Entrepreneurship | Tariq Farid - Founder of Edible Arrangements ® and Entrepreneur

When I first started writing this blog, one of my primary goals was to create a forum where I could share my experiences as an entrepreneur with others. Often, when I talk to our new franchisees or other small business owners, I find that they are facing many of the same challenges that I have faced in building my businesses.

A great advantage of operating a franchise system, however, is that I also have access to a wealth of business knowledge among the hundreds of Edible Arrangements franchisees who are also willing to share their experiences.

For example, one of our most successful franchisees is Reva Enzminger. Reva is a former “Franchisee of the Year” who operates five Edible Arrangements stores Texas, with plans to add more. Like many successful business men and women, she often makes it look easy.

She will tell you, however, that it has been far from easy, especially during the early years.

Prior to purchasing two Edible Arrangements stores about eight years ago, Reva had spent much of her professional career at computer giant Dell. At Dell, she will tell you, “I did just about everything there was to do, from sales to training to supply chain to call center management.”

But Reva always knew she wanted to be her own boss and when the opportunity to purchase a couple of Edible Arrangements stores presented itself, she took the entrepreneurial leap.

Among her very first challenges — as is often the case — was financing. She remembers going from bank to bank to bank seeking a business loan and repeatedly being told, “no.”

“I quickly found out that getting a business loan is much different than getting a car loan,” she says. “You can get a car loan off your credit, but it takes more than good credit to get a business loan.”

What it takes, she will quickly tell you, is perseverance.

“Just because a bank said ‘no’ was not going to stop me,” she remembers. “I probably ended up going to a dozen banks. Most turned down my request, but I eventually found one that said ‘yes.’ I didn’t stop there, though. I kept going and eventually found several willing to give me a loan and that way I was able to negotiate a good deal. It was an early lesson that the key to building a successful business is to not take rejection personally. You have to keep driving forward.”

The results speak for themselves. Reva has much more advice for entrepreneurs who are trying to build a successful business. I will share more of her ideas in upcoming blogs.

Likes0Dislikes

(0)

In this lively interview with Jill Malandrino of The Street, I discuss the importance of ongoing innovation and how we grew to 1,200 retail centers with sales of $500 million in just 15 years. We also talk about what has worked for Edible Arrangements®, customer feedback and what we are focusing on going forward. See the complete Tariq Farid interview here.

Likes0Dislikes

(0)

I have written many times about my mother and the influence she had on my life and career as an entrepreneur. In honor of Mother’s Day, I want to share more about the important lessons she taught me at an early age.

My mother was a very positive person. From the time I started my first newspaper route, to working at a fast food chain, to opening a flower shop, to the creation of Edible Arrangements, she was always encouraging me.

“Follow your instincts,” she would tell me when I was uncertain about a decision that needed to be made. “You know best.”

This was especially true during the early days of Edible Arrangements when I was continually being told why the concept wouldn’t work, even if the person offering the advice had no experience in the flower or gifting industry. Often they would tell me that if it was such a good idea, someone else would already be doing it.

I could never understand why someone who knew less about my business than I did, could be so negative and so certain that the idea wouldn’t work.

As I have described before, I knew in my heart that I had a winning idea. I knew that my experience running flower shops had given me great insight into my customers and their needs. And in those times when I doubted myself and my idea the most, it was often my mother who would provide the spark of inspiration to get me going again.

“Honey,” she would say, “you know your customers better than anyone else. If you believe your idea will work, don’t let anyone else get in the way of your dream.”

This, of course, from a woman who knew a lot about dreams. After all, she and my father brought their young family to a new country where they knew no one and hardly understood the language or the customs. That, however, was not going to stand in the way of her dream of providing her children with opportunities only available in America.

Today, when I meet someone who has a passion and knows more about their business than I do, I feel it’s better to say a kind word than be negative. I’ll often think of what my mother would say and tell them something like, “I admire your passion and drive, good luck.” Or, I might tell them be careful and be sure think about this or that potential problem.

As my mother would always remind me, just because someone has never done it, is no reason to think it can’t be done.

When my mother passed away in 2005, my brother and I started the Farid Foundation in her memory. We built a school in her name, the Salma K. Farid Academy in Hamden, Connecticut. And in Sahiwal, Pakistan, where she is buried, we also opened a hospital, which sees about 4,000 patients a month and provides free medicine and healthcare, mostly to women and children.

It was our way of honoring our mother, but also serves as a reminder that often, when you don’t know where to turn, your mother is the one person you can always count on.

When I opened my very first flower shop while still in high school, my mother would often help me in the store and I would give her $50 a week. Later, I had an opportunity to buy a building for our second Edible Arrangements location, but I needed $40,000 more than I had. It turns out that my mother had saved the money I gave her over the years and she handed it back to me to purchase the building. She asked only that I give her $20,000 for my sister’s wedding and do something in her name someday.

I hope you all have similar memories of your mothers, and will take time to truly honor them this weekend on their special day.

Likes0Dislikes

(0)

The most successful entrepreneurs I have ever met all have one thing in common — they have not done it by themselves. They have all surrounded themselves with the most talented people they could find.

