Kiki's Candy Bar is a dream world of all things sweet, including designer chocolates, gumballs, syrupy cocktails, and hard-to-find retro candy. Owner Christy Weinstein, or "Kiki," runs a high-end and high-energy business in Palo Alto, CA, that offers not only walk-in retail, but also delivery of corporate gift buckets and production of special events such as birthday parties in her store or in her customer's backyards.


The Challenge:  Manage a busy retail store that stocks hard-to-find inventory items along with an event and gift bucket business

When customers walk into Kiki's Candy Bar, they experience a moment when the world just feels like a sweeter place. Surrounded by bins of traditional candy favorites, hard-to-find retro candies, and a bar that serves up yummy Italian sodas in martini glasses, customers face a tough choice: which of the thousands of options should they pick?

Owner Weinstein, with an initial investment of $375,000, created not just a candy store, but a full-service candy bar that stocks 2,300 different items, enough to satisfy every imaginable sweet or sour craving from customers. Weinstein even sells novelty candies, such as lunchbox gummies, toilet bowl plungers, baloney, and chewy hot dogs.

The store, which opened almost two years ago, also serves as party central to the upscale neighborhood. With an upstairs apartment-like space, Kiki's can be rented out for gatherings and celebrations for kids and adults. And Weinstein takes her candy show on the road, as she offers "Kiki's on the Go" corporate party planning services. Kiki's also creates — and delivers — custom corporate gift buckets to Silicon Valley clients with something to celebrate (e.g., IPOs), such as Google.

The three-pronged business model is a success so far, as Kiki's Candy Bar tallied an impressive $750,000 in sales in its first year. And the parties alone account for 49 percent of Kiki's revenue.


The Solution: QuickBooks® Point of Sale 3.0 and
QuickBooks: Premier Retail Edition 2004

Understandably, one of Weinstein's early challenges was inventory tracking. She needed a financial management solution that could help her stay organized and keep track of which products were red hot and which ones were as cold as Dentyne Ice. In addition, she needed a Point of Sale solution that wouldn't require an extensive amount of training for any of her 16 employees, many of which are part-time students.

Her solutions of choice: QuickBooks Point of Sale and QuickBooks: Premier Retail Edition 2004. "QuickBooks Point of Sale is easy to use and didn't require lengthy training," says Weinstein. "And the reporting features allow me to see exactly what I have in stock as well as which items are selling the fastest, so I can adjust my inventory accordingly."

This case study represents the individual experience of one customer. Intuit does not guarantee that results will apply to all customers.

Intuit and QuickBooks, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties' trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.