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America's One-Of-A-Kind Foods
Rebecca Ruiz, 12.08.08, 10:00 AM EST
Specialty gourmet products offer customers something unique but also the experience of helping create it.
In Depth: America's One-Of-A-Kind Foods
The shelves of Tad Van Leer's small chocolate factory, J. Emanuel Chocolatier, in Chester, N.J., are stocked with standard fare like wine truffles and foil-wrapped miniature chocolate soccer balls. But what helps keep customers coming back are Van Leer's more customized confections that show a personal touch.
On a recent afternoon, one of his employees was affixing chocolates shaped like the number "3" to lollipop sticks and pumping liquid chocolate into a rectangular mold that read "Burgdorff." His customers--in this case, parents of a toddler turning three and a realty company--pay a premium to customize their chocolates for special occasions or events.
In Depth: America's One-Of-A-Kind Foods
"That's my best marketing," says Van Leer, of his efforts to encourage word-of-mouth advertising through chocolate tastings and custom orders. Even at five years old, there are still residents of 7,000-person Chester who don't know that his store exists.
Louise Kramer, director of communications for the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, says that Van Leer's instincts are right. Customization, she says, is a powerful marketing tool, whether it's chocolate, steak or wine. It also plays on a desire among certain consumers to be an integral part of the production process.
"There's a certain je ne sais quoi about having a special product [customers] source themselves," Kramer says. "There's a wow factor at their dinner party."
The only caveat is that businesses such as Van Leer's need to establish a delicate balance between catering to the customer without sinking too much time, resources or money into each special project. And the just-declared recession presents an extra challenge to these companies: convincing consumers they truly need a premium, customized product.
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