new catering business. All of our locations have outdoor café spaces, with the Morse store having the largest one. All of the locations will carry the same products.
WCT: How is the soy ice cream going over?
JR: Great. I personally am not into the whole soy craze, but our customers who like soy or who are lactose-intolerant love it.
AS: I've tried it and actually liked it. A lot of customers in this Lincoln Square/Ravens-wood neighborhood are happy to have a choice in their frozen desserts.
WCT: What is your most popular item?
AS: Our most popular items are our candy gift basket creations. [Andy goes to get a sample basket for someone who's just had a baby and elicits a 'Wow!' from the interviewer.] As you can see, most of our baskets are combinations of sweet edibles and items you can use that tie in with your special occasion. For example, this baby basket has a bathtub toy and a cuddly stuffed animal along with chocolates for the parents. We have over 400 different selections, and you can view all of them at our Web site www.sweetoccasionsandmore.com . Our baskets range from $25 to a few hundred dollars. We can customize almost anything for our clients. Our customers can bring in mementos, and we will be happy to build their one-of-a kind gift.
WCT: You guys are really flexible.
AS: We're extremely flexible. The more time we have to work ࿐ hours or more), the more creative we can be.
WCT: And how long does it take to put together one of these baskets?
JR: It depends on the order. It could be a half hour or more depending on the request and difficulty of the sweet creation basket. We wrap all the candy by hand and prepare all items that are inserted into the candy creations.
AS: We make everything by hand, like the candy floral bouquets. We can design for almost anything: large events, in and out of state; weddings; bar mitzvahs; cotillions ... . Whatever you can do with flowers, we can do with candy.
WCT: Is there anything you won't do?
AS: Well, as it stands right now, no. [John laughs.] But there are shipping and handling requirements that may restrict us. We just have to be conscious of those things.
JR: Right now, no. Actually, we've even done some very interesting themed baskets with some unique adult items and some specific creations for our corporate clients.
AS: We have corporate clients that request our candy creations to be altered to their company image or theme. Some even ask for fruit instead of candy—that's fine, too.
WCT: Where do you get these items?
AS: We have a large vendor list. Some of our bakery items come from different bakeries in the city such as Sweet Thang on North Avenue and Alliance Bakery on Division Street. Our third location will have a full kitchen that will bring a lot of things back in house.
JR: Andy used to own his own bakery, so eventually we'll be making everything in house.
WCT: Sweet Occasions has a unique business plan concerning the underserved. Could you elaborate on that?
AS: When John and I were looking for spaces, we always seemed to find places that were in hotspots. After looking around, we noticed there were certain areas that were lacking in quality 'neighborhood' establishments. We felt that no matter the area, every neighborhood should have an establishment with a great product and great service at reasonable prices.
JR: It's [amazing]. There's really nothing else where we are. There are a lot of people in these areas but there's nothing for them. If they want decent ice cream, great coffee, or an unusual gift, they may have to travel a great distance in or out of the city.
AS: A lot of people are afraid to go to areas where there's not a lot of foot traffic. We're trying to make ourselves a destination store. Most people are thankful to have something like us in their neighborhoods. Typically, all you see is another convenience store. Our stores have friendly personnel, are clean, and are stocked with products for everyone. It's great to have something nice and unique. When we opened here at Damen, the only things here were Siam Country (great Thai food) and Quizno's (subs) restaurants. Our storefront was abandoned for approximately six years before we moved in. There were homeless people living three storefronts down from us. The people in this neighborhood and in Rogers Park were really happy that we are helping to build a neighborhood.
JR: The response we actually got was 'Thank God, there's a nice place here now.' It was ridiculous to me because I was thinking 'why wouldn't there be a nice place here?'
AS: A lot of people are afraid of Rogers Park because of perception—but 30 years ago, that was an awesome neighborhood (and is again, although it's going through a transition). People remember that there used to be ice cream and candy stores, a great deli, and other business, but neighborhoods change. However, with good businesses and people who care about the area, we can change those neighborhoods and maybe drive out some [of the bad elements.] People respect us and some of them actually protect us.
WCT: What are the most rewarding and frustrating aspects of heading this business?
JR: The most rewarding part for me is the [accountability]. If you make a mistake, you have to answer to yourself. The most frustrating part is that the whole thing is definitely not easy. However, I wouldn't change a thing and I have fun every day.
AS: For myself, the most rewarding part is seeing how far the company has come. A couple of years ago, John and I had both lost our jobs in the corporate world. I was a director of human resources for a large corporation and John was the general manager for Party City Corporation. We had just built a new house and we had lost our jobs; we were like 'What do we do?' We thought about buying a franchise and then decided to come up with our own thing. Wow, are we glad we did.
This company came to life relatively quickly. We started in the family room of our home, doing baskets. When the baskets sold like crazy, we thought of how to get more people to come to us. That's how the 'And More' came about—the ice cream, pastries, etc. Every day is like a new adventure. The customers really appreciate our products and our company atmosphere. It's really important to us to offer the same great service day in and day out. You go to some establishments and you don't even get a hello, a smile, or even a thank you.
The most frustrating part is hiring the right person—someone who really understands our vision of what Sweet Occasions is supposed to be. We want [employees] to be themselves but we want them to carry the same message to our customers, regarding our products and services. If you're having a bad day, leave it at home. We need the register to ring so we can live. [Laughs]
WCT: Here's the IBM question: How have computers helped you?
AS: They've helped tremendously. We have a Web site and the majority of our business is off the Internet. Without internet orders, we'd lose a good portion of our candy creation and gift basket business. Around the holidays, those sales can account for up to 50% of company sales. Computers also help us keep track of our clients.
JR: We were actually a Web-based business before we became a store—although [being solely a Web-oriented business] only lasted a few months. We knew our concept would be unique and had to get to life ASAP.
WCT: Andy, what's the best part about working with John?
AS: [Shakes his head and laughs] No, seriously, the best part is knowing that I can count on him and trust him 100 percent. (Being life partners for seven years definitely helps.) It's hard to have a business and have a business partner. Fortunately, we think alike. We understand the importance of business and how it must survive. Johns strengths are in merchandising and design, thank God, mine are not! It's actually fun working with him.
There are days when things are challenging. Early on, we split the business in half. John runs the back of the business—the candy wrapping, basket marking, and cellophane making. He deals with anything connected with basket production as well as the e-mail business. I'm in charge of the front of the house, which means the merchandising, customer services training, recipes, etc. If he gets on my nerves, I tell him to get behind that curtain and that I'll see him in an hour. Now ... it's even easier having multiple locations.
WCT: John, what's the best part about working with Andy?
JR: [Laughs] Actually, he's very intelligent. He takes care of the issues I don't want to deal with. I handle the more creative issues. If I had to deal with the things Andy does, I'd go crazy. He's the 'legal eagle' and really loves the details.
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You can find Sweet Occasions at 4639 N. Damen Ave. and 1622 W. Morse Ave. The phone numbers are 齅) 293-3080 and 齅) 262-0880, respectively.
Their Web site is at www.sweetoccasionsandmore.com .
I'm at westelm406@yahoo.com .
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