As Edible Arrangements has grown, I, too, have been blessed with the opportunity to work with some outstanding professionals in all areas of business. On a daily basis, I am inspired by the passion and creativity of our franchisees and the professionals we have in place at our home office in Wallingford and at offices around the world.

Over the years, they have come up with ideas, programs and solutions that I would never have thought of on my own. I am always invited — and willing — to provide my input. And even when I disagree, I have learned when to step back and let them have the final decision. Rarely, have their decisions not turned out for the best.

As an entrepreneur, however, there are those times when you must stand firm and you— and only you — will need to make a decision that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of your business. These decisions often require that you go against popular opinion.

I learned that lesson early, as a young entrepreneur with what I was sure was a great idea.

When starting out in business, there are no shortage of people willing to give you advice. And that was the case when I first developed the idea for Edible Arrangements. As I shared my idea with a variety of “experts,” I was continually told that it wouldn’t work. I was told that no one would buy arrangements made out of fruit. I was told to stick with flowers, that I was wasting my time and my money on fruit bouquets.

One of the experts, a highly respected professional, asked me if I had shown the arrangements to any focus groups. That was the first I had ever heard of a focus group. I told him that I didn’t know what a focus group was and he explained it to me.

I told him that it turned out I HAD shown the arrangements to a focus group. When I first took an arrangement home and put it on the table, my mother told me that “this is going to be great.”

He laughed and left, reminding me that I was in the flower business and I should focus on what I knew best. “No one is doing this,” he said, “so I don’t know why you think it will be successful.”

In my entrepreneurial heart, however, I knew I had a winner and that is what drove me to pursue the idea despite the advice of the “experts.”

Now, 15 years and over 1,200 locations later, I think of that story in those moments when I have to make a decision that runs counter to the the advice of others.

Sometimes, it turns out, a focus group of one is good enough.

See Tariq Farid’s Bio on Edible Arrangements

Likes0Dislikes

(0)

Each year as the Easter season arrives, I am reminded how truly blessed my family and I have been. For all of us, it is a time of remembrance and celebration, and that is especially true this year as Edible Arrangements® celebrates its 15th anniversary.

In 1986, when I opened my first flower shop as a teenager, and again in 1999, when I opened the first Edible Arrangements, Easter was my first holiday experience as a business owner in the gifting industry. And in each case, it was the Easter season that eased my concerns and reconfirmed my belief that I had made the right decision.

The Easter season of 1999 holds a special place in my heart.

As spring arrived that year, I was excited about a new idea to create artistically designed bouquets made from fresh fruit and I was convinced that they would be an immediate hit. My banker disagreed. When I asked for a loan to help launch Edible Arrangements, he told me with no hesitation that the business had no potential.

But I was convinced I had a good idea, and I also knew that Easter and Mother’s Day — two of the biggest holidays in gifting — were right around the corner. I scraped together the money I needed and, with the help of my family, built a small Edible Arrangements store next to my flower shop in East Haven, Connecticut. During this time I faced another of those moments that force entrepreneurs to take a step back and make sure they are committed to their idea.

While we were preparing for opening day, my father invited a friend to the store to show him what I was doing. The friend was a respected professor at a local university and I was excited to hear his thoughts on the business. I was convinced he was going to tell me what a great idea this was. Instead, I was shocked and a little shaken when he told me he didn’t think the business had any potential and that I was wasting my time and money.

It’s times like these that can place doubt and second thoughts in an entrepreneur’s mind. But I was passionate about my idea, and convinced it would work. Barely two weeks before Easter, I opened Edible Arrangements.

Marketing funds were limited, so I created simple flyers to hand out to customers of my flower shop, friends and anyone else I came across. I was so convinced they would love the arrangements that I promised each customer that if they didn’t “WOW” the recipient, I would give them a complete refund.

That first Easter I received 28 orders. My family and I worked all day and into the night to create the arrangements and make sure they were perfect. The next day, as they were delivered, the phone began to ring. Typically, in the gifting industry, when you get a call following a delivery it is a complaint that “the flowers aren’t fresh,” “they didn’t look like they did in the picture,” or a similar issue.

Not this time. Each time the phone rang it was a customer calling to say, “WOW.” Their friends or spouses who received the arrangements were excited and wanted to know where they had found such a creative gift. That Easter convinced me that Edible Arrangements would be successful.

At the time, of course, I had no idea that Edible Arrangements would become a global chain and would be featured in newspapers, magazines and on TV programs worldwide.

At the time, I had no idea that the concept of a business selling fresh fruit arrangements would create opportunities for hundreds of passionate franchisees around the world to pursue their dreams.

I had no idea, when we received those first 28 orders, that 15 years later we would be preparing to fill more than 120,000 orders for another Easter weekend.

That’s why this year, as every year, I pause to think back to those early days and remind myself that Easter truly is a blessed holiday.

Likes0Dislikes

(0)

Category: Entrepreneurship

A lesson in perseverance, or how to get past “NO”

Spotted: Edible Arrangements® featured on The Street

In business, as in life, mom often knows best

Sometimes all you need is a focus group of one

Easter and its special memories, 15 years later