Two new retailers downtown enjoy the challenge 

Some things went as expected and others didn’t for two entrepreneurs who this year opened downtown Boise shops that have a sort of national or big-time feel.

Matt Groll of Ben & Jerry’s Downtown Boise Scoop Shop, 103 N. 10th St., and Dan Balluff of City Peanut Shop, 803 W. Bannock St., each say that business has been good – and has come with some surprises and plenty of hard work.

Ben & Jerry’s has national brand recognition. City Peanut has a big-city feel in that similar shops are found mainly in the major Midwestern and Eastern cities. Groll is an experienced business owner. Balluff comes from the corporate world and grew up in Lansing, Mich., where the shop from which he drew the inspiration for City Peanut thrives.

Neither business owner simply opened the door and watched profits pile up.

One challenge for Groll, who opened the Ben & Jerry’s shop last spring, has been “finding the right – happy – people for our environment,” he said.

Ben & Jerry’s employs 10 to 13 people during the summer and a handful during the slower winter season. Groll said that so far he has hired about 22, later letting some of them go or refilling positions as employees left on their own. “Some said it was just not the job they thought it would be, and others were not the person they were in the interview.”

He has found success with slightly older workers, but “I have an employee who is 21 and could manage any Ben & Jerry’s in the U.S.,” he said.

Picking and managing inventory is easier at the name-brand ice cream shop than it is for some other kinds of food and refreshment businesses, Groll said.

Demand has been strong. The winter slowdown aside, “the outpouring for Ben & Jerry’s here has been phenomenal,” said Groll, fresh off selling a logo T-shirt, hat and gift certificate for someone who lives in Oregon. “The public support for this ice cream shop really blows me away.”

He recently purchased his shop space, with financing from Bank of the West. He has been happy with City of Boise officials, who processed his permits quickly ahead of the spring opening, and the Downtown Boise Association, which helped to install a bicycle rack nearby just three days after the request and helped him participate in various summer events.

City Peanut Shop business is going as expected, for the most part, as Balluff completes his sixth week of operation. He opted for a soft opening.

“Just last week I got the final piece of equipment in,” an oil roaster purchased from another region of the country, he said Dec. 9. Given the sluggish economy, he was surprised that the seller did not respond to and fulfill the order more promptly, he said.

Balluff used a compact fryer at home to learn more about how to time the roasting of different types of nuts, which continue to crackle and cook after they are removed from the heat source. He has been working with local chef and knife maker Mike Young to help with techniques, recipes and kitchen layout as well as inventory management and health department compliance. Balluff worked with Glenn Rummler on the shop’s logo and identity, and with Seed Interiors on the interior design.

“It’s really important to associate yourself with people with strengths you don’t have,” Balluff said. The approach paid off when Balluff “wasn’t quite prepared for the holiday uptick and gift demand,” and called on Young to help.

“Next year, I won’t be learning how to tie bows,” Balluff said.

City Peanut’s customer traffic has been good, on Tuesdays starting to pick up from so-far-slow Mondays. The Wednesday-Saturday period is the busiest. “There’s definitely a flow. Word of mouth has been strong.”

There has been time for preparation and production in the morning at City Peanut, staffed by four full-time equivalents. So far, most customers come in after lunchtime.

Balluff said the City of Boise was “surprisingly easy to work with” on permitting. He used a fast-track process that Boise offers.

“The other big surprise, as someone new to this and coming from the corporate world, was just how much work it is and the amount of detail trying to juggle marketing, merchandising, inventory management, all the banking and financial (tasks) and just getting everything organized,” Balluff said. He is working long hours.

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