Something extra for gifts and cards

Nation's Business, Oct, 1984 by Janet Raimondo

Rod White and Peter Schneider have converted cute into cash. Their company, in less than nine months of operation, has chalked up more than $10 million in sales on novelty items--greeting cards, stationery, calendars and Cabbage Patch figurines and mugs.

"Customers are almost certain to say 'Oh, how cute' when seeing these items in gift shops," says White, 40, president and chief executive officer of Extra Special, Inc., located in Fairfield, N.J.

White and Schneider, 31, executive vice president, got exclusive licensing rights to produce certain Cabbage Patch Kids items last fall, before the Cabbage Patch doll craze hit the country at Christmas. Created under the critical guidance of Cabbage Patch Kids originator Xavier Roberts, "each porcelain figure has been handcrafted and detailed to capture the sensitivity and warmth" of the Cabbage Patch dolls, White says. The pieces (retailing at $3 to $12) are manufactured in Korea and Taiwan and are designed to be collectibles, with the larger ones dated and signed by Roberts.

In January the company introduced its first of seven Sweet Street Candies products--greeting cards containing 2 to 3 ounces of jelly beans, jawbreakers, licorice bits, or gummi bears (tiny, chewy, bear-shaped gumdrops).

Other candy products (retailing at $1 to $3) include lip-shaped lollipops; fruit-shaped bubble gum; and gummi letters that spell out chewy messages like "I Miss You" and "Thank You."

White had long been interested in the candy business. After selling Knickerbocker Toy Company, the family business, he and Schneider, former Knickerbocker marketing director, began to put Extra Special together.

Both novices in the candy field, they spent four months last year visiting manufacturers, distributors and retailers across the country. Combining what they learned with their expertise in product development, they now design the shape, size, color and messages of their candy lines.

White adds: "We also test-taste candy from different suppliers to modify it to our needs."

White and Schneider expect to have more than 12,000 accounts by the end of the year and to add 8,000 more in 1985. J.C. Penney and Spencer Gifts are already among their customers.

Managing the company's growth is one of their major challenges. "It's easy to lose control in a growth situation like this," says Schneider. "We want to make sure we take care of our customer. We want to make sure the quality is right."

White recommends that a new company start with small sales projections rather than large ones. Even before it starts growing, he says, it should lay out long-term plans for expanding warehouse space and increasing the number of computer terminals and staff members.

Extra Special's extra secret for success: "Most larger companies in the gift field produce thousands of items, hoping that some percentage of them will be successful," notes Schneider. "Not us. We develop and produce a select number of product items we know will jump off the shelf at customers."