Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ilona Rennert. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ilona, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Charcuterie businesses have become very popular over the past few years and it’s not difficult to find someone to order a charcuterie board or grazing table from. So one of the ways we differentiate ourselves has been by focusing on the overall customer experience; how can we alleviate some of the stresses of putting together an event or the aftermath of one. One way Bits & Bites has done this is by providing staffing before, during and after the event. Whether it’s to help with set up, serving guest drinks, tidying dirty plates during the party of clean up afterwards, we provide the staffing so the host can sit back, relax and enjoy the event themselves. There’s nothing worse than planning a party and not being able to enjoy it because you’re busy keeping things in order.

Ilona, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the Chief Grazing Officer at Bits & Bites Graze Boards, serving artfully curated artisanal charcuterie boards and grazing tables. Charcuterie boards are extremely popular (who doesn’t love cheese?!), but they can be intimidating to make or simply too time consuming to source and create, so that’s where we come in. In addition to the traditional cheese & meat, we cater hors d’oeuvres and other little bites to give our clients a variety of options.

I started Bits & Bites 2 years ago as an experiment. I’ve always enjoyed art and cooking and would make “snack boards” for neighborhood parties. It was from the encouragement of a friend that I decided to make back to school charcuterie boxes for teachers. I shared with friends and in a couple mom groups on Facebook, hoping to sell maybe 12 boxes. Well, 48hrs later I received over 40 orders and it’s grown organically since then. Never did I think I would be a business woman, but this has been such a natural combination of my two passions (food and art), it’s a perfect fit and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

There’s never a wrong time to order a cheese board. We work events as small as a game night with friends to large corporate events and weddings. What prides me about Bits & Bites is our style, quality and presentation of food. We order cheeses directly from the creameries, along with sourcing ingredients locally from around Carlsbad, and take great pride in elevating the presentation to become edible art. Customers often say its “too beautiful to eat”, to which we reply “it’s so beautiful you want to eat it!”.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have built my company completely from social media. When I started my business, selling back to school charcuterie boxes, my target audient was moms. I would join local mom groups on Facebook and post my “unique idea for teacher gift” to get the word out. On Instagram I would look at the followers of local schools in the area and follow those people. This connected me with a large mom audience who were interested in gifting something unique to their kid’s teachers.

It’s important to know who your audience is and your geography. Using hashtags is not as effective as it once was, so you need to put yourself in front of their screen. Where does your ideal customer shop? Go to that store page, scroll their followers and follow those individuals who look like your ideal customer. Where do you want to sell? Go to the town page, scroll their followers and follow those individuals who look like your ideal customer. But make sure your page has some solid posts showcasing your product. You don’t want potential customers to checking you out to see an outdated, poor quality photo of your feed.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I am always looking at ways to bring in new revenue streams. I do this by thinking ‘what else does the customer need’. They come to Bits & Bites Graze boards because they are throwing an event and need food but what else do they need? What challenges/time consuming activities can I help with? When I plan a party I am always running around beforehand setting up that I barely have time to get ready myself. Or during the party I’m too focused on making sure the food looks good or dirty plates are thrown away that I don’t get to enjoy the event. Those are areas Bits & Bites Graze Boards can now assist in, so our host not only enjoys the food but the party itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bitsandbitesgrazeboards.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitsandbitessd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BitsandBitesSD
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bits-and-bites-graze-boards-carlsbad
• Other: Google: https://goo.gl/maps/5J621mYw4w5GbNoy8