Erika, tell us a little bit about your business and what it is that you do.

The Picky Palate is a unique gift basket company that creates baskets, boxes and buckets, filled to the brim with organic and all natural food and spa items. The difference between the Picky Palate and other gift basket companies is that I create baskets with organic and all natural products for those with food allergies and specific dietary lifestyles such as veganism and diabetes.  I know from experience how important it is that these products not only taste good but also meet the needs of the gift recipient.

At the moment, I am a jack-of-all-trades. I conceptualize, design, photograph and upload the baskets & products to the site. I process, fill and ship the orders as well as take care of the finances. I provide customer service and write the newsletter each month. I also spend a lot of time researching. I research and purchase new products. I also research the latest in health & nutrition and the latest trends in natural and organic foods. I also do some of the marketing with the help of my best friend.  Thankfully, my husband Travis, takes care of building and maintaining the website!

What were the circumstances that led you in the direction that you are currently in?

In my early twenties, I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia (low levels of blood sugar).  During this time I became very interested in nutrition and health and started reading everything I could get my hands on about those topics. I also made many lifestyle changes over the next few years that included cutting out sugar, white flour, milk, processed foods and prescription drugs. Only a few years later, I discovered I had allergies to wheat, milk, and cheese. The combination of the allergies and my hypoglycemia made dining out and eating at holiday events and other meals extremely difficult.

Perhaps my one saving grace was that my husband is also allergic to milk and cheese, so together we developed an eating plan that allowed us to live a "normal" life. We learned which restaurants would cater to our needs, which grocery stores carried all natural or organic wheat and dairy free foods and baking ingredients, and how to explain our dietary restrictions to friends and family.

I began seeing an acupuncturist, and my wheat allergy has since been relieved, but dairy still bothers me. Thankfully, these days there are more and more products becoming available for people with food allergies and strict dietary lifestyles. I believe manufacturers are starting to recognize that there is a need for these products, which is wonderful because now someone with diabetes, for example, doesn’t have to consume cookies sweetened with aspartame…now they can enjoy cookies sweetened with all natural fruit juice.

Education seems like a very important part of your business? How do you stay informed?

I continue to research nutrition, health and the latest findings in the medical field because I think it’s important that I be educated in these subjects, not only for myself but for my customers as well. They trust me to buy delicious, healthy products that fulfill their dietary needs, and they don’t want to worry that the person putting together their basket is clueless especially when dealing with a food allergy. The difference between being educated and being clueless may mean the difference between life and death.  In addition, I often find myself schooling others on topics such as healthier food options, the importance of organics or what someone of a specific dietary lifestyle can or can’t eat.

I also constantly run into battles with manufacturers about ingredients in particular. There have been many times when a manufacturer has tried to pass off a certain ingredient as “all natural” when in reality they are far from all natural. I had a manufacturer tell me that honey was vegan, which it isn’t - another said they had a product that was wheat free but it actually contained barley malt. So you can see why it’s important to be educated. I’ve learned to be firm with the manufacturers and expect to pull teeth to get the answers I need because The Picky Palate is not just about putting some items in a basket and tying it up with a pretty ribbon.

What inspired the idea to do your gift baskets as a business?

My friends. Whenever there was a party, a wedding…or sometimes no particular occasion…just because I wanted to, I’d put together a basket and everybody always oohh’d and ahhh’d over the basket. They kept telling me my baskets were so beautiful, and that I should start my own company. My husband and I had been discussing running our own business so eventually we decided to take the plunge and just do it!

How did you get started?

I started out by doing a LOT of research. I discovered that gift basket companies are a dime a dozen and a majority of them all sell the same exact product. Some companies even sell their pre-made gift baskets to other gift basket companies to resell.  A lot of these companies have the same baskets and boxes with the same sugar & chemical laden foods that you can find in the grocery store. I didn’t see what was so special about them and honestly I had a hard time justifying making a living off of selling products that I myself wouldn’t consume.

