Scotland's Economy

Why Cocoa Ooze is sweet on Small Business Saturday

December 3, 2015 by Jamie Hutcheon No Comments | Category Economy, Employment, Event

Small Business Saturday is a grassroots campaign which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses in their communities.

It takes place on the first shopping Saturday in December each year, but aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses like my own – bespoke chocolate company Cocoa Ooze.

I established Cocoa Ooze in 2008 at the age of 17 to fulfil my dream of becoming a professional chocolatier.  I had fallen in love with baking in my family kitchen and all of my products have been adapted from beloved family recipes, bringing a fresh offering to the marketplace.

This year, Small Business Saturday is on Saturday, 5 December and we are planning to celebrate our successes to date in store with our customer and exclusive offers, getting people to know about our award-winning small creative business.

We decided to get involved to showcase our brand and the importance of small businesses on this significant day.  It is great to see a day dedicated to the small business sector and a day for bringing businesses together under a campaign.

Cocoa Ooze has now developed into a premium bespoke chocolate company with everything made by hand and employs a team of 25.  Our hard-working team is made up of a diverse group of dedicated staff, working within business development, marketing, accounts, retail and production.

Our master chocolatiers have been trained in the art of chocolate making and are always experimenting with new flavours and ingredients to create brand new products.

Small Business Saturday encourages businesses to support each other and to share what has worked for them and what has been less successful. My top business tip would be to try it once and see how it goes – you will never know without trying and will always learn quickly from your mistakes.

At the point of starting up, I was able to financially support the business as I had a full time job.  I also proved how determined I was to succeed by working in excess of 70 hours in my catering job whilst running a new business for 2 years.

Over the years, we have benefited from various aspects of public sector support, including support from Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise on areas such as marketing, ICT and financial readiness.

I would like to see more support for small businesses – at the end of the day all businesses start small. With more support in the early days, I could have grown the business quicker.  I had various mentors, which was great, but I was always open minded when people were giving advice. It is your choice whether you take the advice after all – make your decision and go with it.

As Small Business Saturday approaches, I’d like to wish all small businesses the best of luck and – if you’re harbouring a business idea of your own – there’s no time like the present to get out there and have a go.

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