Business Spotlight: The Cheddar Block

Owner: Chris and Jana Daugherty

Founded: April 2007

Address: 1440 W. Republic Road, Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 877-1889

E-mail: jana@thecheddarblock.com

Services/Products: Retail gourmet cheese and food plus cooking accessories and catering

Employees: 3

There’s more to The Cheddar Block than, say, cheese.

That’s one of the marketing challenges owners Chris and Jana Daugherty encountered during their first year in business.

While the variety of cheeses runs more than 150 selections deep, the southwest Springfield store also carries 30 options of olive oil, sundry blends of salsa and dip, and hard-to-find escargot.

“We sell a lot of cheese,” Jana Daugherty admits, but customers are surprised by the depth of other specialty products.

The Cheddar Block carries specialty meats, vinegars, baking goods, olives, coffees and teas, organic lines, pastas and sauces, and spreads, dips, jams and preserves, as well as cooking accessories and a deli and catering menu. Cheeses generate more than half of the store’s sales, Daugherty says, while salsas and dips come in second, and cooking accessories round out the top-three selling sectors.

Small-business simmer

The Daughertys jumped into the gourmet food business in April 2007, while Jana Daugherty was business development director at architecture firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners, and Chris Daugherty was a salesman at EDCO-The Document People.

The couple frequented a similar concept store at Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza and an entrepreneurial desire to create their own shop in Springfield started to simmer.

After months of industry research and attending national gourmet food trade shows, the Daughertys bucked the thought of a franchise and launched into small-business ownership. They lined up equipment and inventory suppliers and signed a three-year lease for 2,000 square feet in Quail Creek Plaza, 1440 W. Republic Road.

A weekend celebration in May featuring samples galore marked their one-year anniversary – a milestone for any small business, Jana Daugherty notes.

“Being a small-business owner, every day is a success,” says Daugherty, who oversees the store’s operations. “That’s really how I look at it. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you get into it.”

On their first-year journey, Jana Daugherty says they’ve leaned on financial professionals at Liberty Bank and accountants at Bush Ramlow & Shore. But most of their business education would be considered on-the-job training.

“We’re taking that knowledge from the first year and moving forward,” Jana Daugherty says, pointing to a Web site under development and preparations already under way for the “Christmas crunch.”

Daugherty says Christmas is the top-selling time of year, followed by the summer barbecue and lake season. The first quarter of the year posts the next highest sales volume, she adds, though she declined to disclose specific revenues.

Customer cuisines

Daugherty, who also is a home-based marketing manager and sales consultant for ASI Modulex, says she’s learned to listen closely to customers.

One of the more popular offerings she’s created is a monthly cheese club. Frequent shopper Kay Mathews just renewed her annual membership.

“I think I was the first one that joined Jana’s cheese club,” says Mathews, who anxiously awaits the three cheeses Daugherty chooses to send home with members each month. “These are cheeses that you can’t get at a grocery store.”

Similar to a wine or chocolate club, for $35 a month, members receive bags prepared with the cheeses, short stories about the histories and places of origin, recipes and wine pairings.

The Cheddar Block’s typical customers come from nearby neighborhoods Quail Creek and Timberbrook, and Daugherty says they fall into two categories: those seeking a lot of advice, who perhaps are experimenting with something they viewed on Food Network, or “seasoned cooks,” who know exactly what they want.

Mathews falls in line with the latter group. She scours the store weekly for unique cuisine to prepare gourmet meals at her Highland Springs home for husband Fred Mathews of engineering firm Mathews & Associates and their friends.

“Jana carries the most varied collection of foods that I have seen since Peggy Pinckley closed down The Parisian Pantry,” Mathews says, referring to the culinary store that operated in Springfield until the early 1990s. “Good luck finding escargot in town. The Cheddar Block has it.”

Such unique items, along with grape seed oil and flavored vinegars, resonate with gourmet cooks. Brands are important, too, she says.

The Cheddar Block carries Robert Rothschild, Stonewall Kitchen, Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen – names largely limited in town to Brown Derby International Wine Center and PFI’s Diamond Ridge Market, Mathews notes.

On the map

Somewhat surprising to the entrepreneurs, the largest challenge in The Cheddar Block’s first year in business was geographical. Daugherty believes Springfieldians have a hard time traveling west of Campbell Avenue for the sake of commerce.

“People think we’re really far away … because we’re just a little west of Campbell,” she says. “We’re trying to change that perception.”

Landlord Bill Jester thinks continued widening of West Republic Road will help. He’s also anxious to get the last two spots filled at Quail Creek Plaza, where lease rates range from $13.50 to $16 a square foot, triple net.

Jester’s pleased with the tenant mix, which includes a soon-to-open Samurai Sam’s Asian restaurant and a Brown Derby next door to The Cheddar Block. “Now, there is a terrific complement,” he says.

The Cheddar Block is more than a paying tenant for Jester, who recently phoned Daugherty after calling a “pop-up meeting” at his home.

“I just gave her a call and said, ‘Here’s what I need, and here’s when I need it,’” he recalls. “I picked up a real fine cheese and cracker tray a couple of hours later.”