Interview with Marguerite Loucas, Business Essay Example

Last week, I had an interview with Marguerite Loucas, the owner of CoolMess ice cream shop in New York. The interview was conducted on in person at CoolMess New York Roslyn Shop since it was adjacent to where I stay and adding that I am a regular customer at the shop. It was a privilege for me to have an interview with Loucas, and I can say that she gave me an easy time with her although the interview. Loucas is very direct as well, and the more involved she became in the topic, the more insightful and informative she became. She demonstrated a refreshing maturity and confidence as well as motivation. The following are the details of my conversation with her as an entrepreneur.

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Loucas stated that she studied business commerce from Columbia Business School. Also, she adds that her family had a restaurant business, a 70-year-old burger mini-chain Burger heaven. She mostly spent most of her time in the family business before establishing her own, where she learnt the techniques of running food industry business from her parents who were her role model. Although she was comfortable at the family business venture, but still pursued by the urge to start her entrepreneurial venture and she was always determined to start one. In the interview, Loucas further expounded that she came up with the concept of her business when she was struggling to find something fun to engage herself together with her three kids. She was seeking something interactive that will not interfere with their well-being. She realised how creative, and fun it was making ice cream, and a bit messy. Loucas became fascinated with her concept of introducing something unique to the market, and she was prompted to establish CoolMess in January 2016. Loucas' proclaims that her goal to start her entrepreneurial venture is to have a cocktail ice cream that is different from the ordinary one. The idea is to have a mixture of best taste blending of ice cream base together with the toppings like the cherries, cookies and pound cake.

Loucas' perception regarding debt in a business is that a business should never operate in a deficit and at the same time never take a loan to cover its recurring expenses, such as employees' salaries. Seeking financial borrowings for the recurrent expenditures is a sign that the business is in jeopardy and the adverse matters should be tackled. Second, the employees and the customers are the propellers of the business, each one of them should be approached with caution. Employees' productivity relies on how they are treated and issued direction at the workplace. The increase of customer varies different depending on the uniqueness of the business in comparison to the competitors. Loucas asserts that the business was established as a 'rapid growth' business since it had a steady strategic growth aimed at exploring the unexpected opportunity. As a result of the well-executed anticipated growth strategy, the business responded with an acute increase of customers who were confident and excited with the taste of ice cream cocktail. To have a successful venture, Loucas stated that she composed a business plan with the support of his father alongside the practical knowledge he acquired in a family business. She shows that she determined the SWOT analysis (strength, weakness, threat and opportunity) of her business and it served as risk orientation before orchestrating her plans, and therefore she had considerable courage to take the venture. Loucas revealed that, besides the financial resources, she additionally needed human resources, ice cream machine, and the premise. The entrepreneur stated that the initial days when establishing the business were time to demand and exhausting, dealing with the documentation of the business, decorating and customizing the premise to ensure that it is appealing to the targeted customers, and orienting the employees to work towards the organization's goals.

Loucas' discourse on the circumstances that led to the change of the goals and values of the venture as it grew. The initial targeted market was children and teenagers based on the products she was selling. However, the age gap widened up to the customer aged 55 years. This made her change the blend of the ice cream cocktail to please the ageing population rather than the teens only; even though that did not lead to any financial loss to the venture. Due to the stiff competition experienced in the market, the Loucas had to take control of the venture as it grew to avoid collapse and loss of customers. Loucas further stated that she was forced to change her work patter and ensure that she monitors the growth of the business especially when one of the competitors opened ice cream shop close to hers. She had to work up to the late hours and on the weekend to ensure that no one takes advantage of her absenteeism. She told me that she used to work from the afternoon of every day, though the workers arrived earlier to make preparations for the products. Morning hours were scheduled for family and friends engagement. The entrepreneur acknowledged some of the discordant remarks that she proved them wrong. Example, low market demand for the products, low profit, still competition, and the difficulties in penetrating the market, she had to assume and proceed with her plans. An insight I gained after assuming and overcoming the discordant issues is that cynicism is the poison of business superiority. The mistakes Loucas has made through his business venture is firing workers who had experience rather than taking them through a disciplinary process and retaining them. She learnt that her competitors absorbed the workers that she fired and used that as a weapon to outdo her in the business. The greatest moment of her venture is when she received an invitation from some of her clients who invited her to sell her ice cream cocktail during their graduation ceremonies, weddings, and birthday parties. Such occasions offered a platform to strengthen the reputation of her company and gain public popularity. Loucas lamented that the worst moment of her business is when a customer confronted one of the employees and escalated into a gruesome fight forcing some of the customers to flee and some got injured, and this had an adverse effect to the company.

Loucas states that for the past two years of operations, there are some lessons that she has learnt regarding the nature of the business that stimulates her to do some things differently. She asserts that she will understand the target market and learning from failures of others. However, she claims that there are some unique characteristics that she possesses led her business to the success, they include, being unique in the market and understanding the aspects of running a business. In future, Loucas focus to expand her market by opening other shops to be conveniently located for more customers and introduce new blends of ice cream cocktails to introduce the new level of customers. Loucas did not mention anything about her business exit strategy. Loucas advice to the study is to maintain focus if they want to achieve in their goals.