One of many oldest chocolate outlets in New York Metropolis, Aigner Chocolates has been serving chocolate treats and different sweets for 93 years. When Rachel Kellner and her husband Mark Libertini purchased and took over the shop in 2015, they needed to navigate how one can protect the shop’s id whereas additionally preserving it thrilling for future generations.
Mark is a pastry chef and restaurateur, however as a former social employee, Rachel had no expertise within the meals trade. Relatively than seeing her untraditional background as a mismatch, she used it to convey a brand new perspective to the shop.
“Enterprise is admittedly all about networking. It is all about constructing relationships, and I really like doing that,” Rachel mentioned. “As a therapist, that is your position. A therapist-client relationship is predicated on the belief and security that you just construct along with your shopper.”
Whereas the possession is totally different, a lot of Aigner Sweets is identical. Mark and Rachel use all the similar recipes as the unique house owners so prospects eat the identical traditional sweets they’ve been for years.
By way of evolving the shop, Rachel modified the branding, up to date the web site, and constructed a stronger online presence. She’s additionally single-handedly grown media relationships and written press releases.
“I constructed these relationships, and now it is to the purpose the place I will actually textual content my media contacts and say, ‘Hey, that is what is going on on,’ and I will pitch them tales,” Rachel mentioned. “There are such a lot of horrible issues taking place on this planet that the information could not go on in the event that they did not have some lighthearted items, so we’re all the time capable of present that.”
Whereas Rachel continues to develop Aigner Sweets’s presence on-line and capitalize on media coverage, she nonetheless thinks the shop’s energy lies within the in-person expertise for patrons. She prioritizes coaching her employees and treats them like household, which comes throughout of their interactions with customers.
For Yelp Group Supervisor Samantha B., the in-person expertise will all the time be preferable to ordering Aigner Sweets on-line. She loves coming into the shop as a result of relationships the employees has constructed together with her over time.
“I am a individuals particular person to start with, so it is all the time very nice to simply stroll right into a brick and mortar and see a smiling face.” Samantha mentioned. “We acquired so snug throughout the pandemic simply sitting behind a display, however I am simply not that particular person.”
Along with treating all walk-ins as valued prospects, Aigner Sweets engages the neighborhood by ceaselessly giving again to native charities and organizations, such because the Queens Center for Progress and an area hospital.
Rachel sees these efforts as a strategy to mix her social work background together with her new expertise within the meals trade. Through the pandemic, the store donated chocolate totalling round $30,000 in worth. Now, Rachel units a donation funds and selects native organizations whose values align together with her enterprise.
“We have been gifted this unimaginable alternative to run this enterprise, to hold on a practice, and it is my husband and my social duty to unfold pleasure,” Rachel mentioned. “We have actually taken that on in each manner that we will, and we simply try to discover methods to try this.”
Different inventive methods to have interaction the neighborhood from Aigner Sweets embody:
- Host neighborhood occasions. Aigner Sweets ceaselessly hosts fundraisers with native colleges and organizations. Internet hosting these occasions is an effective way to lift consciousness for each your corporation and causes you care about.
- Rent local people members. Rachel ceaselessly hires college students from native excessive colleges and companions with native universities to offer faculty college students internship alternatives. By providing jobs {and professional} growth alternatives, you’ll be able to develop your small enterprise’s ties to the neighborhood.
- Deal with prospects like household. As a longstanding enterprise, employees at Aigner Sweets be sure that outdated and new prospects alike really feel welcomed. Prioritizing customer service helps each buyer really feel like a valued a part of the neighborhood and creates loyal patrons.
Hearken to the episode under to listen to instantly from Rachel and Samantha, and subscribe to Behind the Overview for extra from new enterprise house owners and reviewers each Thursday.
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Supply: Entrepreneur