A Gourmet Chef “Turning Lack into Luck”

Today, I am sharing another CNN News video about a gourmet chef’s successful experience on entrepreneurship. This time, however, is not about starting up a restaurant business.

Mary Moore is a gourmet chef herself. She noticed that there was a lack of good cooking utensils in the market and decided to pair up retail with gourmet classes. She wanted to educate customers how to use those wonderful tools she sells. It turned out to be great success. Now, Mary is the CEO of an online business and four retail stores. The video highlighted three tips of her success:

Tip #1: Pair Things Up
Tip #2: Create an Experience
Tip #3: Expand the Brand (but Stay Truth to the Original Business Concept)

I agree that creating the “whole” customer experience is very important in today’s business. When I was in Texas, I loved to shop at the Market Street. When I moved to Syracuse, the Wegmans in Dewitt becomes my favorite grocery store. They both sell fresh produce, as every other grocery store does (regardless the fact that their food indeed looks better), but they also have huge “experiential” sections for prepared and ready-to-eat food. They offer cooking classes and sampling stations to educate customers how to prepare gourmet home cooked meal --- certainly using the ingredients and/or the cooking utensils they sell in the stores. If you are a business owner, may I ask you what experience have you created or can you create for your customers?

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Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

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