Candy Bouquet News Room

Tasty-Monial's

JenTels Candy Bouquet

My husband and I moved to Saint Cloud, Florida in April of 2005.

We had purchased a construction business and built several homes and duplexes in the surrounding area.

Then the inevitable happened, the economic climate took a downturn and the construction business died for us in August 2008.

This left both myself and my husband without a job and we decided to look on the Internet for a franchise.

We sold both our beloved truck and boat to finance the cost of purchasing a franchise.

We are both very creative people and we searched for a business that would involve something ‘arty’.

I had always wanted to do something with flowers and so we used a search engine for ‘Bouquets’.

We came across Candy Bouquet through this search engine and we were very excited at the thought of starting something like this in our town as it was unique and most people love candy!

We researched all of the information on the franchise, making sure we could afford the territory (60,000 population) that we wanted and that we were eligible to operate the business.

We completed the paperwork and was assigned Janet Carter as our Sales Representative.

Janet kept us well informed and gave us valuable advice and guidance whenever we needed it.

Nothing was too much trouble. We signed up and attended our week’s course in October of 2008.

We had a great week, met a great bunch of people and felt part of the Candy Bouquet family from Day One.

Our main training was carried out by Mary Jane, one of the most inspirational trainers we have ever dealt with.

The confidence she placed in us made us want to make the franchise a success from the word go.

It was a pleasure to meet with Margaret McEntire the original founder of Candy Bouquet.

So often you do not get to meet the inspiration behind a successful organization.

The training was very intense, a lot to take in over the week but it was very well organized, very informative and above all great fun.

We came away very nervous at the thought of being on our own but we were ready to take the plunge.

We opened our shop in Saint Cloud on 11th November 2008. We offer a variety of items including gifts for all occasions, fresh fudge, greeting cards and balloons.

Our shop is next to a small Post Office located just outside the city limits so there was a lot of foot traffic daily.

Business was slow to start, but as more people got to know where we were the busier we got.

We advertised both in the newspapers and through donating bouquets to various organizations and we started to get a good reputation for quality workmanship and customer service.

Customers are fascinated at the Candy Bouquets and how they can be customized to suit their budget, colors, favorites sports and hobbies etc. Our best sellers have been the Cowboy Boots Bouquets and the Popcorn Boxes.

Christmas 2008 was brilliant for us and it was at this time that we decided to buy some more territory so that we could market further afield. We took on another 60,000 population in another town.

We still operated out of our Saint Cloud store there was only the two of us and our son doing the deliveries.

In April 2009, we saw a golden opportunity to lease a shop in a local Mall that had a Publix Supermarket, Subway, Wendys, Pizza Hut, etc that looked a great location to be in.

There was only one store left which was 1200 sq ft - a little too big for us so we thought but we were lucky enough to secure a 6 months rent free period and given $12,000 towards the build out cost as it was a new store but left in a shell-like state.

We opened our store on 1st July 2009 and although it is a little quiet at the moment because of the summer we are lucky enough to be in front of a Good Samaritan Sub Division which houses some 3,000 residents who have already been in buying gifts and fudge.

We both love the work that we do, we work long hours but believe that our stores will be a huge success as we have the determination and drive to provide the customer service that is second to none.

We now have 4 members of staff working for us, 1 Full Time and 3 part-time who love their work. We are blessed to have been given this opportunity and thank Candy Bouquet International for believing in us and making our dream come true.