We recently connected with Nicole McIntyre and have shared our conversation below.
Nicole, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
Cocoa Forte™ started initially as a hobby, serving hand-dipped cheesecake from a tent. It’s events backed with community support where passions start and businesses begin. Our simple concept converted to a business after we tested it against the big name dessert brands in the seasonal retail mall setting. We were happy with the outcome, but understood that being mobile had lower fixed overhead costs.
We really did our research when it came to operating a food truck business. There are a few basics that are industry standards, but if you have a unique concept, you’ll stumble upon areas where you need to get creative in order to simplify your process or when learning how to speak to your customer.
Once our systems were in place, and the Cocoa Forte™ gained local popularity, we wanted to see how we could grow our brand more in our service area. At the time, we had a fulfillment partnership with a national publicly traded brand. We made and delivered their online orders in our market area. Since the contract was a licensing agreement, we had the opportunity to add our branding to the marketing materials n the products we fulfilled. We utilized a commissary space to execute the fulfillment process. Taking advantage of this partnership as supplemental income, we reinvested in to the business. Side note, although I went to school for business, I stopped the program after our second child was born. Therefore, I did not exactly have all the business related tools. Reinvesting allowed me to take specific business courses, based on the phase of growth the business with in at any given time.
Scaling our brand awareness even more, we invested in a space at a food hall. This was the first food hall concept at the time in our area. In the beginning, sales were great, then tumbled quickly and unexpectedly. Initially, when we decided that the food hall was a good path to take, we didn’t realize that the food hall company was not equipped to make good on verbal promises. Regardless of which person represents a business you get into an agreement with, if there are details you intend to be held, they must be in writing.
While we encountered unexpected roadblocks, we adapted to the situation by learning from other business owners and excepting feedback from them. We also dove into executing the unknown territory of social media marketing.
Just remembering how we had to become machines to keep operations going. Daily operating tasks included posting on social media three times a day, managing staff at the food hall and the commissary. Scheduling requests for the two dessert trucks operating at that time, all the behind the scenes from purchasing inventory, taxes, packaging, vendors payments, branding, keeping up with catering orders from several platforms plus have a family life, it was a ton to keep up with.
We definitely endured some trauma as we were often in a fight or flight state of awareness constantly for months. It was a difficult decision, but when we recalled a promise we made to ourselves before we started the business. That promise is that the business would not be maintained at the cost of our family’s happiness. So we made the choice to leave the food hall. Looking back, I am so grateful for the early crash course in learning so much firsthand experienced very early in the journey. We left the food hall, September 2019.
We converted our website to be more e-commerce friendly since we established catering clients through marketing. It was helpful to scale back right before mandates were in place as a result of the pandemic.
What did we do during the pandemic? We made it! The dessert trucks did only pre-paid private events, we added staff at the commissary to help process an influx of website orders and fulfillment orders. We also started working on the concept of transitioning Cocoa Forte™ to a franchise.
As we stand in our new chapter of franchising, we look back on the journey it took to get this level and give thanks. We are fortunate for every business lesson and relationships formed. Thankful for the local community community’s constant support. Support from family, friends and onlookers chanting for us as they follow our journey. Finally, as an entrepreneur friend of mine says, “We’re gonna to keep this bus moving”! – Jennifer Bryant
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Nicole McIntyre, CEO, and Co-Founder of Cocoa Forte™ Franchising, LLC., is a native of Washington DC and the eldest of seven sisters. Raised in a military household, (Air Force), Nicole’s family moved to various states and countries such as California, North Dakota, Maryland, and Oxfordshire, England. Her family settled in Raleigh, NC where she met her husband, Freddie McIntyre Jr. from Whiteville, NC, also co-founder of the Cocoa Forte™ brand.
While in high school, Nicole worked several concessions jobs. The fair grounds, the flea market and the movie theater. Her family carries an entrepreneur spirit, when attending school for Business Admin, she knew she would work for herself. Little did she know then that they would create a business in the food industry.
Since Nicole had a background in concessions, starting a food truck was more familiar than she realized. Intense research was done before starting a food truck. Starting a business is creating a new reality. They had to envision the mobile unit, the equipment they would need, how they would set up at locations, the type of customer they would serve, where that customer would be. The more detailed, the more well planned. What they found, is that those plans will also change with experience and refining processes.
For those that have had a chance to follow Cocoa Forte™ since the beginning, they have seen the branding develop over the past decade. With understanding more of who their client is, they saw the importance of continuously evolving brand awareness as their client evolves with the type of experience they are looking for.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
Not only is Cocoa Forte™ a dessert truck, they offer drop off catering of hand dipped cheesecake. A typical customer is hosting a corporate meeting with staff and peers or a personal gathering with family and friends. Each cheesecake brings twelve slices and customers choose up to two flavors per cheesecake order. They have an option for delivery or to pick up from our commissary.
The current platform used for catering orders is Square. The founders of Cocoa Forte™ have utilized the technology growth of Square and have found ways to implement their ever evolving capabilities to match their needs. Other sales platforms used for their food truck business is Street Food Finder, EZ Cater and Roaming Hunger.
Knowing how to serve your clients makes it easier to utilize third party platforms.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson Nicole had to unlearn was multitasking. As an owner and operator of Cocoa Forte™ for so long, Nicole was programmed to take on all tasks required of the building the business as most entrepreneurs do. Until there is burn out.
Now that the Cocoa Forte™ brand is now a franchise, Nicole has learned the importance of having others on board to help support the growth of the business. They currently have an operator for the food truck, a booking manager, two marketing and media firms plus franchise executives that assist Nicole.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cocoaforte.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocoaforte/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CocoaForte/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cocoa-forte%E2%84%A2-franchise/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/cocoaforte
- Youtube: Youtube.com/Cocoaforte
- Other: www.cocoafortefranchise.com https://www.instagram.com/cocoafortefranchise/ https://www.facebook.com/cocoafortefranchise
Image Credits
All photos created and owned by Cocoa Forte™