Everybody loves chocolate. That’s the motive behind Mumma’s Kitchen Delights, a confectionery business that home-taught chocolatier Samantha began to tend to after 21 years as an accountant.
The sweetest origin story
The name of the chocolate shop business was born from a charming Christmas present; a plaque and apron given to Samantha from her kids as a result of constantly walking past the kitchen to hear “Just try this!” - a phrase which is now worn with pride in the form of the perfect business strapline.
Having taken refuge in her “happy place”, the kitchen, and becoming fully immersed in her affection for confection, Samantha decided to expand her chocolate offerings beyond her own family when she was overwhelmed by positive feedback.
“I like to make lots of treats for family and friends and make them happy. When I got the presents for Christmas and everybody that received their sweet treats raved about them, I decided to start my own business. I extended my delights to everyone else’s families through my website.”
Building a delightfully easy website
To find the ultimate sweet spot of making other people happy through chocolate, Samantha decided she needed her very own website to grow her customer base and start selling online. She started building the Mumma’s Kitchen Delights website in January 2021, and was ready to go live as soon as February 3rd.
On creating the website, Samantha said: “I have never done anything like this before and I was surprised at how simple GoDaddy made it. I chose GoDaddy after looking at a couple of website builders and GoDaddy looked the most user-friendly. The website builder was simple and easy to use and the guides are always polite, professional and very helpful, helping me set up delivery options on the shop, as well as the terms and conditions and privacy policy on my home page.”
But, like a box of chocolates, starting a business hasn’t always been predictable, particularly during a pandemic. Samantha admits her accounting background is much stronger than her inner-marketeer, so promoting her products (particularly via social media) has been tricky.
But the most valuable lesson she’s learnt, and something that her kids often remind her, is that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Patience, promotion and good marketing are three qualities that Samantha believes are very much needed in business and have been vital in the making of her online chocolate shop.
“It has been challenging starting a new business in these difficult times. I am not a marketing person, I am a numbers person, so I find promoting my products challenging and using social media isn’t something I’ve really done much of. But the marketing section of the GoDaddy website has been so useful, enabling me to send out newsletters and promotions to subscribers.”
A (chocolate) fountain of knowledge
As well as a little help from GoDaddy, one personal characteristic that has helped Samantha progress her online journey and nurture her business is determination. As a perfectionist, she explains that it can be disheartening when things don’t go to plan, but determination always helps her to continue onwards.
In the hopes that Mumma’s Kitchen Delights will make a customer as happy as it has made Samantha to make it for them, she gets butterflies when she completes a customer’s order and takes it to the post office for delivery. For this chocolate shop owner, success is defined by the satisfaction of her customers.
“It can be tough waiting for orders to come in, but when they do and the customer has enjoyed your chocolate so much that they send you a thank you and tell their friends, that’s why I do it. One customer sent me a message telling me I spread joy and happiness and that’s what I want to do because we all need joy in our lives.”
On starting out, Samantha would encourage entrepreneurs to lower their expectations slightly, to avoid disappointment. But making other people happy is at the heart of it all, and something that makes her the proud parent of this business.
“My advice for someone else starting out would be not to expect it to be a success overnight! Use GoDaddy’s platform to build your website, then update it as you go, and use the GoDaddy marketing templates for promotions and newsletters. There is a lot to learn when starting a new business, but thanks to GoDaddy, one very important part of my business was easy to set up and took the stress out of building a professional website for the first time.”
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