In the News
The Commercial Appeal
By David FlaumThe Best Book in Town has a new look this year: It’s thicker, with offers from different types of restaurants and entertainment spots.
Dan Petchers recently bought majority ownership in the popular coupon book, which cheerleaders, church members, scouts and others sell to raise money.
And he doesn’t plan to stop with just coupons or at Memphis borders.
Petchers, who has spent most of his professional life in marketing, plans to add other fund-raising products – chocolate bars are already available – and license books all over the ’country.
“I felt I could bring some of my marketing and sales ability into the equation and bring it to a new level,” said Petchers, 61, who came to Memphis in 1992 as director of marketing for the Yardley division of Maybelline.
When L’Oreal bought the company and moved the headquarters to New York in 1994, Petchers decided to stay in Memphis.
He started a franchise of a youth sports photography firm in early 1995 and sold it six years later.
Petchers began looking for another business – one that was well-established and that played to his strengths – and connected with The Best Book.
He spent six months as a volunteer, learning the business, then bought two-thirds’ interest in the company in April 2003. The owner of the other piece, Stan Rojeski, who started The Best Book in 1980, helps re-sign advertisers.
Petchers found the new business overlapped with his old one – nonprofit groups like schools and churches and their sports teams that he signed on to photograph.
He figured those organizations could sell The Best Book to raise money.
The Best Book rolled out its 2004-5 edition a month ago with 150 groups signed up to sell the books for $10 each.
Therein lies a growth opportunity – the area has about 2,500 nonprofit groups and agencies in all, Petchers said.
To reach people who aren’t approached by members of such groups, Petchers signed up about 80 businesses to sell the books on 40 percent commission for $12 each – the higher price to protect fund-raisers, he said.
Fund-raisers keep $5 of that and get 10 free books for every 100 sold.
“They just sell themselves,” said Eloise Maddox of Ellison Baptist Church.
She was in Petchers’s office this week to pay for the 100 books the church took July 13 and had sold by Monday.
The books are easier to sell than T-shirts the church has sold in the past for $18 each, especially with Memphis City Schools students wearing uniforms, she said.
Mt. Pisgah Middle School cheerleaders started selling their books this week as part of their effort to raise money to return to Orlando in February to defend their national title, said Cheri Hansen, who is in charge of the fund-raiser.
Each of the 25 squad members, including her eighth-grade daughter, Chanler, 14, starts with 10 books, she said.
“There’s no overhead. If we don’t sell the books, we can return them in good condition,” Hansen said. “We can go back for more if we need them.”
The books sell well because they pay for themselves, she said.
“You get your money back on one coupon.”
Businesses benefit, too.
“It’s a good way to introduce ourselves to Memphis,” said Dotty Burana, owner of the two-year old Bangkok Alley, a Thai restaurant in Cordova.
Diners from Mondays to Thursdays may get a free entree worth as much as $18.95 with a coupon if they buy one priced at least that high.
“I’m not really a big coupon person because we’re a small restaurant (57 seats),” Burana said.
But she can track results more easily from coupons than other promotions – two regular customers have used them so far – and the offer may draw in people who might be interested in sampling the cuisine, she said.
Petchers hopes to license the books in other cities. He planned to start next year, but made a licensing agreement this year with someone in Greenville, S.C., who approached him.
The Best Book’s main competition, Entertainment Book, is published by a national firm. The book, about the size of a hardback novel, costs $20, but includes more types of offers than The Best Book, many of them from national companies such as hotels and car rental firms.
A spokesman for Entertainment Book did not return phone calls.
Price and the emphasis on local businesses make The Best Book competitive, Petchers said.
Petchers is starting to offer other products.
The first is Divine Chocolate, 3 1/2-ounce milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars, made from cocoa produced by a farmer-owned cooperative in Ghana. The Fair Trade Certified bars sell for $3 each, with half going to the fund-raising group.
“I’m on the lookout for (additional) products that are unique,” Petchers said. “I really want to offer products that have a socially redeeming value to them.”
- David Flaum: 529-2330
Copyright, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. Used with permission.
(http://www.commercialappeal.com)
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