Starting an edible greeting card business

Business

Differentiation:

According to the Greeting Card Association, the greeting card industry is estimated at over $7.5 billion in the United States alone. With nine out of every ten households in the United States purchasing greeting cards, the industry is a potentially lucrative one. While remembering friends and family on holidays and special occasions is great, greeting cards create an inordinate amount of paper waste. Electronic greeting cards have alleviated some of the environmental stress generated by the greeting card industry but the Greeting Card Association claims that e-cards typically supplement traditional paper cards and that "consumers rarely send e-cards in place of a traditional card."

Mission:

Edible Greeting Cards are an ideal creative solution to the wasteful old-fashioned paper card industry. Far more enjoyable than electronic greeting cards, edible greeting cards offer several added benefits over traditional paper and electronic cards too. For one, edible greeting cards are gifts unto themselves. Because they are a card and gift in one, they are ideal for coworkers and casual acquaintances. It is our mission to provide consumers with a plethora of creative but easy-to-purchase edible greeting cards for all occasions.

Edible greeting cards are also delicious and we offer several varieties including chocolate-based and whole meal cracker-based. It is our mission to hire the best pastry chefs in the industry so that we can create cards so delicious they would be treats even if they were not designed for a special occasion.

Finally, edible greeting cards are indeed a boon for the environment. We are committed to proactively counteracting environmental damage caused by the traditional paper card industry. The mission of the Edible Greeting Card Company is to remain socially conscious, environmentally conscious, and dedicated to creative means of celebrating holidays and special occasions.

Vision:

The Edible Greeting Card Company is one of a kind. Although there are other edible greeting card manufacturers, only our brand will become synonymous with progressive values such as social equity and green industry. We will market our collection of products prominently in upmarket and health food stores. Ideally, we will position our edible greeting cards so that brand awareness is established early. Our status as sector leader will not be challenged in the near future, as our cards will also be creative to reflect our progressive target audience. We intend to establish brand awareness early so that our company's name will be associated with tasty and tasteful edible greeting cards. We are also establishing our place within the growing canon of environmentally conscious companies.

Principles and Values:

Our company works with the following guiding principles and ethical values. First, we create an organizational culture that is as fun and cheerful as the cards we create. We hire people who fit well with the company and aim for a workforce as diverse as our planet is.

Second, we demonstrate social responsibility by purchasing our raw ingredients from select suppliers favoring fair trade and organic materials. We only work with suppliers and retailers who understand the importance of environmentally conscious and socially conscious business operations.

Third, we are committed to environmental ethics and contribute a minimum of one percent of our profits per year to select environmental organizations. We also manufacture our greeting cards in a facility that uses gray water, alternative power sources, and other cutting-edge green technologies. We waste almost nothing.

Strategic Direction:

With a cohesive and consistent set of values, our mission and vision for the company are clear. We will guide the organization into the future by remaining firmly committed to our core ethical beliefs. The way we run the company is a determining factor in the fulfillment of our mission. By hiring a creative, dynamic, and diverse workforce, we remain continually open to new ideas and ways of making the company better. Management will be structured so that each team member is fully empowered to come up with new ideas for cards and new ideas for marketing those cards. With a fun and democratic company culture, we can maximize our human resources. The passion we put into creating our cards will be more than evident in the finished product.