Rock Island Chocolate Company, Inc.
Building a Social Networking Strategy

History and the Company Background
The Rock Island Chocolate Company, Incorporated was founded by Seymour Burris, Jr. in the year of 1997. At the time Seymour was working at the local U.S. Army facility in Rock Island, Illinois. Originally the company ran its operations as a small-sized specialty retail store that was located in the unfilled building in the small strip center placed near downtown. In the beginning, Seymour was a part-time worker at the store while his wife, Lottie, was a full-time employee at the same store. Since the company’s early development all the way until the year of 2000, the store was selling chocolates purchased from distributors from Chicago area.
Already, in 1998 the Rock Island Chocolate Company found that its costs and sales have reached break-even point on the revenue of $ 568,000. Business revenue gradually continued to grow, and in 1999 it had grown to approximately $700,000. Just a year later, Seymour had found out that he was the successor of a series of recipes for variety of chocolates made in the Belgian style. This episode has set the firm foundations for even further development of the store. A vast growth potential was on sight; consequently, Seymour brought an executive decision to create his own brand of chocolate after he had run a “test trial” with a baker in Rockford, Illinois. Based upon obvious growth potential of the store, Seymour has decided to invest further, renew equipment and expand the manufacturing space. These steps would not be possible to take without the consumption of a 5-year loan that Seymour has obtained. In 2002, the company launched its product lines into the wholesale market throughout the country. Revenue grew continuously in the next seven years when it actualized to two million dollars in profits. The business