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Fannie May's alliance with Norman Love brings ultra-premium confections to its clientele while simultaneously broadening its offerings and competencies.
When Norman Love first met Dave Taiclet and Terry Mitchell from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and Fannie May Confections Brands, respectively, three years ago, he was adamant about one thing.
"I had no interest in producing confections for someone else," he says. "I was opening up a new store and was busy running my own business."
Nonetheless, he wasn't opposed to helping Taiclet and Mitchell with their vision for Fannie May, which initially involved providing advice about singleorigin chocolates and the desire by both men to get involved in the ultrapremium chocolate category.
It was almost a year of back-andforth discussions before both parties found common ground, which involved a unique way for Norman Love to lend his name, expertise and leadership to help Fannie May launch and produce artisan confections.
"For me, it was another professional challenge," Love explains. "Here was a company not known for ultra-premium confections, but with roots that were very deep and thick with consumers."
On Fannie May's part, it was an opportunity to extend the brand into a new demographic as well as raise its confectionery competency.
"Norman Love is as good or better than anyone else in artisan chocolates," Mitchell says. "Through this relationship with Love, whereby he taught us how to make true artisan products, we extend ourselves and our core competency. In doing so, we become better manufacturers, better confectioners."
Of course, agreeing to supervise the production of artisan confections is one thing; executing the mandate is another. To Fannie May's credit, Love says, the company took extraordinary steps to ensure he received full support and backing to make the debut of FM Artisan by Norman Love a success.
There were several key elements necessary to make the concept work. One of them involved infrastructure; the company needed to carve out a corner within its 250,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in North Canton, Ohio and install an artisan kitchen.
Calvin Reynolds, director of QC, R&D and process engineering, was charged with making that happen. Having overseen a variety of food manufacturing facilities in his career, Reynolds welcomed the challenge of using his knowledge and skills within a completely new venue,...