A Visit to Servant

By Maryam Mohammed, Global MBA student 2012-2013, Qatar

As a child I thought that working in a candy store would be the most exciting job
in the world. Last Saturday, my business group and I got an inside look into that
business. We visited Servant, a family owned chocolate store in Paris, as part of
our research work for our ‘Writing Business Plan’ course. I hope to open a candy
store in Qatar, after completing my MBA, and so this project has been a learning
experience on many levels.

During our visit we were kindly given a tour by Mr Autret who explained to us
the history and values of the store. We were then treated to a tour of the place
and where chocolate is created and how the chocolate is stored before sitting
down for coffee to have a more serious discussion about the business side of the
chocolate store.

What was particularly interesting for me was that the store had a branch in
Kuwait and that the store owner was familiar with the chocolate market in
the Gulf. Since the candy store, for our business plan, will be located in my
hometown of Doha we found his insights into the chocolate business in that
region particularly useful, as they would be more directly applicable to the
Qatari market.

All in all, this course has been the most useful course on the programme so far
as it has allowed me to have a more hands on experience with entrepreneurship.
On a less serious note, it has also helped me discover one of the best chocolate
stores in Paris, and I must admit that it was very hard to stop myself from over
buying chocolate from that store.