Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Muir.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I only had a couple of hours to spare before I had a flight to catch one summer evening back in 2003. One of my good friends had a daughter who was getting married that night, so I thought I’d stop by the reception early to offer my congratulations. I was, fortunately looking back, way to early! The only people around were the caterers and one young guy over in the corner setting up an interesting piece of equipment I had never seen before.
I stood back to watch as he assembled it. Then to my surprise he added melted chocolate to the basin of this thing and flipped a switch. I was amazed as the chocolate somehow rose to the top and flowed over tiers he had placed on a cylinder type thing in the middle.
I was impressed! But what intrigued me the most was watching the guests start filtering in and head straight for the flowing chocolate! This unique device, honestly, got more attention during the time I was there than the bride and groom.
I grabbed the young man’s card and off I went on my business trip – I was in commercial real estate at the time. However, I could not quit thinking about the ‘possibilities’. When I returned home a day or so later I got together with my son, who was a graphic designer and creative kind of guy. We talked for hours about what we could do with this idea.
That night, Sephra was born. We talked well into the night, planning and drawing and frankly getting pretty excited. We found out the chocolate fountain at the event was made in Canada – and not made very well. We ordered a few of them, took them apart, made about a hundred improvements and re-engineered what was the first Sephra Fountain.
Since then, we have made thousands of improvements, introduced several more sizes of fountains and developed our own chocolate. Sephra is famous for delicious Belgian fondue chocolate which flows perfectly through the fountain without the addition of vegetable oil – as the attendant had done that night. It’s really good stuff, if I do say so myself. My wife uses it to make the best chocolate chip cookies, too.
I was very fortunate that night back in 2003! Since then, we have worked very hard, making sure our fountains are the very best quality. We skimp on nothing and because of that commitment have become known as “the worlds most trusted chocolate fountains”.
We have Sephra distributors all over the world now, so where ever you live you have access to our top-quality chocolate fountain machines and Sephra Chocolate.
We do serve the consumer, the people who want a home fondue fountain for birthday parties and personal celebrations. Our fountains not only flow with chocolate, but lots of other delicious fondues, such as caramel, cheese, barbecue sauce and even ranch dressing to serve veggies.
Our main customer is the caterer, hotel owners, and all type of food service professionals. The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas has at least 14 of our fountains. They can be found in casino’s, university campus events and at dessert night in many hotel chains around the country. Wedding venues often use them, as do churches for social events. I can honestly say, I never in my wildest dreams thought the fountain would be such a huge success.
To that end, we have introduced some other fantastic equipment in 2016 and 2017, giving our existing customers more options to offer their hungry clients and thus, more ways to make money.
Our Crepe Maker, Belgian Waffle Maker, Bubble Waffle Maker and now the new Zen Waffle Baker are available. We are excited to get these out to people interested in growing their businesses. I, personally, think the Zen Waffle is, perhaps, the next chocolate fountain! It’s that unique and judging from the reaction people have when they see a Zen Waffle – I bet I’m right.
I’d like to say a special thank you to all of our great customers! We appreciate each and every one of you. We would not be where we are today without your patronage and support!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There are always struggles in the manufacturing business. Getting inventory on time, keeping enough stock on hand and having the work be done correctly by our manufacturers can sometimes be challenging.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Sephra – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in creative catering. Helping people to have events which are fun and memorable.
I think what sets us apart is our desire to make sure we offer the very best products to our customers. Our customers are everything to us and I sincerely hope they feel that when dealing with anyone of our staff.
We truly want them to be successful and enjoy what they do.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are excited about our new waffle bakers. They can be game changers for our current customers and even new venues, such as the food truck market.
We have some great new products in the pipeline, but I can’t go into detail at this point.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11035 Technology Place Suite 100
- Website: www.Sephra.com
- Phone: 8586753088
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sephrachocolate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SephraChocolate/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/sephrachocolate/
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