Chill Out

Chill made some very common business mistakes -- no focus and no quality control. Sande had a love of frozen yogurt, but no knowledge of the product beyond the fact that she enjoyed eating it. When it didn't work, instead of focusing her business and making the product better, she just kept adding more and more products to try and increase revenue.

The other huge problem was Sande wasn't in her business as much as she needed to be. Thus the staff could do whatever they wanted because there were no rules or consequences. All of this needed to change. 

The interesting thing for me was that Sande and her husband Jim had two successful businesses, but Chill was failing miserably and draining resources from the others that were doing well. The thing that made their other businesses successful was Jim and his daughter Shannon had experience in the businesses they were running. They were providing quality products and were hands on in their businesses -- the polar opposite of Chill. 

After talking to the staff and tasting Shannon's food for myself, I knew firsthand she made quality products, cared about what she made, and was a huge asset. The frozen yogurt certainly wasn't working, but introducing fresh, homemade, delicious products would, and I hoped that Sande would agree. 

I was surprised by how excited the staff was when they found out Chill was doing away with yogurt and becoming a coffee shop, which would offer fresh sandwiches and baked goods. It was actually more work for them, but they were all on board, and the best news was that Sande was too. 

I was so happy when I went back to check on everyone at Chill. Not only had Sande stepped up, so had Lauren the manager. The staff was respecting both Lauren and Beth, and they were really doing a great job. 

I have an update on Chill -- Sande and Jim have decided to expand on my recommendations and turn it into a bakery. Shannon is a trained pastry chef and is going to be making all the baked goods. I am so excited and happy for them all, and I know that it's going to be a success.