Business Idea: The Edible Arrangements

This article is from: http://www.tariqfarid.com/2009/03/edible-arrangements-story.html
The Edible Arrangements® Story

The Edible Arrangements concept was first launched in East Haven, CT in 1999. The company began franchising in 2001 in Massachusetts with additional stores quickly following in Connecticut, Georgia and New Jersey. Today there are over 850 locations operating or coming soon throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Qatar.Edible Arrangements stores specialize in designing fresh fruit bouquets overflowing with juicy strawberries, pineapple, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe and honeydew hand sculpted to look like flowers. Arrangements are guaranteed fresh and are available in a variety of styles and sizes. They are perfect for any occasion from happy birthday, thank you, congratulations and sympathy to business events, client gifts and employee appreciation.

In 2006 Edible Arrangements launched Frutation®, a new concept that will take fresh fruit products to the next level. Frutation® is an all natural fruit station with a product collection that targets consumers who want a fresh and delicious treat on the go. The menu includes a variety of items such as Fruithy™ (all natural fresh fruit smoothies), fresh juices, fruit salads, spiced fruit salads, fruit sundaes and dipped fruit. The concept provides a unique and healthy option and is built upon the reputation of Edible Arrangements which is known for product quality, novelty and excellent service.

Edible Arrangements continues to expand internationally and invites qualified prospects to consider our franchise system. Edible Arrangements incorporates three of the fastest growing industries – fresh fruit, specialty foods and gift giving!

Business Idea: Games2U

This article came from: http://nichegeek.com/games2u_success_story
Website: http://www.g2u.com/
These days, giant hamster balls and air cannons are all in a day’s work for Stuart and David Pikoff. But when they first decided to go into business together and looked into buying a kid-related franchise, the Pikoffs couldn’t find anything they felt was both unique and affordable. They eventually decided to start a franchise of their own and, after months of development and research, launched Games2U in 2007. Now the Pikoffs are responsible for–quite literally–bringing the party to kids across the country, with vehicles transformed into mobile theaters equipped with the most popular video games.

The franchise fully incorporates the Pikoffs’ fun-and-games business philosophy. While their core business comes from kids’ birthday parties, Games2U books everything from corporate events to church festivals, and its franchise models consists of three different vehicles for various events. In addition to popular games like Guitar Hero and Halo 3–amped up with flat-screen TVs, state-of-the-art sound, fog machines and laser-light effects–Games2U also offers activities like outdoor laser tag and human gyroscopes. It even came up with a new twist on the piñata called the Game-yata. “We want the average kid to have a birthday party like a rock star for a very reasonable price,” says David, 42.

Since it started franchising last year, Games2U has sold 41 franchises, with 16 pending. And it’s on track to sell 150 to 200 more franchises across the country and exceed $20 million in revenue this year. “People are going to wait on buying a new car, but they’re not going to cheat their kids out of a childhood birthday memory for a couple hundred bucks,” David says.

And for franchisees coming from unsatisfying jobs, the Austin, Texas-based business allows them a fun lifestyle where they’re greeted with enthusiasm and positivity every day. “As a franchisee, you can count on the fact that when you go to work and show up at an event, the kids are smiling and excited,” says Stuart, 46. “The only complaint [we hear] is, ‘Don’t leave.’

Business Idea: Just Salad

This article came from: http://www.justsalad.com.hk/PR%20kit%20_NYC_.pdf
Our Story
Just Salad began with a simple question.
Why is there such a shortage of healthy fast food?
Nick Kenner and Rob Crespi were tired of the options available to them for lunch in
midtown Manhattan. So, instead of continuing to settle, they set off to develop a
restaurant concept that would serve a healthy, fast, and creative alternative. To make
sure that Just Salad would serve only the best salads in the world, Nick and Rob
sought the expertise of Chef Laura Pensiero.
Already world-renowned for her inventive and nutritious cooking, Chef Laura joined
Just Salad after founding Chef4Life, a provider of healthy and delicious solutions for
life-long improvements in diet while still stressing the importance of enjoying food.
She guaranteed Nick and Rob that Just Salad would stay true to its mission: offering
a meal that would be both healthy and delicious. (See the”Chef Laura” tab for her full
story.) Chef Laura designed the Just Salad menu from front to back, creating 27
unique dressings and 11 enticing combinations of toppings now known as Just Salad’s
Chef Designed Salads.
In May of 2005, after two years of research and preparation, Just Salad opened its
doors to the public on 51st and Park Avenue in New York City. It was an immediate
sensation. Such a sensation, in fact, that a sister store opened only eight months later
at 134 West 37th street.
Every detail of Just Salad was thought out carefully. Customers enjoy everything
from the food to the music to the environmentally friendly bowls. Shipments of fresh
ingredients are delivered every morning, so our patrons are happy knowing that they
are getting the freshest possible meal.
When you’re eating at Just Salad, you’re eating well.

