Cookies By Design has new owners

If matching a buyer to a business is like making a successful marriage as business broker Chuck Woolley puts it then the recent sale of Cookies By Design was a match made in heaven.

"This was one that kind of popped off the page in terms of a match for the buyer," Woolley said of the purchase made by Todd and Amy Carroll.

Woolley, a partner of Busi-ness Brokers Unlimited with Gary Rogers and John Owens, represented the seller, local business owners Tom and Jo-Ann Dapp.

The right mix

Amy Carroll brings more than four years of food-service and business-to-business marketing experience to Cookies By De-sign, which she and her husband purchased Nov. 1. Her previous careers were with The Marlin Company and, more recently, as Reckitt Benckiser's assistant brand manager.

The career change from marketer to business owner was brought about because Reckitt Benckiser was moving her position to New Jersey. With no desire to relocate, the Carrolls looked at their options in Springfield.

When she first heard of the Cookies By Design opportunity she said, "If I can market mustard, I can market cookies."

According to Woolley, the fit between Carroll and Cookies By Design was easily discovered. In an early stage of the sales procedure that he calls "qualifying the buyer" which means determining if the client suits the business and if they are financially qualified Woolley made the connection.

"It's basically making a marriage." he said. "You try to make sure they have the skill set to run that particular business."

Ahead of schedule

JoAnn Dapp started the cookie gift bouquet franchise at 302 E. Republic Road in 1999 with the intention of running it for about five years. But after last year's success, she said the timing was right to sell.

"We probably turned it a little bit quicker than the original plan because last year was a really strong growth year. ... It seemed like a very good time to sell and move on to the next venture. It was never intended to be a family business, it was just one of the building blocks."

Although her next venture is not yet decided, Dapp said her options are wide open. Two possibilities are helping husband Tom at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers or pursuing something entirely new. She said she is keeping in close touch with Business Brokers for another business opportunity.

Another building block for Dapp was Encore Resale Boutique, a shop she opened in the Plaza Shopping Center about seven years ago. She started it from scratch and ran it for three years before selling it.

She said she takes more pride in Encore "because there wasn't a model for it," she said. "When you buy a franchise, the wheel has already been invented and basically, if you follow their formula and just adapt it to your marketplace, then you're pretty much assured of having a successful business. But with a start-up business you don't have the support."

Dream come true

For the Carrolls, a franchise was just what the doctor ordered.

Both have master's degrees from Drury University in business administration and have long had the desire to own their own business. However, Amy Carroll never thought it would be so soon.

"To me, it was not something that could happen so early in life, but when I was put in the situation of losing my job ... it forced us to really look at other opportunities in Springfield," she said.

"Academically, we knew what it would take. When we came across this, it was just so perfect. ... The fact that it's a franchise it gives us support; and it's an existing business that JoAnn worked so hard to build. We have a great base to start with. This is a perfect big business for my husband and I. I know it's small to most people, but to us it's big."

Her husband, Todd, is employed at Noble & Associates.

Cookies By Design has four employees. The national franchise, which has its headquarters in Plano, Texas, has been in existence for 15 years and has 232 stores.

"They're really spending a lot of money and resources to make each franchise more successful across the nation and to bring some unity to the customer, so that no matter where you are or who you order from, you're receiving the same great-tasting cookies and great customer service," Carroll said.

What's on tap

Locally, Carroll said Dapp had a lot of repeat customers, ranging from retail customers buying for family or friends to businesses ordering for clients. "She has made a lot of people happy already, and I just have to keep that up," she added.

Dapp said that about 50 to 75 deliveries are made per week. However, as many as 150 deliveries have been made in one day during the busy times of Christmas, Valentine's Day, Secretaries Day and Bosses' Day.

While Carroll said she has a great customer base to begin with, she also sees potential new customers in such industries as banking, real estate and law. "People that have clients," she said.

Carroll also figures to benefit from online sales and sales through the store's 800-number. She said a good portion of business comes from outside Springfield.

A good business relationship

Cookies By Design is the Dapps' second business sold through Business Brokers Unlimited. The first was Com-puter Renaissance, another franchise, which sold in June 2000. Tom Dapp said they sold Computer Renaissance because he was opening New Horizons in Jan-uary of that year.

"The focus needed to be more on New Horizons with the upstart," Dapp said.

In 2000 the local New Horizons made the top five in revenues out of 169 locations in the United States, according to Dapp, and today it maintains a top 10 ranking.

"It has everything to do with the employees and very little with me," he said of his staff of 13.

Last year, his company trained slightly more than 9,000 individuals, surpassing its goal of 8,000. The goal for 2002 is to train 11,000 people.

The Dapps said they have enjoyed working with Business Brokers.

"They are just so tapped into the economics and into the business community in Springfield, it seems like they kind of have the pulse of everything," JoAnn Dapp said. "We like dealing with them."

Carroll agreed and although she was new to all of this, she said she had a good understanding of the process.

"Since we had never been through something like this before, Chuck was really good to explain step by step what was happening," Carroll said. "He was very interested in this being not only a good financial move for Tom and JoAnn, but also a good financial move for Todd and I as well. He wanted it to be a long-term, good decision for us."

"Our objective is to help them be successful, not just sell them a business," Woolley added. "So we spend a fair amount of time trying to make sure that we assess their skill levels ... and then we'll do our best to align them to a business that fits their skill set."