Ask Madeleine Warren how she and husband Tim have grown Edibelles, their Savannah-based gourmet gift company from a small gift basket business to a major success story in just three years, and she’ll tell you it’s really no secret.
“I’m just a good listener,” she said. “Our customers tell us what they want or need, and we do everything we can to make it happen. Almost everything we’ve done to grow this business has been based on customer demand.”
It’s a business plan that has worked well for the company that, earlier this month, was named Small Business of the Year by the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.
Today, Edibelles’ cookies, snacks and barbecue sauces are found in some 200 upscale retail locations and resorts in 27 states.
But that’s only part of the story.
The company that has grown between 100 percent and 200 percent every year since it debuted in 2011 now has fundraising and private label divisions so popular the Warrens expect them to comprise 70 percent of their total business by mid 2015.
“We had thought about doing a fundraising line, but it didn’t come together until we met a group of teachers at the Flavor of Georgia competition who wanted to use our Georgia-based products as a fundraiser for their Future Farmers of America groups,” Madeleine said.
“Today, we have more than 2,000 students around the state fund raising with our products, which we package under the Good Gollys’ label.”
Edibelles’ private label line came about in much the same way.
“One of our customers, a resort across the river in South Carolina, was offering our products to their guests and asked if there was any way they could be rebranded to their name,” she said. “We said sure, we can do that.”
Today, customers who want to promote their own brands can have their Edibelles items packaged with their own label and/or message for gifts or resale.
“They can select from bags, boxes and tins,” she said. “We have a designer who can work with them to get the look they want.”
Edibelles’ unusually low one-case minimum is a direct result of listening to those customers who wanted private label but didn’t have the need or budget for a huge order, she said.
Born of necessity
Madeleine Warren, a veteran retailer, began her career in sales, merchandising and management with Federated Department Stores shortly after leaving college.
During her 20-year career there, she was twice named nationwide sales manager for Rich’s. In 1993, while she was the youngest manager in the company, she was named nationwide assistant store manager for Rich’s and Goldsmith’s.
She made the leap to gourmet gifts after her father found an ad for a distributorship that trained owners in running a gift basket business. She began Elegant Gifts in 2003, working out of her home to put together baskets of high-end treats for local companies.
Edibelles was born more of necessity than the desire to grow, she said.
“Elegant Gifts was just rocking along when I lost my cookie supplier,” she said. “Savannah Cinnamon and Cookie Co. was sold and moved to Florida, leaving me with a big hole to fill.”
The Warrens decided to take the plunge, starting their new company in February of 2011 despite having “no name, no cookie, no packaging.”
“But I knew what I wanted — and what I didn’t want,” Madeleine said. “That was a start.”
She knew she wanted her cookies to have a southern flavor. She knew she wanted one of them to be savory, not sweet. And she knew she didn’t want to bake them herself.
“I didn’t want a commercial kitchen — I wanted a business,” she said.
She started with six flavors of cookies, including a savory cheddar bite, and contracted with Stan Strickland at Savannah’s Candy Kitchen to make them.
They trademarked the name Edibelles — “which was easier said than done” — and in July headed off to peddle their wares at their first food show.
“I clearly had visions of grandeur, expecting to come home with 2,500 orders,” Madeleine said, laughing. “I quickly learned that’s not the way it works.”
But they did get orders, enough to get them started and put Madeleine on the road to the 30 trade shows and conferences she attends every year.
Tim, meanwhile, was converting the large, standalone garage next to their home in Rose Dhu into a workshop, where they pack and ship products. They have since added a warehouse in Pooler for such non-perishables as packaging and pallets.
Still a small business
Just as she tries to stay tuned in to her customers, Madeleine Warren is equally as committed to growing with those demands. In early 2012, Edibelles added Tim’s “Slap Your Granny” barbecue sauce — to their line. And in July of the same year, added chocolate-covered cookies. Snack mix came next and, in 2013, the company’s Praline Snack Mix was a finalist in the Flavor of Georgia competition in Atlanta.
The fundraising and private label components were added last year as well.
The couple is still very hands-on with the company.
“You’ll often find us in the workshop packaging orders on a Sunday afternoon,” Madeleine said.
“In fact, when we have a big order to get out, I’ve been known to call my girlfriends and say, ‘I have wine. Do you want to come pack cookies?’
“Turning it into a party makes the time fly.”
What’s next for the business the Warrens like to call “Savannah’s little cookie company?”
“We’re adding another barbecue sauce that Tim is perfecting,” she said. “We’re going to change one cookie flavor, add another savory cookie with a Georgia twist and — most of all — keep listening to our customers.”
ON THE WEB
Edibellesonline.com