I wanted to offer something different but also something healthy – healthy by my standards. That meant no chemicals. No preservatives. No sugar. No high fructose corn syrup. Preferably organic but all natural would be acceptable assuming it was truly all natural. And I wanted to offer these things to people of all dietary lifestyles. Suffering from allergies meant receiving fruit baskets. Not that I don’t love fruit, but there are other healthy products out there for people with food allergies! There isn’t really anyone out there combining a beautifully designed basket with these types of food and spa items.

I decided to tackle vegan-dairy free, diabetes and gluten free. Eventually I found that people who suffer from a gluten allergy don’t necessarily care about sugar. It’s not important to them because they’ve had to sacrifice so many other things so I did add in some products that contain sugar but only under the circumstance that it must not contain preservatives or chemicals and preferably that it be organic cane sugar.

What is your background, as far as your creative talents go and how does it relate to what you are doing now?

I’ve always been real crafty. I was involved in 4-H and gifted art classes as a kid, took numerous art related classes through high school and college and graduated with a BFA in Interior Design and Architecture.

The National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) defines interior design as “For the purpose of improving the quality of life, increasing productivity and protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public.”

I believe this statement still relates to what I’m doing; only now I’m improving the quality of people’s lives by offering a beautiful healthy gift unlike any other out there. I’m also protecting the health, safety and welfare of my customers by choosing healthy, non – chemical or preservative laden goodies. And of course safety is important when dealing with food allergies and debilitating diseases such as diabetes.

I also apply the “design processes” that one follows when designing that include analyzing a client’s needs, formulating preliminary designs and concepts, design development (visual communications such as elevations and floor plans and selection of fabrics and finishes) and then the implementation stage. I still find myself following these steps when creating a basket. I analyze what type of basket is needed based on various factors and then I begin formulating concepts; like what should go in the basket and how it should look and how much it should cost etc. In the design development stage I research where to find the products I need, make sure they fall into our “health criteria” and price point. I also color coordinate between product, container and ribbon and once it all arrives I build the basket, photograph it, measure it to make sure we have a box big enough to ship it in and then upload it to the site!

What do you feel is unique about your business?

I think it’s a combination of our unique baskets, what we put in them and the personalized customer service that we provide.

I go to great lengths to create baskets that do not look like every other basket out there. I sometimes use some of the same cute boxes but I fill them with healthy goodies that make sense. For an example, our perfect get well box has soup, crackers, tea, jam, crossword puzzles and even a vegan hemp balm chapstick for dry lips. Other companies create get-well boxes filled with candy! Who wants candy when they’ve got the flu?

I also strive to provide exceptional customer service.  I realize that my customers can buy a basket elsewhere if they really want to, so I value each customer as if they were my only customer. I treat each customer the way that I would want to be treated and provide the kind of quality customer service that I would personally want to receive.

When I send a gift I always want to know if my gift recipient has received it because I can’t wait to hear how they enjoyed it. When my customers place an order they receive a copy of the order that let’s them know it’s being processed. Once I ship the order, typically the same day or next day, they receive a copy of the tracking number. Once an order is delivered, I update the order and notify the customer that their gift has been delivered. This way they can follow their gift from start to finish and can look forward to that “thank you” phone call!

I also send thank you notes, thanking our customers for their business because I really do appreciate it and we do little things like take 15% off a new customers first order…that’s our way of thanking you for trying us out. There is also a free gift basket giveaway and newsletter each month discussing the latest news, new products, featured basket (on sale) as well as a recipe and an article on topics we feel our readers will be interested in. This months article is about the organic center’s latest research that shows organic foods have elevated levels of antioxidants. The newsletter keeps them in the loop with our latest products and baskets as well as educated about healthier options for their home, body, and soul.

How do you decide what to put in your baskets?

Ingredients, Taste, Packaging & Price.

