A switch from sandwiches to fruit might not seem like a big change for most people, but for Ken and Crystal Lamoreaux, it meant a long-sought change from being employees to being employers.


Undaunted by their inability to buy a Subway restaurant franchise after working for the sandwich chain for years, the Spokane couple found another franchise opportunity with Edible Arrangements LLC. Last month, they opened an Edible Arrangements store here at 821 N. Division, where they produce something much different than a sandwich.


At Edible Arrangements, they make a variety of fresh fruit-basket arrangementswith pieces of fruit cut and arranged so differently that the arrangements almost could be mistaken for flower baskets. Brightly colored fruit, cut in the shape of hearts, daisies, stars and more, are strategically arranged so the contrasting colors and special shapes give aesthetic effects.


Its exciting to bring something brand new to Spokane, says Crystal Lamoreaux. You can see an arrangement, and they look like flowers, but theyre fruit instead.


At first blush, the arrangements might seem to have limited appeal, but theyve proved so popular at meetings, parties, weddings, birthday celebrations, and other events that Entrepreneur magazine has listed Edible Arrangements among the top 10 franchise opportunities in the U.S., Lamoreaux says. She says the 8-year-old chain has some 400 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Great Britain, and is continuing to grow. The company they formed to run their franchise business is called KCL Associates LLC.


If the Lamoreauxs have their way, the chain is going to grow in the Inland Northwest, too.


We plan within the next four years to open one additional franchise each in North Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Coeur dAlene, says Ken Lamoreaux. Other than one other store in Kirkland, Wash., owned by someone else, their store is the only Edible Arrangements franchise in all of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.


Strawberries, pineapples, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon are the main ingredients of the colorful displays. Two other standard fruit bouquets include strawberries and apple wedges dipped in chocolate. The franchise offers more than a dozen fruit arrangements made according to corporate formulas.


Some fruits, most notably pineapple, can be cut into and will maintain the shape of a heart, daisy, or star. One arrangement is made up entirely of strawberries, another of pineapple hearts, strawberries, and grapes, while others include all of the fruits except apples, which turn brown when exposed to air. Each arrangement is offered in three to five different sizes and comes in a basket or ceramic container selected to match an occasion.


Whether they are sports baskets, baby baskets, or elephants, the containers can change the look of an arrangement, Crystal Lamoreaux says.


Prices vary from $32 for an arrangement placed in a large coffee mug to $200 for a 24-inch-diameter by 24-inch-tall banquet fruit arrangement that can feed more than 65 people, she says. A medium-size delicious party arrangement includes about 10 pounds of fruit, she says.


Though the shop handles, shapes, and arranges a lot of fruit each day, the demands of freshness might not be as pronounced as one would think. Lamoreaux says the shelf life of an Edible Arrangements display is about 48 hours, although theyre almost always placed on a table and promptly eaten as soon as they arrive at an occasion.


At 6 a.m. or earlier Monday through Saturdays, the Lamoreauxs and up to five employees gather to wash and cut fruit for that days orders. Fresh fruit is delivered to the store almost daily, she says.


Cut lettuce is tamped into the base of each container to keep the arrangements cool and fresh, with green kale leaves placed on top of the lettuce to give the arrangements a more pleasing look, Lamoreaux says.


Then begins the process of arranging the fruit, using skewers to hold the fruit and following formulas from Edible Arrangements corporate offices. Its not uncommon for the shops trained designers each to handle one, or maybe two, types of fruit pieces in an assembly-line operation, with one arrangement becoming the combined effort of up to four designers, she says. It takes about 30 minutes for one designer to build the most common arrangement.


The goal is to have the arrangements done by 11 a.m. so the companys driver can begin making deliveries then. Deliveries, made throughout much of Spokane County, are $10 per order. At least one designer works throughout the afternoon to handle late orders.


The businesss best customers are women over 25 years of age who buy the arrangements as gifts for friends and family members, and corporate customers who like sharing unusual, healthy displays of fruit.


Customers who come into the store cant see the fruit designers at work. Instead, they see displays of stuffed animals and Mylar balloons that often are sold with the fruit arrangements, and, as well, a stack of blue fruit coolers for sale or rent. Behind the 300-square-foot showroom are the ventures office space, walk-in cooler, and production area, which is well-lit and includes stainless-steel work tables, sinks, and a pair of proprietary, 3-foot-high fruit-cutting machines.


Crystal Lamoreaux says the business has four computers, and an Internet connection that enables customers to order arrangements online. Currently, 30 percent of the business orders come in over the Internet, with the remainder made over the phone and from walk-in customers, she says. She anticipates that phone orders will increase as the new store becomes better known here.


The Lamoreauxs $25,000 franchise fee covered a week of training with the company in Connecticut, and corporate in-person instruction the first week the franchise opened, she says.


Crystal Lamoreaux is a Spokane native whos worked primarily in Subway management positions for 12 years both here and in Ellensburg, Wash. Her husband also worked 12 years for a different Subway franchise owner, much of that time in management as well.


After trying for years to buy a Subway franchise in Spokane, the couple decided that wasnt likely to happen because theres already lots of competition, and changes of ownership are rare. Thats when they set out to find a new opportunityand ended up learning about Edible Arrangements.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at [email protected].