Say “hello summer!” with Transfer Sheets

 

There are so many reasons to love summer! Warmer temperatures, longer days, RCI’s Annual Convention & Industry Expo (mark your calendars for July 25-29, 2022) and a whole lot more fun that you don’t get to have indoors during the cooler seasons!

Admittedly, we’re counting down the days until the first day of summer on June 21 (77 days from when this post was first published)! If you’re looking to introduce new flavors to your product lineup this summer, we’ve got some fun and easy ways to make your mark this upcoming season!

Photo credit: American Chocolate Designs

Cocoa butter transfer sheets are a great visual option to denote summer flavors like coconut, banana, and citrus flavors and themes on your chocolate-covered treats. Transfer sheets can be used on any number of chocolate treats, such as truffles, dipped sandwich cookies and bark. For those who sell ice cream or gelato, RCI member American Chocolate Designs suggests garnishing with a piece of decorated chocolate to emphasize the flavor or add the finishing touch for a theme.

Photo credit: Bruce’s Candy Kitchen, RCI Candy Clinic; Easy Baked

Is there anything that says summer more than a pair of brightly colored flip flops? RCI member Bruce’s Candy Kitchen of Cannon Beach, Oregon uses a cookie cutter to cut out slab marshmallow in the shape of a flip flop base before dipping it in chocolate and adhering various chocolate transfer sheets to achieve the bright colors and fun designs found on flip flops. This look could also be achieved with chocolate-covered Nutter Butter cookies.

What creative uses for chocolate transfer sheets have you discovered for summer? Share your ideas on RCI’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/RetailConfectioners. Cheers to summer!

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5 Family-Friendly Ways to Generate Sales for Fall 2020

There’s little doubt this fall season is going to look very different for many families and individuals. Thanks to COVID-19, many of our favorite traditional fall events will be canceled or, if not, done very differently.

Here’s five ideas from RCI members for generating sales by creating memorable experiences for families this fall.

Candy-Making Classes: Two Ways

Hosting virtual candy-making classes is a great way to engage with consumers. RCI member, Yelibelly Chocolates, has developed a series of at-home candy-making classes which can be experienced as a prerecorded video or live Zoom call. Further direction can be shared with customers after purchasing a supply kit containing the needed ingredients and supplies.

Known for their in-person candy-making classes for kids, RCI member, PeterbrookeChocolatier, has been able to continue in-person classes by offering small groups of families and/or close friends to take private classes together after local mandates allowed. This approach limits potential exposure to participants by individuals outside their inner circle and creates a more comfortable environment for local patrons to do something fun outside their homes.

Socially Distant Outdoor Events

Is your annual fall festival cancelled this year? Use your creativity to dream up a socially distant outdoor event to generate foot traffic at your store. RCI member Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium plans to host their annual outdoor pumpkin painting party (albeit practicing social distancing) and treat kids dressed in their Halloween costumes with a complimentary goodie bag.

Another idea could include hosting a family movie night in the parking lot by hanging a white sheet on the side of your building and setting up a projector. RCI member, MarshmallowMBA plans to partner with local churches to gain exposure during Trunk-or-Treat events in their community.

DIY Take-Home Kits

Make it easy for shoppers to create special memories for their families. RCI member Stever’s Candies had success over the summer by selling s’mores and ice cream sundae take-home kits, each packed with all the sweet ingredients needed and bundled together for a quick, grab-and-go treat or an easy, yet thoughtful, gift.

Themed Virtual Tastings

Hosting a virtual chocolate tasting may be just the ticket for safely connecting with chocolate lovers near and far. Incorporating themes will make the experience more memorable and potentially lead to customers ordering multiple tastings. RCI member, Blommer Chocolate Company, suggests themes that hypothetically whisk participants away to a virtual vacation destination or even highlight your home base. Check out this video from Blommer Chocolate's Rose Potts for more inspiration on creating a successful virtual chocolate tasting.

For a more local vibe, source local fall produce to highlight as part of your virtual tasting. We think this recipe for apple cider caramels from King Arthur Baking Company would be the perfect addition to a fall harvest themed tasting.

Virtual Factory Tour

Pique the curiosities of children and parents alike by sharing virtual tours of your candy kitchen. After closing their factory to tours, RCI member SnowflakeChocolates has posted a virtual tour of their facility on social media as well as behind-the-scenes videos of how they make chocolate-covered Oreos and maple fudge. After seeing all the yummy confections in the making, invite followers to get it fresh by placing orders online or in-store. 

After a popular children’s YouTube sensation toured their facility, RCI member Boehm’sCandies created an Eat-Along Kit including the confections featured in the tour. If you’re looking to take your virtual tour to the next level, feature your signature confections in the video tour and sell them as a bundle for consumers to purchase and enjoy while they watch your virtual tour.

Businesses that thrive this fall will be the ones that are intentional about creating a safe and comfortable environment for consumers and their families to not only enjoy their products, but create memorable experiences their patrons won’t soon forget. Here's wishing you a sweet and successful fall season!

