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One of many oldest chocolate retailers in New York Metropolis, Aigner Candies has been serving chocolate treats and different sweets for 93 years. When Rachel Kellner and her husband Mark Libertini purchased and took over the shop in 2015, they needed to navigate tips on how to protect the shop’s id whereas additionally maintaining it thrilling for future generations.
Mark is a pastry chef and restaurateur, however as a former social employee, Rachel had no expertise within the meals trade. Slightly than seeing her untraditional background as a mismatch, she used it to deliver a brand new perspective to the shop.
“Enterprise is actually all about networking. It is all about constructing relationships, and I really like doing that,” Rachel mentioned. “As a therapist, that is your function. A therapist-client relationship is predicated on the belief and security that you simply construct along with your consumer.”
Whereas the possession is totally different, a lot of Aigner Candies is identical. Mark and Rachel use all the identical recipes as the unique homeowners so clients eat the identical traditional goodies they’ve been for years.
When it comes to evolving the shop, Rachel modified the branding, up to date the web site, and constructed a stronger on-line presence. She’s additionally single-handedly grown media relationships and written press releases.
“I constructed these relationships, and now it is to the purpose the place I will actually textual content my media contacts and say, ‘Hey, that is what is going on on,’ and I will pitch them tales,” Rachel mentioned. “There are such a lot of horrible issues occurring on the planet that the information could not go on in the event that they did not have some lighthearted items, so we’re all the time in a position to present that.”
Whereas Rachel continues to develop Aigner Candies’s presence on-line and capitalize on media protection, she nonetheless thinks the shop’s power lies within the in-person expertise for patrons. She prioritizes coaching her employees and treats them like household, which comes throughout of their interactions with clients.
For Yelp Neighborhood Supervisor Samantha B., the in-person expertise will all the time be preferable to ordering Aigner Candies on-line. She loves coming into the shop because of the relationships the employees has constructed together with her through the years.
“I am a individuals particular person to start with, so it is all the time very nice to only stroll right into a brick and mortar and see a smiling face.” Samantha mentioned. “We bought so comfy throughout the pandemic simply sitting behind a display screen, however I am simply not that particular person.”
Along with treating all walk-ins as valued clients, Aigner Candies engages the group by regularly giving again to native charities and organizations, such because the Queens Middle for Progress and a neighborhood hospital.
Rachel sees these efforts as a technique to mix her social work background together with her new expertise within the meals trade. Through the pandemic, the store donated chocolate totalling round $30,000 in worth. Now, Rachel units a donation funds and selects native organizations whose values align together with her enterprise.
“We have been gifted this unimaginable alternative to run this enterprise, to hold on a convention, and it is my husband and my social accountability to unfold pleasure,” Rachel mentioned. “We have actually taken that on in each means that we are able to, and we simply try to discover methods to do this.”
Different artistic methods to interact the group from Aigner Candies embody:
Host group occasions. Aigner Candies regularly hosts fundraisers with native colleges and organizations. Internet hosting these occasions is an effective way to boost consciousness for each what you are promoting and causes you care about.Rent area people members. Rachel regularly hires college students from native excessive colleges and companions with native universities to offer school college students internship alternatives. By providing jobs {and professional} growth alternatives, you’ll be able to develop your small enterprise’s ties to the group.Deal with clients like household. As a longstanding enterprise, employees at Aigner Candies be sure that previous and new clients alike really feel welcomed. Prioritizing customer support helps each buyer really feel like a valued a part of the group and creates loyal patrons.
Take heed to the episode under to listen to straight from Rachel and Samantha, and subscribe to Behind the Overview for extra from new enterprise homeowners and reviewers each Thursday.
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