Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Edible Arrangements Now Open in Blue Ribbon Plaza


Edible Arrangements opened on October 25th at 186 Great Road in Blue Ribbon Plaza. This was the previous location of The Well Effect. I recently spoke with Samuel, one of the co-owners. Samuel and his business partner Mo Khenefar, have always had a passion for fruit. They were looking to open their first franchise and they really liked the Edible Arrangements concept and felt the company itself was very solid. In January, they started looking for a location and choose Bedford because they felt it is a very nice community. They found the space in June and started interior construction right away and were able to open in just four months. According to Samuel, finding a space that met their needs in Bedford was challenging as there was not a lot of retail space available for the range of square footage they were looking for. Along with Bedford, this Edible Arrangements serves Billerica, Burlington, Carlisle, Hanscom AFB, Lexington and other nearby towns.

The Chocolate Dipped Fruit Cones are one of their best selling items.
The store offers a wide variety of over 200 different Fruit arrangements. According to Samuel, the prices start at $29.99 and go all the way up to $2000. The arrangements tend to be specialized for different types of events including; Birthdays, Graduations, Anniversaries, Holiday Parties, Weddings (used as centerpieces), Corporate Gifts, Kid Parties and more. Samuel explained how a lot of realtors have started including Fruit Arrangements in their open houses in place of the more traditional donuts and coffee. Along with their regular arrangements, they also rotate through seasonal items such as a Halloween Pumpkin Keepsake which includes specially cut Pineapple Daisies along with strawberries and other fruits. For all of their arrangements, the store offers delivery, online ordering and/or in-store pickup. According to Samuel their sales are about 60% business and 40% residential.

The Bedford Store offers a wide arrange of Fruit Based drinks.
While Edible Arrangements started out totally focused on Fruit Arrangements, a few years ago the company decided to experiment with a new format and added Edible To Go items such as Smoothies. The Bedford store is the newest format which now includes Smoothies, Frozen Yogurt, Frozen Hot Chocolate and other to go items along with the traditional Fruit Arrangements. So far about 20% of the existing Edible Arrangement stores have been converted to the new format. In fact there are even a few drive thru stores. The plan is to have all of 1300+ stores converted over to the newest format in the next few years.

Smoothies are made fresh and consist of a blend of many fruits.
While the Bedford Store  had a soft opening at the end of October, they plan to have their full grand opening shortly after Thanksgiving. Samuel feels their store will make a nice addition to town and plans to get involved in the Bedford community. Samuel mentioned that both Mo and himself really like making their customers happy, and especially enjoy seeing the smiles on customers faces when they see the arrangements they ordered.

Edible Arrangements continues to grow. The company is averaging about 40 new franchise locations a year and now have close to 50 locations in Massachusetts.

Along with Fruit Arrangements, the store offers a variety of seasonal gift items.
The Bedford location currently employs about 10 people. They plan to add a few more employees as business ramps up. The store itself is open from 8 am to 7 pm from Mon-Fri and  5 pm on Saturdays. On Sunday they are open from 11 am to 4 pm.      


Comments:
1. It's interesting that Edible Arrangements is now offering Smoothies and other to go items. Seems like this is a good way to drive foot traffic and gets people to try their products along with driving incremental revenue.
2. Key to their success will be tapping in to the large number of companies located in Bedford and Burlington.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Bedford Aesthetics and Nutrition Center Opens


Bedford Aesthetics and Nutrition Center opened on October 24th at 133 Great Road. I recently spoke with Danielle Beck the owner. Danielle has a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and is also a Board Certified Nurse Practitioner. In 2014, Danielle started a home based business Designing Healthy Lives that provided individual Nutrition, Health and Wellness Counseling. In 2016, she decided to shift gears. She moved the business out of her house to 30 South Road and focused on Botox, dermal filler and Kybella injections along with skin resurfacing peels.

While Danielle enjoyed what she was doing, she has always been passionate about nutrition and felt that skin health and overall health go hand in hand. So she made the decision a few months ago to expand the practice by adding a nutrition component. She decided to team up with Katie Busa who is a Registered Dietitian. She has known Katie since high school and knew they both had the same approach to nutrition counseling. Katie is also currently a Registered Dietitian at Spaulding Hospital in Cambridge and also provides Nutritional Services for Summit Fitness Clients in Bedford.

Their new sign was designed by Christine of Rustic Customs Signs
With the expansion, the business needed to find a new location. Danielle wanted to stay in Bedford and looked for an older historic type building. When she found out about 133 Great Road which was built around 1840, she took a look and decided this would be the new home of the business.

The new treatment room provides outdoor views from all sides.
Medical Aesthetics Services include Dermal Fillers, Skin Resurfacing Peels, Kybella injections and Botox. Danielle mentioned they provide complimentary consultations for all of their aesthetic services in order to discuss goals, treatment options and pricing.

For nutrition, they offers individualized nutrition counseling. Katie works with each patient to create a personalized nutrition plan to meet their personal goals. Along with nutrition counseling they also offer Micronutrient testing from SpectraCell Laboratories. This testing measure the function of 35 nutritional components including vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and amino acids within the white blood cells compared to the blood plasma testing done by most other labs.

Along with the center, Danielle still works as a nurse practitioner providing health assessments to patients in their homes. The center is currently open by appointment only.