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Tips for Making Caramel Stick to Apples + Summer Inspiration

Have you ever experienced problems with caramel slipping off your caramel apples? The wax on your apple may be the culprit. By simply wiping each apple with a damp cloth prior to dipping, you can remove the waxy residue that rests on the apples.

An apple naturally produces a waxy film to protect itself, however, in some instances additional food-grade wax is added by suppliers to further increase an apple’s shelf life. For this reason, it could save you time and effort to request unwaxed apples from your supplier, if they do add wax to their apples.

If that doesn’t help, consider adding white compound to your caramel at a 5 to 1 ratio to help it better adhere to the apple.

If you can’t wait to test this out, here’s a few summer-inspired caramel apples ideas to try too!

Patriotic Caramel Apples
Show your patriotic stripes with drizzles of red and blue over a white chocolate coated caramel apple.

 

Zesty Coconut Caramel Apples
Think tropical by adding a generous helping of toasted coconut and a little lime zest to your caramel apples.

 

Wormy Caramel Apple
Turn shoppers heads with these fun, wormy caramel apples!

S’mores Caramel Apples
Transform your caramel apples into a s’mores lover’s dream by adding layers of graham crackers, marshmallows and drizzled chocolate. 

Was this tip helpful? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Tip #237: Celebrate El Dia de los Muertos

Merchandising is an important component to increasing sales. It is a way to grab your customers’ attention, stimulate emotions and give buyers a reason to make a purchase. This fall, take advantage of a traditional Hispanic holiday and the theme of the latest Disney movie, when adding to your merchandising displays.

El Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is celebrated between October 31^st and November 2^nd, and is similar to Halloween with its themes of death and the spirit world. Not to be morbid or scary, instead this holiday is a fun, family-based celebration of life and death, a time to honor lost relatives with flowers, favorite foods and treats, even trinkets and toys.  In addition November 22, Disney releases its newest movie, Coco,  which takes place in this spirit world. Coco is the story of aspiring musician Miguel and his extraordinary journey through the Land of the Dead.

For inspiration, here a few ways to incorporate Dia de los Muertos into your fall merchandising. 

Decorate a display with various bright colors including paper flowers, colorful banners and painted skulls.  Source: Party City

Source: Party City

As a play on the holiday’s sugar skulls, create sweets such as painted moulded skulls, decorate caramel apples and skull pops in their likeness.

Tomric Skull Mould

Caramel Apples from CraftyChica.com

Sugar Skulls Source: Oh! Nuts

Ideas for gift items source: smart-retailer.com

Tip # 234: How to Apply Water Marbling Effect to Moulded Chocolates

For members looking to gain creative ideas at RCI’s 2017 Annual Convention & Industry Expo, Candy Clinic did not disappoint. Since the thirties, this member-exclusive event has allowed RCI members from across the United States, Canada and abroad to share their best ideas and gain inspiration from fellow candy makers. Keep reading for an idea that won the award for best innovation at the latest Candy Clinic.

Inspired by an associate’s manicured finger nails, RCI member Cher Diamond of Maurie’s Fine Chocolates of Madison, shared a creative technique for applying cocoa butter to moulded chocolates. Water marbling is a technique used to create a unique nail polish design by adding droplets of nail polish to water before applying it to the nail. A similar effect can be achieved with cocoa butter and water.

Start by filling a bowl with room temperature water. If you read tutorials online for water marbling, they recommend using filtered or bottled water. Get cocoa butter spray, shake it up and spray it into the water. Because the oils in cocoa butter resist the water, the cocoa butter will float on top of the water, allowing you to create a unique design with a variety of different colored cocoa butters. Drag a toothpick or other similar object through the cocoa butter, cleaning it after each use.

Once the desired marbleized effect is achieved, take a finished moulded piece or just the shell and run it through the cocoa butter. Let each moulded piece dry for three hours or overnight. You may finish the piece by applying a glaze spray, but according to Cher, the cocoa butter will not rub off or detemper the chocolate.

If you’re looking to create stunning chocolate pieces, give this simple and fun water marbling technique a try and let us know how it turns out by leaving a comment below.

Want to learn more innovative ideas like this one? Idea sharing is just one of the many benefits of membership with Retail Confectioners International (RCI)! Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business. 

Tip # 223: Celebrate Something on a Stick Day

Did you know March 28 is National Something on a Stick Day? Yes, it may be another quirky food holiday but there’s no denying it is a fun excuse to invite your customers and social media followers to visit your store…as if we need another reason to eat more chocolate!

Opportunities to join in on this celebration are endless! You could go the more daring route that involves bacon or anything deep fried or try something fail-proof that you know everyone will love…chocolate-covered sandwich cookies!

