VANCOUVER, CA-Concerned with the health effects of sugar, Tara Bosch set out to make a sugar-free version of her favorite candy, gummy worms. "Gummy candy is 99% sugar explains Tara. "SoI had to start from scratch." Armed with a heavy-duty gummy bear mold and a strong belief she would succeed, Tara started her business, SmartSweets ( smart Sweets.com). "T had no idea what I was doing," Tara admits. "I spent months researching and trying recipes." After over 200 iterations, Tara developed a tasty prototype and obtained debt financing for her first manufacturing run. She won over her first retail customer through "cold-calling and persistence." In addition to product development, financing, and distribution, Tara had to measure and control the costs of using high- quality ingredients and a specialized manufacturing process. Understanding fixed and variable costs, and how to control them, to achieve break-even and make profits were critical for her start-up. Tara focused on analyzing the relations between costs, volume, and profit-called CVP analysis. Tara also uses data analytics in assessing the effectiveness of her company's digital marketing programs. "We track key metrics like AOV (average order value) and net new subscribers," exclaims Tara. SmartSweet continues to show enormous growth. Tara's vision is " to be the global leader in innovative candy products that kick sugar." SmartSweets, launched by entrepreneur Tara Bosch as described in this chapter's opener, makes gummy candy without sugar and from all-natural ingredients.

SmartSweets, launched by entrepreneur Tara Bosch, makes gummy candy without sugar and from all-natural ingredients.

1. Identify at least two fixed costs that do not change regardless of how much candy Tara's company sells.

2. SmartSweets is growing. How could overly optimistic sales estimates hurt Tara's business?

3. Explain how cost-volume profit analysis can help Tara manage her company.

SmartSweets, launched by entrepreneur Tara Bosch, makes gummy candy without sugar and from all-natural ingredicnts. 1. Identify at least two fixed costs that do not change regardless of how much candy Tara's company selis. 2. SmartSweets is growing. How could overly optimistic sales estimates hurt Tara's business? 3. Explain how cost-volume profit analysis can help Tara manage her company