A Thousand Dollars and a Dream

Margaret McEntire began Candy Bouquet in Little Rock, Arkansas, with a thousand dollars and a dream. Her unique idea was to create floral-type bouquets, replacing the flowers with colorful candies and chocolates wrapped on stems and highlighted with bright accessories.

The concept was virtually unknown to the public and McEntire was content to make her creations just to give to friends on their birthdays or while in the hospital. But as more and more people saw the Candy Bouquet arrangements, she began to get orders from others willing to pay for them. Thus, a business was born.

McEntire and a friend opened a retail store in an upscale Houston, Texas suburb and sales soared. But when the friend was forced to give up running the store because of a family situation, Margaret was left to start over on her own.

She returned to making Candy Bouquets in her garage until it was filled and spilling over into her home until it, too, was filled. At that point, she opened a tiny 90 square foot store in a bank building in Little Rock. Sales were brisk and people purchasing the colorful arrangements soon began inquiring about franchise opportunities.

It was then that she made the decision to go ahead and develop what is one of today's top franchise organizations, rated at the top of its category by almost every industry publication. This year, Candy Bouquet was one of only four companies chosen as national Blue Chip Enterprises awarded at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting.

The unique idea of creating floral-like bouquets from candy has now grown into a full shop concept that features designer gift bouquets, priced from $25 to $250 each, along with homemade fudge, a line of Sweet Shop chocolates, and a new line of Tout Sweet European chocolate products.

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