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.
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she probably would have chosen the other side of town, where residents are less family oriented and "a little more free with their money," if she had been more familiar with city demographics. New Orleans had no fine cheese shop when Richard and Danielle Sutton opened St. James Cheese Company there in 2006, but the Duttons suspected that the city's vibrant dining scene would help them build a wholesale sideline. In fact, "restaurants approached us almost from the get-go," says Richard Sutton, generating enough volume to get distributors' attention. 2. Be approachable, not aspirational. Edit your impulse to stock up on the little- known gems you love. Instead, balance your inventory so that less cheese-savvy shoppers find choices they know. "I started too sophisticated for the market," admits Laura Conrow, proprietor of the four-year-old Wedge in Reno, Nev., "People would come in and say, 'Oh, I love cheese,' and then they would look around, and look around, and say, 'Thanks, bye.'" Conrow realized her selection was intimi- dating potential customers who found nothing in her shop that they recognized. So she promoted the Havarti from the sandwich station to the cheese case and brought in other cheeses that were maybe not the rock stars she wanted but were familiar to her audience. 3. Schedule classes and special events. Guided tastings can make consumers more comfortable with your merchandise, build their confidence, boost your credibility, and benefit the bottom line. Classes are rarely big money makers, retailers say, but they bring new customers into your venue and gradually can raise the cheese IQ in the community. Deputize a capable employee to lead them if you're too tired at the end of the day. Conrow has had success with half- hour "mini classes" that draw people on slower days. Daly's shop does a Friday- evening Spritz Night, with a menu of four Prosecco-based drinks and a small selection of tapas. Custom classes have proven popu- lar and profitable for Sande. 4. Give people more than one reason to visit. Create opportunities to make your shop a frequent destination, rather than a special- occasion one. The Suttons knew they faced daunting challenges in opening their store and cafe six months after Hurricane Katrina. "There weren't good neighborhoods and bad ones," recalls Sutton. "There were neighborhoods that had people and neighborhoods that didn't." They chose a location next to a popular wine shop, hoping that the synergy would give residents two reasons to visit. "I knew I was giving up my ability to sell wine at retail," says Sutton, "but we let people bring bottles in and pay corkage." A menu of sandwiches, salads, and cheese plates has performed well at St. James—so well that Sutton wishes he had built a larger kitchen. Like several other merchants with pioneering shops, he believes that cheese alone would not have supported the business. 5. Let the store evolve. Sell what sells. Don't get too attached to offering items that aren't popular with customers—even if they work well in other cheese stores. "We thought we had to have the books, the magazines, the wine, the cutting boards—the things that would make for a well-balanced business," says Daly. But close monitoring revealed that this merchandise was generating only about five percent of revenue. "Why are we giving this precious real estate to cheese knives that aren't sell- ing?" he wondered. With that informa- tion, the owners dropped most of the gear and expanded their kitchen. When sales of bottled wine proved underwhelming, they replaced the wine display with two more dining tables and revenue jumped. As a for- mer merchant advised Conrow, "You will be what your customers want you to be." 6. Be prepared to work harder than you ever have. The effort to create a new kind of business can be enormous. Pioneering cheesemongers often strug- gle to find knowledgeable staff because fine cheese is so new to the community. "Very few people come around who've had any experience," says Thompson. "Like no one. If people are curious and interested and honest, that's the most we hope for." But the relentless effort can bring immeasurable satisfaction, these pioneers say. Patrons frequently thank them for being there and for improving life in the town. "People are almost emotional about how much we mean to them," says Sande. "I've never had a job before where customers bring me presents." Janet Fletcher writes the email newsletter "Planet Cheese" and is the author of Cheese & Wine and Cheese & Beer. The Suttons knew they faced challenges in opening their store and cafe six months after Hurricane Katrina. "There were neighborhoods that had people and neighborhoods that didn't," recalls Richard Sutton. cheese focus 32 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com