The heart of Fort Thomas is an area full of business. This high-competition area features The Green Line, Fort Thomas Coffee, and Subway. Among them once sat a small ice cream shop called Hello Honey.
Hello Honey is a small chain with multiple locations in Cincinnati that decided to open a location in Fort Thomas, an area with many small businesses struggling to stand out in the community. Some companies made it but some others did not.
One of the ones that didn’t was Hello Honey. Many things led to the closing of Hello Honey, and while I can’t speak on behalf of any business, there are reasons why some businesses succeed more than others in Fort Thomas.
One thing that separates the succeeding businesses in Fort Thomas is the community. Businesses need to know and interact with the people that are in their location’s community.
“Engaging with the community, showing up for the things they care about – going to the festivals, football games, city events to get to know the community well. Connecting with the local business owners, working together, sharing ideas and support,” Christine Smalley, the owner of Fort Thomas Coffee, said.
When companies show up at events and make connections, it allows people in the community to interact with the business and help it grow. It is a form of marketing that is very effective, especially in smaller towns like Fort Thomas.
Another important factor that decides the success of a smaller business in a town like Fort Thomas is employees. Having great communication skills, paying well, and managing their time correctly can be difficult.
“Finding the right balance that communicates to your customers that you will be there and ready for them when they need you, while not depleting funds for other important things takes time and tweaking when creating the work schedule,” Smalley said.
With larger corporations, it’s simpler to keep plenty of people on the job because they can afford to give out lots of paychecks. However, with smaller businesses, it takes a lot of tweaking and finding a good balance between plenty of workers, but not too many so they aren’t wasting money on wages.
This is where communication is key in a smaller business, managers need to talk to employees to find what they’re doing right or wrong. If the employees think they are understaffed, then the managers should find more workers while working within their wage budget. If the managers are told that they are spreading the checks too thin because there are so many people on the job, then the shifts should be worked around.
This seemed to be one of the things Hello Honey did better.
“They had a very good sense of team and togetherness. You know, most of the people that worked there enjoyed working with each other, and we were all very communicative,” Caden Miller, a former Hello Honey employee said.
Starting a business in Fort Thomas, and most small towns for that matter, is not easy. The biggest thing they can do is stand out and make connections.
Businesses have to understand the community and the people in it. Learn the rhythms of the town’s daily, weekly, and seasonal patterns. They need to find where they will see more or less traffic, and help their employees find something to do in those downtimes.
“Pay attention to the town’s daily schedule and figure out how you can support or leverage that,” Smalley said. “For example, traffic is high 7:30 am-8:15 am as well as 2:30-3:15 pm – so your business will not be active while the town is stuck in traffic – a great time for the team to take breaks or clean the windows.”
That is by far the most important part of running a business like Hello Honey in Fort Thomas. Because without the community, who will support a business?