Surviving the Economic Downturn: Good Deeds Make A Difference
How a husband and wife run gift basket company found a surprising way to survive the downturn by helping others.
Los Angeles (PRWEB) November 4, 2009 -- Wally and Terry August, indomitable husband and wife team and owners of Fancifull Fine Food and Baskets, report that, despite the economic downturn and reduction in customer spending, their business has prevailed. “It has been a tough year,” says Wally. “We lost a few crucial corporate accounts and so have had to make big changes, but by confronting the problems head on, we’re beginning to reap benefits.” Compensating for lost accounts was a tremendous challenge, something that couldn’t be fixed just by reducing staff and rent.
One change, which arose from the desire to do a good deed, paid unexpected dividends - both personally and financially. Terry decided to use Fancifull’s annual Valentine’s Open House as a fundraiser for SideStreet Projects, a non-profit group that she strongly supports. SideStreet teaches elementary school children woodworking on school buses that have been renovated with individual workstations. The event was a resounding success, both for SideStreet and Fancifull. They realized by opening their door to new groups they got to meet a lot of great people and conversely a lot of great people got to meet them and become acquainted with their shop filled with artisan food and wine. It was the exact definition of a win-win situation.
Since then, hosting wine and food tastings for non-profits has become a Fancifull standard. “It has made this year especially rewarding for me,” states Terry. Smaller non-profit organizations are notoriously understaffed, which led Fancifull to further assist by providing support such as designing e-mails and promotional materials and programs to ensure successful, well-attended events. The programs include a description of each event, tips on getting the word out, the ability to buy tickets on-line, and support for extra money-making activities such as raffles and silent auctions. Fancifull always donates a basket or gift certificate, ten percent of any sales made during the event, and provides staff so participants can relax a bit and have fun. As the CEO of SEE-LA put it after the Farmer’s Market Kitchen fundraiser: “We all had a fantastic evening, mostly due to Fancifull and its staff being such gracious and caring hosts.”
While reaching out to the community, Terry and Wally also looked inward at their overall operation. They used a laser-like focus to go over what made them better than their competitors and how to improve even more. Frankly, it came down to doing what they loved best: providing top of the line customer service, creating hand-made gifts filled with the finest artisanal foods and gifts available, promoting green gifting, championing smaller producers, and telling the stories of the fine products they have found.
With the Holiday Gift Season approaching, the couple is encouraged by the number of corporate orders being placed, and Terry has just completed designing the Holiday Catalog for a major movie studio.
Everyone will probably agree that 2009 was the year to get through. Fancifull got through by opening its doors to the world and welcoming it in.
Their next fundraiser is a benefit for the New Los Angeles Charter School on November 7th and there will be a Beaujolais Nouveau party/artisan festival on November 20th for the final event of the year.
You can visit Fancifull at 5617 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles or online at Fancifull.com. Hours are 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday. 800-350-4437 (toll free) or 323-466-7654.
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