Pickett managed the Orange County store for a year, before managing Rocky Mountain’s Galleria location, which by that time had been around since 2005, Pickett said. However, upon arriving, Pickett did not find the Galleria’s Rocky Mountain Factory store in good condition.
He would keep hearing “horror stories,” he said, from customers who would tell him about the store’s previous lack of customer service.
“The customer service was just terrible,” Pickett said of what he heard. “What that did was drive everyone away. People say, I can go to See’s [Candies], I can go to Godiva, I can go to any chocolate place I want.”
Pickett said it took him about six months to get the store to a point where people could trust it again.
Today, Pickett feels that he has turned the corner in terms of taking his store in a new direction, making Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, based out of Colorado, a clear cut above what the store used to be. This is evidenced, he said, by a sales increase of 25% in 2008 and an award for most improved store. Sales in 2009 are up about 5% from 2008, Pickett said, something unexpected given the location of the store in a service area of the Galleria and the poor economy.
“Our customer count has been down, but our sales have been up just because we’ve been able to do so much with the community and been able to get outside sales like wedding orders and birthday orders,” he said.
Another ingredient critical to the success of his store has been promotion, Pickett said. During the weekends, Rocky Mountain employees will walk around in front of the store, giving customers a taste of their candied apples, chocolate-dipped strawberries and fudge.
