-By Jennifer Strailey

Chris Beykirch will never forget the day he got the call. He was a freshman in college majoring in business management, when his mother, Nancy Beykirch, phoned him one evening with a proposal. Was he interested in taking over her gourmet kitchenware and food store? she wanted to know. The offer was, as she put it, "a position for life." And she needed an answer by morning.

Luckily for both Beykirchs, Chris is a quick thinker. He accepted Nancy's offer to join her at Love to Cook in Logan, Utah, and immediately met with his college advisor. "What's the fastest way possible out of here?" Chris had asked. The answer was to take classes straight through the summer while he worked full time at the store. His degree in business management went hand in hand with his work as general manager of the store. This, too, was fortuitous, because just a short time after his arrival in 1999, Chris played a key role in doubling the square footage of the family store from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet.

Chris immersed himself in the cookware business. While he had grown up helping his mom in the store, there was still much to learn. "I remember the first time a customer asked me for a colander," he recalls. "I had no idea what a colander was and I was standing right in front of them." He shrewdly positioned himself in the backroom, where he could manage inventory and learn everything possible about every product that came through the door before it went out on the floor.

In 1997, when Nancy bought the Love to Cook store on Main Street, they carried about 1,000 products. Since that time — and an ambitious remodel — the now 30-year-old Chris has taken that number to 25,000 SKUs. The expansion included the addition of a colorful 60-foot wall of gadgets that gleam against a lime-green backdrop. "I'm finding that color is more important than I ever gave it credit for," admits Chris, whose gadget sales were up 20 percent to 25 percent the first Christmas after the eye-popping gadget wall went in.

As part of its new look, Love to Cook also invested in a $6,000 knife display case. The investment has paid off, notes Chris, whose Wüsthof sales are up 15 percent since the installation. The remodel also made room for a new 5 x 8-foot area that houses an expanded children's section — a space devoted to aprons, bibs, sippy cups, little plates and cooking sets that is "doing surprisingly well."


Today, Love to Cook works with 600 different vendors. To ensure their staff of 15 sales personnel is well-versed in every product, the Beykirchs emphasize ongoing employee education. They hold weekly staff trainings that focus on one item or one section of the store. While they used to do one big meeting a month, Chris has found the mini meetings — held one day a week, both a half-hour before the store opens and a half-hour after close — are far more effective. Every other month, they invite a vendor to come in and make a presentation to the staff, like the time Wüsthof visited and gave each of the sales staff a $30 paring knife. "Our sales of Wüsthof knives went up $10,000 that year," notes Chris, who also fondly remembers an especially successful session on cookware. "We did a big All-Clad Cookware training," he recalls. "The next day, one employee sold $1,200 worth of All-Clad. She was so excited, she said, 'I couldn't have done this before yesterday!'"

The trainings are held when the store is closed so employees can give them their full attention. Employees are required to attend two out of the four trainings a month and they are paid for their time. The format varies — sometimes it's a question-and-answer, other times it's a demo — but it's always fun and informative. "One morning, we came in and made breakfast. We just grabbed a bunch of different pans to see which ones made the best eggs," explains Chris.

This past September, Chris and his wife Jenny bought the 4,000-square-foot Love to Cook store from Nancy, who has stayed on as head buyer. Located in the university town of Logan, Utah, 30 miles south of the Idaho state border, the store is situated in a valley with a population of approximately 110,000 people. The town, which has seen a huge growth spurt in the last six years, is home to a diverse population, notes Chris, who says you'll find everyone from high-tech professionals to farmers.

The location is right, and the team running the retail shop is ready to take Love to Cook to the next level. Annual sales have increased to almost $1 million in the last 10 years and continue to increase at a healthy rate, while daily sales have increased from $300 to $3,000. "Every month, we're doing better and better, and every month, we do better than the previous year," says Chris, adding, "We beat last year by double digits."

While the retailer is enjoying success, don't expect to see Love to Cook double its square footage again anytime soon. "Our goal isn't to get bigger," says Chris. "It's to get smarter, with a better use of space." It's a wise philosophy and one that includes the limitless potential of cyber space. With their sights set on increasing sales to $2 million in the next five years, Chris and Jenny are on the verge of launching a newly redesigned Love to Cook Web site. The new site will feature every item in the store and bring order fulfillment entirely in-house.

"Love to Cook will always be a single location," says Chris, who, while driven to succeed in the gourmet food and kitchenware business, never loses sight of his most important goal: To remain a hands-on dad to his two young children.

Store Profile:
• Description of category mix: "We sell everything you could possibly need for your kitchen — except for larger appliances," says co-owner Chris Beykirch.
• The store is home to a cooking school that operates four days a week.
• In addition to cookware and tools for the kitchen, the store sells gourmet foods such as chocolate — 13 tons of chocolate a year to be exact. (Eleven tons of chocolate were sold in November/December 2008.)
• The staff consists of 15 employees, and grows to 22 during fourth quarter.
• What's it like to own your own retail business? "It's great on busy days and scary on slow days," says Chris.