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

Franchisee congratulations this week goes to Michelle and Eddie, another husband wife team opening their first Edible Arrangements in Wilson, North Carolina.

Michelle and Eddie, who have been happily married for 10 years, have the full support of their four children when it comes to their new venture.

“The kids absolutely love Edible Arrangements,” they said of Peyton (7), Cameron (6), Mackenzie (3) and Bailey (2). “They get really excited every time they are sent an arrangement or see a commercial!”

As with many of our franchisees, family is important to Michelle and Eddie. They say they spend every moment they can together, enjoying the outdoors by taking walks, swimming and playing soccer among their many hobbies.

In fact, the family-feel of Edible Arrangements was one of the things that convinced them it was a concept they could truly believe in.

Michelle joins Edible after a career in sales and now enjoys her new role training new sales representatives hired into the company. Eddie has been in fire service for over 25 years and says the highlight has been getting to know their community and providing fire prevention education.

Wilson is about 40 miles east of Raleigh and proudly promotes itself as North Carolina’s Gigabit City for having some of the fastest broadband speeds in the U.S. Perhaps it won’t be long before it will also be known as home to one of the most successful Edible Arrangements franchises, as well.

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Yes, you can go home again!

Just ask Malcolm and Lisa, two of our newest franchisees.

They met while attending Texas A&M University and immediately realized they had a lot in common, having grown up in hometowns just 15 minutes apart. In fact, their parents actually went to high school together.

After graduation, Malcolm took a position in finance at a dietary supplement company in College Station (home of Texas A&M) while Lisa was at home raising two little boys, 4-year-old Max and 2-year-old Caleb.

While they were enjoying College Station, the outdoors, traveling and spending time together as a family, their goal was always to move the family back to the Temple, Texas, area where they were raised.

That opportunity presented itself in the shape of an Edible Arrangements® bouquet. After receiving several Edible Arrangements as gifts, they did a little research and realized that not only did Temple not have an Edible Arrangements, but it was also a perfect market!

A growing city with more than 65,000 residents, Temple is home of Scott & White Hospital, the only Level 1 trauma hospital between Austin and Dallas and home to more than 6,000 employees. The city also has a children’s hospital, a VA hospital, a private university, two large school districts and a dynamic business community.

For Malcolm and Lisa, it’s the best of all worlds — a chance to chase the American Dream of business ownership and do it while raising their family in the same area where they grew up.

Congratulations to Malcolm and Lisa. We wish you and your family the best!

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Megan and Richard represent the growing number of husband-wife teams making up the Edible Arrangements franchise community.

As I have written before, Edible Arrangements franchisees represent all walks of life and one group that I am happy to see steadily on the rise is the husband-wife team.

Take Megan and Richard, for example.

After spending seven years in the hospitality and restaurant management business, Megan went to work in the EMT field. Richard, meanwhile, was working as a paramedic for Emergency Medical Services, where he still works 17 years later.

As fate would have it, they met in 2008 while working on an ambulance together and were married two years later on 10/10/10.

In 2013, their commitment to helping others carried over into a second career as they opened their Edible Arrangements franchise.

Megan and Richard are not all work and no play, however. They also are proud parents of a little boy named Reed, who loves feeding the animals on their farm as well as working on his ABC’s and 123’s.

“He is our most precious gift,” they will tell you of Reed, who is approaching his second birthday.

With a growing family and a thriving business, they are excited about what the future holds. And we are excited to be a part of their life and able to play a role in helping them make their dreams come true.

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Who are our franchisees?

We have long-term franchisees that have owned a store (or stores!) for a decade and then signed on for 10 more years.

We have franchisees who always dreamed of being entrepreneurs and small business owners, and we made their dream come true.

Some are military veterans. Some are husband and wife teams. Some own one or two Edible Arrangements’ stores, while others own more than 10!

There are franchisees that came out of retirement after successful business careers seeking a new challenge. There are young upstarts, who always knew they wanted to be a small business owner. And there are those who got tired of the “corporate treadmill” and wanted to be fully rewarded for their work.

Linda falls into several of the categories mentioned above.

An amazing young woman with boundless energy and a very friendly, energetic and outgoing demeanor, Linda was barely in her mid-20s when she became the owner of her own small business—an Edible Arrangements store. She had enjoyed a successful career in marketing, but was disenchanted with the fact that while her work was praised and helped her employer thrive, she was still not given an opportunity for advancement. She started to become unhappy in her job.

Linda knew about Edible Arrangements from her work in marketing and had been watching us grow from the time we started franchising in 2001. Linda says that watching Edible Arrangements grow from from a small start-up into a global chain in just a few years was exciting.

Linda remembers thinking to herself: “What if I could be rewarded for the work I put into something and not have to rely on a boss or someone else to reward me?”

It was then that she decided to make the big jump, leave her job and open her own Edible Arrangements store.

That was 10 years ago! Now a long-term franchisee, a multiple store owner and still young, Linda says she doesn’t regret a thing.

“At first, I thought that I would do this for a few years and then get out,” she told me. “But I found something that I truly enjoyed and I was able to grow along with my business. I love the challenging times, and I still get to use my marketing background!”

The best thing, Linda says, is that “with my Edible Arrangements stores, I definitely get out what I put in!”

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From the day I opened my first flower shop as a teenager, technology has played a major role in the success of my businesses. Even at an early age I recognized that unleashing the power of technology could significantly enhance my marketing capabilities, streamline my operations and provide the means to drive sales like few other tools. When I couldn’t find the proper solution to a problem, I created my own, often reselling my customized solutions to other small businesses with the same needs.

This understanding and use of the power of technology was critical as we grew Edible Arrangements into a global icon. Our constantly evolving proprietary software solutions, created by my technology company Netsolace, have given Edible Arrangements and our franchisees a significant competitive advantage and, in my opinion, is a major reason for our success.

Interestingly enough, I have found that even today there are many that still don’t embrace technology and understand the true impact that it can have on their business. In part, this is understandable, as keeping up with advances in technology can be overwhelming and even a little scary. I was lucky enough to have become a “technophile” early in life, but I completely understand the “technophobes” among us.

That is why I am so excited about my latest business venture, Naranga, a new technology company designed to help franchise companies and small businesses take advantage of emerging technologies to integrate their sales, operations and marketing activities.

Earlier this year I acquired proven franchise solutions provider eMaximation. It has been rebranded under the name Naranga, and we have focused over the past few months on improving existing systems as well as expanding the suite of products and services.

Naranga’s products will allow franchise chains to take control of their brand with simple, flexible tools that drive sales, improve operational efficiency, and allow them to easily connect with their franchisees.

In addition to previous products available through eMax, we have added new solutions that can be customized to meet the specific requirements of a franchise chain and eliminate the need to use multiple resources to meet all the technology needs.

The bottom line is that we are making it as easy as possible for others to take advantage of the latest advances in technology in order to become even more competitive in the marketplace.

In addition, all applications are developed with a mobile-first approach. To meet the needs of today’s highly mobile professional, it is critical to design for mobile tools such as smart phones and tablets first, then apply those applications to more traditional formats. This allows us to produce innovative experiences that unlock new ways for franchisors to interact with their customers and their franchisees without having to become experts in technology!

I hope you will visit our website at naranga.com to learn more about this exciting new company or call 800-900-8321 and our experienced and talented team will be happy to discuss your needs and how we can help.

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Tag: Entrepreneurship

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