Business is BLOOMING for the Accrington based chocolate bouquet company, Celebrate Gifts. From a struggling market stall in Blackburn 18 months ago, to a new 8,000 square foot operation in Accrington delivering over 150,000 gifts every year, the business is rapidly expanding.
Initially going into business in 2013 as a food hamper service, then onto Blackburn market in June 2015 with a general gifts stall, Celebrate Gifts have found a gap in the market with their sweet treat bouquets. Business was slow on the Market stall until Paul Bloor, Managing Director, made the decision to list a couple of their bestselling chocolate bouquets online. They unexpectedly sold up to fifty per day and quickly realised that their tiny 250sq. ft. stall was not big enough to meet the demand!
In January 2016 they converted their store to be e-commerce friendly and expanded their range to include favourites such as Cadburys, Mars, Haribo and even an American themed bouquet! After further developing the website and using more online platforms business was positively booming.
At their current 32 staffing level the company are delivering 3,000 chocolate and assorted gift bouquets per week, but they are always looking for new motivated individuals. The Christmas rush has come early in Accrington and they desperately need to expand to 40 staff. Currently the big business based in the small town of Accrington sends gifts all over the UK and to mainland Europe.
Paul said: “In the future we are always looking to expand, however we will never compromise quality or speed of delivery. Our customers know that their product will arrive looking exactly as expected and this means they can send it straight to their loved ones without having seen it personally. It’s important to us to keep our excellent standards in place. We are working towards introducing more products and entering the corporate sector with a recent sponsorship of Accrington Stanley as part of our marketing plan.”
Staff are encouraged to offer suggestions for increasing productivity and the customer is at the heart of everything they do. The gifts are hand packaged and hand tied, they also offer bespoke items catering for individual likes, dislikes and allergies. The bespoke pieces will still be delivered in the same time frame as any other product from their website.
Denise Clarkson, Assistant Manager said: “Our success would not have happened without the wonderful staff we have. We are continually looking to employ new people and have several employees who had no previous work experience. Some have been stay-at-home mums and others are college graduates. We also employ apprentices with a view to them developing their skills and stay with the company. It’s amazing how passionate our staff are, they understand that every single chocolate bouquet is an important gift for someone. “
For enquiries or more information on job opportunities please send a CV to: info@celebrategifts.co.uk
To view the range of gifts, visit www.celebrategifts.co.uk
