“It was helpful that I started with sunglasses because it meant I had to look
overseas for new business because there wasn’t any sun in Britain. So I
already had distributors in place overseas when the recession began. If we
just relied on the British market, we wouldn’t exist,” said Le.
Now 32, she regularly puts in 15-hour working days and says that starting up a
business has been nothing like she expected.
“It is really hard work. When you first approach it, it is fun and you don’t
really know what is involved so you go in there with a lot of bravado. When
you get down to the nitty-gritty, this industry is all about building
relationships, and you have to fulfil your promise every time in stock,
distribution and supply.
“I am glad I did it. The experience has taught me a lot about business which I
could never learn from a book.”
MARC DEMARQUETTE
Demarquette Chocolates
THE STORY SO FAR: Marc Demarquette was 33 and a management consultant
in London when an accident made him rethink his priorities. He decided to
turn his love of chocolate into a business.
After learning how to make chocolate at a culinary school in Paris he obtained
a £40,000 bank loan to get started and within four months had opened a shop,
Demarquette, in Fulham, south-west London.
He also set up a production facility nearby and employed a chocolatier to help
him. Demarquette had planned to open a second shop in the second year but
put his plans on hold after being taken on by Fortnum & Mason to create
a range of bespoke chocolates using Fortnum’s own ingredients. Last year he
launched a website, Demarquette.com, and online sales were going well.
He was talking to stores around the world about creating bespoke ranges for
them but wanted to proceed cautiously until he was convinced that a
long-distance business arrangement would work. Despite spending his £40,000
loan within six months of starting up, Demarquette had been able to keep
funding the business entirely out of cash flow.
UPDATE: Demarquette is doing extremely well. The range of chocolates he
produces for Fortnum & Mason is now sold all year round and his
chocolates are often included in special hampers created by the store. This
time last year he made a decision not to open a second store but to wait and
see what happened with the economy — a decision that has turned out to be
extremely wise.
Sales through his existing shop, Demarquette in Fulham, are growing. “We hoped
to match last year’s figures and we exceeded that at Christmas, Valentine’s
Day and Easter, which are the three peaks in the year for us,” he said.
However, having decided not to increase his prices so as not to deter
customers, Demarquette is feeling the squeeze on profit margins because the
cost of raw ingredients has risen 40% on last year.