If you have ever tried to insert lollipop sticks into any number of sandwich cookies, you probably felt about as efficient as a tortoise. Thanks to a quick and easy tip shared by RCI member, Kimberly Mitchell with Olympian Candies, you can pump out as many chocolate-covered sandwich cookies on a stick as your heart’s content and still have time to decorate them for National Something on a Stick Day! Inserting wooden popsicle sticks into double-stuffed sandwich cookies will make this process much easier and efficient than using lollipop or sucker sticks. With a little embellishment, wrapped in a clear candy bag and tied with a pretty little ribbon, Olympian Candies can’t keep their chocolate-covered-sandwich-cookies-on-a-stick on the shelf!

Olympian Candies uses flower pots, foam and shredded paper
 to display their cute, spring-themed sweets-on-sticks!

Here’s some other decorating ideas for your chocolate-covered sandwich cookies.

Photo credits (top to bottom and left to right): premeditatedleftovers.com, indulgy.com, Lillian Hope Designs
thepinkflour.com, Makoodle, Inside Bru Crew Life, Sprinkles for Breakfast, DippedInSweetness, A Taste to Remember

Stay connected with RCI through Facebook for more tips and inspiration dedicated to the retail candy maker. Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

The Best of 2016: Top 5 Tips of the Week

We've curated the most-read tips from 2016, to pinpoint topics that are most important to candy makers. 

From troubleshooting tips to sky-high merchandising inspiration, plus a customer service must-read, the following posts deliver quick and easily executed tips to simply the lives of confectioners, like you!

#5: Stop Sea Salt Caramels from Sweating

Suffer from sweaty sea salt caramels? Take tips from fellow candy makers and RCI members on how to avoid this common problem.

#4: Take Merchandising to New Heights

Get step-by-step instructions for creating this eye-catching truffle tree.

RCI MEMBER BONUS: Click here to login to RCI’s member site and snag three variations of ganache recipes on page 9 of RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine.

#3: Coat Marshmallows in Dextrose 

Nobody likes hard, dried-out marshmallows! Keep your ‘mallows soft and pillowy all year long with this popular tip of the week.

#2: Remind Employees of the Value of Customer Service 

An oldie, but a goodie, this throwback from 2012 covers four customer service basics that are too important not to review with your team on a regular basis.

 #1: Say “Buh-Bye” to Chocolate Bloom

Bloom is easily identified as one of the most common problems facing candy makers. No surprise, this post tops the list with common causes of chocolate bloom, as well as simple solutions.

Stay connected with RCI through Facebook for more tips and inspiration dedicated to the retail candy maker. Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Tip #214: Build a Support Network

As a small business owner, it is easy to find yourself feeling isolated and even depressed, especially during the holidays. In fact, this is a common sentiment amongst entrepreneurs. It can be comforting and beneficial to have a strong network of  like-minded individuals who understand your day-to-day challenges.

Every professional knows building a network is important. If your eyes are already starting to gloss over because a) you don’t have time, b) you don’t know where to start, c) you find networking to be intimidating, or d) all of the above, it’s time to perk up! We’ve identified 4 ways to build your network, plus, ways RCI can help!

1. Seek out a mentor

A great mentor can offer guidance and support through the wisdom that comes with experience. There’s a good chance with any challenge you may be facing, they’ve lived  it and can share what they’ve learned from both their mistakes and successes. Look for experienced leaders that you admire and respect through your local community or your industry.

RCI’s People to People Network is a great resource for identifying members within the same industry, who have voluntarily offered to share their knowledge with other RCI members. Within the People to People Network we have identified potential mentors, as well as their areas of expertise, including industry subjects such as tempering, equipment, formulations, facility design and more, as well as broader business topics like marketing, accounting, ecommerce, succession planning, etc. Sign in at retailconfectioners.org and find the People to People Network under the Member Resources tab.

2. Attend social events

Of course, seeing what your local Chamber of Commerce or other local professional organizations have on the calendar is an option. If you’re looking for a group with more specialized interests, check out Meetup.com to find like-minded individuals gathering near you.

Providing opportunities to connect with fellow confectioners and industry suppliers is one of the pillars of RCI. As an international association, you can expect RCI to host a number of events for members and non-members across the US and abroad each year, offering fun and engaging ways to build relationships and share ideas. Visit retailconfectioners.org/events or follow us on Facebook to keep up on the latest events.

3. Volunteer

As the saying goes, “you have to give to get.” You’d be surprised how quickly and effortlessly your network can grow when you volunteer.

Even if you’re already involved in a networking association, it can be awkward and intimidating to put yourself out there. By volunteering, making connections may come more naturally to you if you’re working with others on a specific task or project.

4. Share your advice and experience

Even the busiest of us can manage to make time to post to their favorite social network now and then. A few minutes is all you need to join the conversation happening on RCI’s online forum, List Serve. Respond to inquiries and share your own quandaries in your pajamas, if you wish! Participate in troubleshooting topics ranging from chocolate production, marketing and business ownership and build your network in the process. Sign in at retailconfectioners.org and find List Serve under the Member Resources tab.

Stay connected with RCI through Facebook for more tips and inspiration dedicated to the retail candy maker. Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.