Business Idea: Cozy’s cut for kids

Business Idea: Wateroos

Source: http://www.wateroos.com/index.htm
Many friends and parents often ask me how I came up with the idea for Wateroos. This is our story. Like many parents, my husband and I had made the decision early on not to give our toddler sugary drinks such as juices and sodas. And like most moms today, I’m busy and on the go with my family. With no other options, I found myself constantly toting around my daughter’s water-filled sippy cup. And those cups leaked inside my purse and other bags more than I care to mention. I knew there had to be a better way. We needed a beverage that our daughter would want to drink and that also offered the convenience of existing packaged juices and sodas without the sugar, sweeteners and calories. Then one day, I had a light bulb moment. If I could find a way to put water beverages in a juice-box-type container and make it really fun for kids to drink, my problem would be solved. And I might help out a few other parents along the way. It seemed so simple I couldn’t believe it! I figured I could draw upon my years at technology startups to help me launch and manage the business so I set out to learn about the beverage industry. A short time later, my family and I were out to dinner at a local diner. While my husband was chasing my daughter around the restaurant, I played around with words and letters on a little notepad and came up with the name Wateroos. It seemed so perfect – it shouted ‘water!’ and at the same time was fun and childlike. Next, we did some formal market research just to be sure that Wateroos would be a product parents would embrace. All of the friends I spoke with loved the idea but I needed a little extra reinforcement. The results of our research study were exactly what I had hoped for. Yes… this was something parents really wanted! Now the fun began. We devised the Wateroo-ligans – a crew of cute characters who live in and love the water – and decided to put games on the back of the drink box. We thought this might be just enough to make water fun for kids to drink so that they ask for our healthier product over sugary juices and sodas. We also worked hard to get our fruit-flavored waters to be as delicious as possible without sugar or artificial ingredients. Our refrigerator was over-flowing with samples and there were lots of ‘taste tests’ among friends, family and their children! Finally we all agreed on some great-tasting flavors and were ready to put our delicious beverages into our fun new packaging. We were so excited when the first-ever box of Wateroos came off the line at our manufacturing facility. And our daughter got to be the first child to drink our new Wateroos products – what fun!
Wateroos was born!
And better yet, a few months later, Wateroos was being sold for the first time on store shelves at the local grocery store where we shop. Imagine the smile on my face as we walked down the juice drink aisle and my daughter shouted “Look Mommy, Wateroos”. Now we’re working hard to get Wateroos on more store shelves across the country so that parents everywhere can feel good about giving their kids this great-tasting, healthier beverage. And you can help. Simply print out the card on the Where to Buy page of this Web site, bring it to your local grocer, and let them know that you want Wateroos! We also continue to explore new flavor options for Wateroos and think about ideas for other healthy kids’ products. We’d love to hear from you! Tell us your ideas and what you think about Wateroos! Wishing you dry handbags and happy children.

Young entrepreneur: Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman

Text taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Hunks_Hauling_Junk
College Hunks Hauling Junk began as a summer project in Washington, D.C. Founders Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman were looking for a way to earn income during the summer of 2002. They borrowed a cargo van from Soliman’s mother and began hauling unwanted items from community residences. In 2004, their business plan won them the Leigh Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition. With the $10,000 in winnings and personal investment, they incorporated the business. Attribute the catchy name to Soliman’s mother also. In its first two years, the company hauled away more than 4000 tons of junk. Soliman and Friedman donate a portion of revenues to College Bound and the College Hunks Hauling Junk Scholarship Fund. In 2008 the company headquarters moved to Tampa, Florida and in March opened up a call and training center for franchises.
In September, 2008, Friedman and Soliman opened College Foxes Hauling Boxes.

The secret to success

New Year, New You, Happy New Year!!!

Work ethics: James Cameron

This is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley, an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron, an electrical engineer. He grew up in Chippawa, Ontario (now part of the city of Niagara Falls) and attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls, and his family moved to Fullerton, California in 1971. While he studied physics and English at California State University, Fullerton, Cameron used every opportunity to visit the film archive of USC. To the surprise of many people, although Cameron had a large educational background in the natural sciences, he chose a philosophy major from The University of Toronto in 1973. Cameron says of his time there that he was, “completely self taught in special effects. I’d go down to the USC library and pull any thesis that graduate students had written about optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology…if they’d let me photocopy it, I would. If not, I’d make notes.”

After dropping out, he worked several jobs such as truck driving and wrote when he had time. After seeing the original Star Wars film in 1977, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry. When Cameron read Syd Field’s book Screenplay, it occurred to him that integrating science and art were possible and he wrote a ten minute science fiction script with two friends, entitled Xenogenesis. They raised money and rented a camera, lenses, the film stocks, studio and shot it in 35 mm. To understand how to operate the camera, they dismantled it and spent the first half-day of the shoot trying to figure out how to get it running. From his early career onward, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron

Word of Advice from CNBC