A Wausau-area company that provides corporate gifts comprised of foods and sweets has expanded its product line with its first acquisition in its 45-year existence.
Mosinee-based Maple Ridge Farms Inc. acquired Sweeter Cards from founder Stacy Stahl, a St. Louis entrepreneur, for an undisclosed amount. Sweeter Cards does essentially what the name says: It combines greeting cards with high-end chocolates and sweets.
Tom Riordan, Maple Ridge Farms' founder and president, in a press release called the transaction "a strategic move that enhances our market leadership and opens new avenues for growth and innovation.”
Stahl, who established Sweeter Cards in 2019, is what one might call a "serial entrepreneur."
"You could say something like 'two-time,'" she suggested to Wisconsin Inno partner St. Louis Inno in a phone interview. "I would say I'm an entrepreneur through and through. I love bringing things to life."
The deal comes eight years after she sold her prior startup, How He Asked, which shares marriage engagement stories, to the New York-based parent company of wedding-planning website The Knot. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
Stahl said she's staying on for the time being to grow the brand. Sweeter Cards is Maple Ridge Farms' first acquisition in its 45-year history. Plans are to pair Maple Ridge Farms products with the cards for under $15 apiece. Maple Ridge Farms and Sweeter Cards will continue to operate independently, though Sweeter Cards will be available through Maple Ridge Farms.
"By leveraging our extensive and loyal customer base, we anticipate a significant increase in sales for Sweeter Cards, particularly in company stores and corporate programs," Maple Ridge Farms' Riordan said in the release.
A move to create
Stahl said both Sweeter Cards and How He Asked came from product ideas dissimilar to anything else on the market that she could bear into existence on her own. She thinks of herself as a creator.
"What moves me is having an idea and seeing it through to life. I think a lot of entrepreneurs have a million ideas all the time; I'm the type of person who, when I have an idea, will start researching," Stahl said. "When I feel momentum and when the excitement continues, I typically see things through."
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Stahl started Sweeter Cards with proceeds from How He Asked's sale and thought that they would sell mostly in supermarkets. The pandemic, with its grocery shortages, panic-buying and supply chain issues, prevented that. ("We were not toilet paper," Stahl said. "Retailers did not want to carry us.") So she pivoted toward the corporate gifting market and custom cards instead of stock designs like birthday cards.
"We switched to doing cards for Google and J.P. Morgan," she said. "Getting into the gifting and promotional products space is really what changed the business, and that is how I met Maple Ridge Farms."
That meeting took place at the Promotional Products Association International's January trade show in Las Vegas, which hosted a "Shark Tank"-style business-pitching challenge for entrepreneurs. Sweeter cards won polls from both the judges and audience for Stahl's presentation. Jodie Schillinger, Maple Ridge's executive vice president, already knew about Stahl and her company; the win made her more determined to schedule a meeting.
"Her impressive business acumen, combined with the values, authenticity and energy she infused into her company, deeply resonated with me,” Schillinger said. “When we met in person, our connection was immediate, and we recognized the bright future ahead for Maple Ridge Farms and Sweeter Cards."
The cards themselves have a lot of space for messaging, and clients have ordered ones that look like brochures that they distribute at trade shows. The cards can include QR codes to draw recipients into the brands giving them out.
"The creativity in how you use them feels endless," Stahl said. "I think that's something that really inspires me. I just love to see a new use case for them."
Learning through dealmaking
Stahl gave moderated agreement when asked if she starts companies to sell them, saying that the first steps of starting a company are invigorating instead of being a scary act of risk-taking. At a certain point, too, she said she finds it useful to put the fruits of her vision and expertise into a larger company's hands, given assets like their sales teams and capacity to grow brands.
"I look forward to learning from a larger team," she said. "I know that my strengths are in the ideation phase of things, so I am personally looking forward to being part of a larger team that can help grow the business further than I can on my own. When I tell you I'm committed to Maple Ridge, it's also for my own personal growth. I feel very motivated by being able to integrate something I've built into somewhere that has more possibilities for the brand."
As it stands, Sweeter Cards partners with a family-owned chocolatier (Stahl declined to name it for proprietary reasons), an employee-owned St. Louis printer for the cards, a St. Louis warehouse and contracted artists for the designs. Those contracts will remain under Maple Ridge Farms ownership: Stahl has no employees but said 90% of Sweeter Cards' production happens in St. Louis, where she'll remain.
While Stahl is staying with Sweeter Cards and Maple Ridge Farms for the time being, she had business ideas floating around in her head even before the acquisition and says she's sure she'll return to entrepreneurship at some point. She's thinking about mentorship, helping other entrepreneurs bring their business ideas to life.
And she's working with her husband, Greg, on another venture in the wedding industry. "Betting on the Wedding" is a mobile app that draws wedding guest participation by allowing them to place whimsical bets on ceremony events. (Will the bride or the groom cry first? Will there be an outfit change for the reception? The app figures the winners of the pot; winners can give their proceeds back to the wedding party.)
David Schuyler of the Milwaukee Business Journal contributed to this article.
Stacy Stahl sold her startup How He Asked in 2016. An earlier version of this story misstated how long ago the business was sold.
