Fond Memories of the Peppermint Pig

Yesterday was the 21st time I sat with our Redstone Foods sales rep Gary and ordered Halloween and Christmas/Chanukah candy.  Of course, Jeff was there as well; nonetheless it is me and Gary who go back to our tiny little office space in Sweet Tooth/Farm Shopping Center.
At that time I knew NOTHING about ordering or selling candy.  I knew how to eat candy but my tastes were pretty narrow.  Our office space was so tiny that the back of my desk chair hit the door of the bathroom.  And when my dad bought us a refrigerator (full size, mind you!) and we put it in the office, there was very little space for storing candy.
I really don't know how we did it.  But I do know that without the experience Gary brought to the candy biz, we probably would have made a lot of mistakes that year and even this year!!
You might want to know......how do we order candy or even other merchandise so far ahead of the time we will receive it?  How do we know what people will buy?  How do we know if we are missing something which will be the hottest item of the season?
Part of the answer is experience.  To tell the truth, we spend time comparing what sold last year and what was a complete flop (yes it happens) with what is available again this year.
As for the new candy, we depend a bit on what Gary advises us to do.  And Gary depends a bit on what his customers think will be a good sell through. 
I guess you could say that some of this whole business is simply a crap shoot.
More and more we factor in the question of whether what we are ordering will show up in grocery stores or Sam's or drug stores?  Companies these days are often inclined to go for the gold....the larger customer who will order tons more than individual retailers will order.  Once burned, though, we don't return to that manufacturer again.
And to tell the truth, we do have certain standards which we apply to ordering candy.  We really want to stock candy which is special, which customers won't find everywhere, candy which more and more people who travel overseas encounter across the ocean.  Customers these days are a little bit more sophisticated, yet they still watch their pocket books.
And then there is that certain candy which pops up in the order book....it is new, it is brilliantly packaged, it is going to be a lot of fun.  I remember fondly the Peppermint Pig and the Chocolate Titanic.  We really loved those candies from the get go and our customers did too.
So, we are off and ordering for the 4th quarter.  In a month we go to the Dallas Gift Market, looking for those gift items which jump off the shelf and scream:  I Am The One!!
Here's my new motto:  If you do what you always do, you'll get what you've always gotten and you'll be who you always were.
What do you think?