Page 94 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

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RS. BENTLEY , who had a family of four children of school age, found
herself faced with the necessity of adding to the family income. Near her
home, in Chicago, was a district zoned for light manufacturing. Girls who
worked in these offices liked candy, she reasoned; the men did, too, for that
matter. So she made up a quantity of fudge, wrapped it in cellophane, and
made the rounds of the offices. She sold out her box of fudge before noon the
first day and scheduled a return the next Tuesday to those offices she had
called upon. That night she made another batch of fudge and the next
morning called on the offices on the other side of the street with the same
result.

It wasn’t long before she had built up a steady trade. She had divided the
zoned section into areas and devoted one half a day to each area. In that way
people in the offices in each area could plan on getting fudge if they wanted it
on a certain day of the week. The girls—and men—arranged to leave their
orders at the switchboard and it took but little time to fill them and be ready
to go on to the next office.

For special occasions, such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, parties, week-
end trips, anniversaries, hostess gifts, etc., she packed fancy boxes of the
fudge, alternating light and dark pieces to form a pattern. She booked orders
ahead for these boxes and the children delivered them after school.

She had arranged for two school stores and one bakery in the neighborhood
to handle her candy and a tea room also gave her space for a small box of
fudge which sold at a penny a slice. Through her cousin, who was the cashier
in a large cafeteria in the neighborhood, she secured a good display of the
candy on the counter near the cash register. Additional orders came from the
teachers in the grade and high schools her children attended. These orders
amounted to a nice little business, especially at Christmas time when many
teachers went home for the holidays and wanted to add several boxes of
candy to their Christmas gifts for the family. Another sales-making idea of
Mrs. Bentley’s was to put a card bearing the name “Honey Fudge,” her name
and address, telephone number, and the price a pound, in each package. The