Starting A Candy Buffet Part 2

Hello ,and please except my apologies for taking so long to continue this blog session. With that said lets get started.

 

 

Well in my first blog we talked about where to find the supplies we needed to collect (jars, bowels etc). I hope you had success in finding them? Every store you go into, you should be on the look out for a potential addition to your collections.  I did mention in the previous post that I would have contact information for insurance that covers candy buffets. This information I will list at the end of the post.

 

Since you have told friends and family what you are doing and your inventory is constantly being set up remember these few things ( tong, scoops, small bowels, saran wrap). So, your level is to include everything in your buffet, not just candy but, cup cakes, cake pops, marshmallow pops, chocolate covered items.....the works! Don't forget those who no matter what! Won't Eat those things. Depending on the event you are hired to do ask your clients if they will need a small veggie buffet. ( small cups filled with dress then sliced carrots, celery, and maybe other veggies are inserted and served.)

WAIT! before you print those business cards have you checked with your city, township, business zoning? Just call your local city or township and ask if you would need a permit to operate out of your house. My City requires one (Elgin, IL) for even unopened candy.... I have a friend who has a Bakery and I send all my food supplies to her shop when I do Buffets because my house is not zoned for this type of business...can you believe that. So, check before you go and purchase baking equipment etc., which I did only to find out later I would have to find a location outside of my house and garage. 

 

I searched for almost three months looking for a insurance company that one listened, two understood what I was talking about, and three gave me a good price. Miller Insurance & Financial (937)427-3600. I receive no kick backs sending people to them. As all those in business know ..... if you give great service... people will talk and what better advertisement then word of mouth. Call and check them out.

 

 Candy, Candy can come from many different places like favorite grocery store, (Wal-Mart, Meijer's, Sam's club) or you can purchase them whole sale from different candy wholesalers online. My suggestion would be to Google or Bing your area for those who might sale candy wholesale, before going to online companies. ( Candy Warehouse, Discount Bulk Candy). If you go to Candy Warehouse they have a video that will so you how much candy is needed to fill a candy jar its a great tutorial.  They even give you a list of different candy shelf life.
 

I hope this little blog can help you continue your business building. If you have any questions please send them to me. My next blog will be about promoting and marketing. I hope to have my book finished by January 2014. Until then, let me continue to share with you.

Thank You,
Stay Sweet!

Candy Buffet---so your thinking of starting a business

Candy Buffets have become a great way to enhance any event. Mainly associated with weddings, today candy buffets have been added to baby showers, Christmas parties, retirement parties, and even fare well events.  Becoming a candy buffet planner to many is a easy start up job. Lets see, I was told " its just a bunch of candy poured into some glass jars and people eat the candy."  For those of use who do this for a living know it's way more then what was just stated.

As we " candy buffet planners" take on a event we began thinking about that event night and day. We set plans, and vision that event down to the very tiniest  detail. We work with the customer to get their in put of what is needed, making sure the color schemes match and that the theme is on point. So for those of you thinking of getting into the "Candy Buffet" business please understand its more then just candies in jars.

To start in this business before you purchase a Jar, table clothe,or bag of candy. Check with your City business department to find out if there are any business fees for working at home that needs to be address. Many cities won't allow any type of food used for resale to be stored in a " non-business " zone. So I encourage you to call and just ask general questions about home business zoning.

Once you have that out of the way you'll need to find insurance to protect yourself, home, and business         ( next post will be solely be about candy buffet insurance.) Depending on your location and other needs such as, employees, space of location, dollar amount of coverage needed will depend on the cost. However I will give more in depth detail in my next blog.

So now lets start purchasing what we need! you can find jars pretty much anywhere, ( Home Goods, Ross, Menards, Walmart, Ikea, ) just to name a few and I haven't even mentioned the online stores. The best place is garage sales and resale shoppes. I choose my jars by placing my hand inside the mouth (opening). If my hand easily fits its good to use. I also choose smaller ones to use for candies I need to stand up ( Popsicle,  rock candy, cake pops etc.) Please make sure you wash your jars wither new or used. I wash mine and then saran wrap them so when I need them they are ready.

While you build your hard supplies inventory ( jars, scoops, table clothes, etc) decide on just how involved your going to get. I mean will you just be going candy....or will you also do cake pops, cupcakes, etc. I do it all, some times I bake my own and some times I use a friend who has her own bakery this way I kinda spread the wealth and involve other businesses within my community. Why? because its the right thing to do and when she has wedding cake costumers come in and ask " know and candy buffet businesses in town" see the win,win concept.

So your level is now set and you are still building your inventory..... its time to start contacting friends and family to get them on your list of upcoming parties and events. I come from a very large family, we are very creative and have been doing things like candy buffets for years. So I decided to host a small contest to a bride with a small wedding. It was wonderful, twenty five people attended and the brides family was more interested in the buffet then the cake!

You can think of a million ways to start promoting your business, I must stress that once you set your prices write them down, I have had people call and stress that I or my team quoted them a different price. So to prevent that I have set prices..... if I do get a set budgeted event I set prices according to their budget, however most of those customers come from close friends.

This is a wonderful industry to invest in and can go way beyond just candy. So if you are a well established candy buffet business living in New York and a small start up contacts you with a question ...... spread the love share it, the odds of them taking a customer from you is about a trillion to one !

Stay sweet!