Once I find a product, the first thing I look at is the ingredient list. If it’s kosher, I’ll request a sample. I learned the hard way to always ask for samples and always have more than two people try it. We all have different tastes and not everyone is going to love a certain product but if four people try something and they all don’t like it, that’s a good sign I shouldn’t buy it!

Another important factor is the packaging. I think the world of all natural and organic food, but the packaging could use some improvement. Just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it needs to be plain or boring! If the packaging is really bad I won’t buy a product. A gift basket is a gift, and what goes in it needs to look pretty too.

Once a product makes it this far it comes down to price. All natural and organic products are more costly, however, I believe people are willing to pay the extra cost to a certain point. So if the product is going to be outrageous once I add the markup to it, I won’t buy it. Sometimes a manufacturer will offer an all natural version and an organic version. Typically I’ll choose organic over all natural if I have the choice but there are times when the price point just doesn’t make sense and I’ll opt for the all natural option instead.

Do you do custom orders?

Absolutely! I realize that not everyone fits into a category or one may not find quite what they are looking for on the site and that’s where customization comes in. I have one customer whose boyfriend has both gluten and dairy allergies so I have to customize his baskets. Another customer buys only customized baskets for his family because he knows I’m aware of his family members dietary needs as well as their food likes and dislikes which I’ve noted each time I’ve sent a basket. If a customer takes the time to give me feedback, I take note of it so next time I can fine tune the basket and it gives me a better feel for what my customers want. All this at no extra charge!

How does one order a basket?

There are two ways. You can visit our online store at www.pickypalategifts.com or you can call us at 1-888-98-PICKY and we’ll be happy to help you create the perfect gift for your gift recipient.

Where do you see yourself going with your business?

This is our first full year in business, and finishing up this first year was probably our very first goal that we’ll achieve! We’ve made some small goals along the way like adding “The Market”, where people can purchase all the products we carry in our baskets without the basket, which we’ve now accomplished. We are hoping to continue to grow so that we can afford to put out a catalog for individuals that don’t have Internet access, especially since we have a lot of requests for catalogs. I’d also like to offer wedding and event gift options, such as goodie bags for the hotel guests or wedding favors. When it comes right down to it, it’s all about meeting the requests of our customers. To me, success is reached when we are making our customers happy. As long as we’re doing that, we’re succeeding. So I hope that 5, 10, 15 years from now we’re still making healthy gift baskets that are meeting the needs of various dietary lifestyles.

What advice would you give to anyone desiring to go into business for themselves?

I would say the three biggest things I’ve learned thus far are:

Be prepared to work. There’s a stereotype that follows people who work for themselves; that we can take off whenever we want to or we have all kinds of free time and nothing is further from the truth. My work “week” never ends because I work every day somewhere between 10-12 hours a day. I can’t leave when I want to because someone has to answer the phones, process orders and ship them and if I do leave I loose business. If you work out of your home it’s even harder to take breaks or stop working because work is always there and you're always thinking about it.

De-stress. It’s a whole different ball game when it’s your own investment of time and money. There’s a ton of pressure to do well but you also have to realize that your business will suffer if you are suffering. It’s important to take time for yourself, spend time with your family, go to dinner, whatever it is that will allow you to de-stress. I didn’t do this at first. I worked non-stop for months. But I’ve since realized the value of down time and it allows me to think more clearly, make better decisions and let my creativity flourish.

Learn from your mistakes and move on. If it was a marketing plan that you got nothing out of or a product you purchased that didn’t work out, whatever it is, just accept it as a learning experience and move on.

Are there any words of wisdom that you would like to add?

Believe in yourself and what you are doing. Be patient and have faith.

Thank you Erika for doing what you do and for doing it so well. Your baskets are not only beautiful, but filled with yummy, healthy treats or health products that are actually good for you. Keep up the good work!

Please visit Erika's site, http://www.pickypalategifts.com/store/  to view more of her beautiful and delectable baskets!