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TOBACCO BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
where he began to realize that the most important aspect of his
culinary dream wasn’t about the food, it was about being in a
service-oriented industry. “I wanted to be the one interacting
with customers to see their experience,” Foster recalls. “You
want to see them enjoy it.”
Upon returning to Kansas City, Foster was recruited by some
friends who were already in the tobacco retail business to help
expand—and become a part owner in—their current store, as
well as open a new one. “I was 28 years old at the time and a
bit reluctant, but I said yes,” he says. “I learned that it was a very
social environment, and that got me thinking.” The new store
was located between two bars, and Foster saw that there was a
lot more foot traffic at night, so he convinced his partners to hire
“cigar girls” with old-style cases and trays to walk around the
two bars and sell product, which ultimately quadrupled sales.
“That got everyone’s attention,” he says.
After three years as a partner, Foster knew that the business
could be lucrative, and also that it was something he enjoyed,
so he bought out his partners and changed the name of the
store to Fidel’s Cigar Shop. “At that time, his name [Fidel Castro]
went hand-in-hand with cigars in my mind,” says Foster. “It
was a lighthearted idea that generated a lot of flack for me with
manufacturers, so I spent a lot of time speaking with them to iron
out problems and calm them down. Guys like George Padron
and Jose Aliva[…]they were a little disgruntled, so I explained to
them that it was just a name, and that I didn’t agree with anything
Castro stood for other than his passion for cigars.”
It took a lot of time and finesse to mend those broken fences,
but today Fidel’s is a thriving business adored by customers
around thecountryandboutiquecigarmanufacturersworldwide.
Located in the Westport section just 15 minutes south of
downtown Kansas City, Fidel’s straddles the city line. “It’s on the
trench marketing
“Sales people have to have enough pride to treat every customer
the way they want to be treated without being high pressure. Find out
what the [customer] came in for [and] let them know they’re there to
answer questions without talking down to them because it’s too easy
for customers to sit at home and shop online.”
