What one business learned by going online only

Vigilance, persistence key ingredients in making an Internet bakery thrive

Bruce and Judy Parks know the sweet spot when it comes to baked goods. For more than 20 years, their Tarts & Truffles bakery and catering company was a popular Sacramento-area fixture, serving everyone from governors to grandmothers.

But by 2003, the couple found it increasingly difficult to manage the challenges of a walk-in business. There were continual staffing, leasing and inventory control headaches, as well as the daily betting on what baked sweet might sell on any given day. Every $25 cake that didn’t go out the door still held $12 in labor and food costs, which essentially "got thrown in the waste can," Bruce said.

Convinced there was a better way, the couple cooked up a radical idea, at least for a bakery: online only.

By Claudia Buck

Full Story: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/03/15/3104374/what-one-business-learned-by-going.html