Throwback Tip #249: How To Make The Inspector’s Nice List (Part 3 of 3): Equip Your Staff

This week marks part three and the final addition to our series on how to make the health inspector’s “nice list” this holiday season, inspired by a past article published in RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine by Patrick Huffman, former president of The Warrell Corporation. reading the new federal and local regulations and keeping your staff updated on new requirements is critical. Consider conducting brief meetings to cover a specific topic or provide updates on a regular basis.

IN-HOUSE INSPECTIONS

Get ahead of the inspector by designating a manager to perform weekly inspections. Contact your local health department to request the form they use to during inspections as a reference.

GET ORGANIZED

Every time we have to search for the right tool to do a job, we lose time and money. By keeping tools clean and stored properly, they are ready for use and keep us productive. More important, a neat manufacturing area immediately tells inspectors that we know what we are doing.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Getting the buy-in from your employees can be a constant struggle. It’s important to recognize that a commitment to food safety begins with an organization’s managers and owners. Every time we walk by a dripping faucet or step over a scrap of paper or a chocolate spill, we fail to teach our employees. By witnessing management who are as dedicated to keeping equipment clean as they are making quality candy, they teach their team by example.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS

Signs, reminders, and brief, yet, oft-repeated videos, keep the message in the forefront of every employee’s mind, but nothing works better than setting an example personally.

One of the best ways to ensure your business makes it on the inspector’s coveted “nice list” is to assemble a team of trained and confident staff, who understand the big picture of why maintaining clean stores and manufacturing facilities is so important. After gaining this understanding, it is critical that your team be given proper guidance and tools to efficiently and effectively manage your business’s food safety initiatives.

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Tip #249: How To Make The Inspector’s Nice List (Part 3 of 3): Equip Your Staff

This week marks part three and the final addition to our series on how to make the health inspector’s “nice list” this holiday season, inspired by a past article published in RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine by Pat Huffman of Blommer Chocolate Co. Keep reading for five tips on how to best prepare your staff for a visit from your friendly, local health inspector.

STAY INFORMED

With today’s increased emphasis on food safety, the simple act of reading the new federal and local regulations and keeping your staff updated on new requirements is critical. Consider conducting brief meetings to cover a specific topic or provide updates on a regular basis.

IN-HOUSE INSPECTIONS

Get ahead of the inspector by designating a manager to perform weekly inspections. Contact your local health department to request the form they use to during inspections as a reference.

GET ORGANIZED

Every time we have to search for the right tool to do a job, we lose time and money. By keeping tools clean and stored properly, they are ready for use and keep us productive. More important, a neat manufacturing area immediately tells inspectors that we know what we are doing.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Getting the buy-in from your employees can be a constant struggle. It’s important to recognize that a commitment to food safety begins with an organization’s managers and owners. Every time we walk by a dripping faucet or step over a scrap of paper or a chocolate spill, we fail to teach our employees. By witnessing management who are as dedicated to keeping equipment clean as they are making quality candy, they teach their team by example.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS

Signs, reminders, and brief, yet, oft-repeated videos, keep the message in the forefront of every employee’s mind, but nothing works better than setting an example personally.

One of the best ways to ensure your business makes it on the inspector’s coveted “nice list” is to assemble a team of trained and confident staff, who understand the big picture of why maintaining clean stores and manufacturing facilities is so important. After gaining this understanding, it is critical that your team be given proper guidance and tools to efficiently and effectively manage your business’s food safety initiatives.

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 #127: Spark Creativity with a Mind Map

Looking for ideas to get the creative juices flowing? This week’s tip is to use a mind map to spark creativity!

What is a mind map? It’s a diagram used to visually outline information. Typically it begins with a word, image or phrase in the center and then other ideas and images branch out from the center across the page.  One of the key benefits of a mind map is that an idea doesn’t have to be full or complete or even in sentence form in order to be displayed. The idea is that the process of a mind map resembles how your brain actually works!

Tips for an effective mind map:

• Start with a large piece of paper (Give your brain room to think!)
• Use images, not just words
• Vary the size, color and alignment of your images and text
• Keep topics and labels short (Think big picture.)

Mind maps are useful tools for individual creativity and also can help to get creative ideas flowing among a team of people. In your next team brainstorming session, consider using a whiteboard or oversized Post-it to map out ideas as they’re given and see where mind mapping can take you! If you prefer tech tools to paper versions, check out MindMeld or Mindmeister.

P.S. There is still time to register to join us at the RCI Annual Convention & Industry Expo! Register online now to meet fellow confectioners and suppliers June 16-20 in St. Louis.

Tip #111: Store Mint in a Different Room or Container

In honor of Chocolate Mint Day next week (February 19), this week’s tip reminds you to have all mint-flavored treats stored separately from other confections.

While mint is refreshingly cool and goes great with chocolate, it is also an overwhelming flavor that can seep into the flavor of your other candies and chocolates. Therefore, it is recommended to store your mint flavoring as well as products containing mint separate from other goods. Some candy makers make a lot of mint chocolates and find that a completely separate “mint room” is necessary but if that is not the case for you, storing them in sealed containers will at least seal in the flavor.

Do you have other ways for storing your mint flavored products? Please share them in the comments below!

We hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Tip #106: Get Your Office Organized

Welcome to 2014! We hope you had a great time bringing in the New Year!

This week’s tip is to get your office organized. You’ve just been through a mad holiday season and orders and receipts were flying left and right. Now that December is behind us and before Valentine’s Day is upon us, it’s time to get your office organized again. We’ve found some great office organizing tips on Pinterest!


Organize the Papers on Your Desk with Labeled Folders

Use Clipboards to Organize Items You Need to Access Easily

Create Moodboards for Upcoming Merchandising/Packaging

Get Those Unruly Cords in Order

One last thing - get a labelmaker. We talked about this fantastic tool in Tip #7 and still think it will change your organizing life.

P.S. If you are heading to the Philly Candy Show this weekend, stop by the RCI booth and meet the staff! Be sure to mention you read the Tip of the Week blog!

Tip #95: Back Up Your Company Files Off-Site

This week’s tip is to take the time to implement a system to back up your company files in more than one location. For example, many companies think that having their files on a server in their facility is secure enough. However, if your office is destroyed by a fire or natural disaster, you will have lost all of that important information. Instead, be sure your files are securely backed up in another location so you can quickly access them in case of emergency.

A number of options are available for backing up your company files. From remote data backup services to storing files on the numerous cloud services available, you will need to find what works best for your company. You may find that it is a combination or hybrid of more than one of the options in order to best meet your information security and data storage needs. Regardless of what you choose, no company should take the risk of having no off-site back up of their files. 

Tip #91: Hire a Gift Designer

At each of our events, we take attendees on behind-the-scenes visit of area candy stores and suppliers. It’s one of the most anticipated parts of the event week as it’s a great time for attendees to find ideas to take back to their own stores.

During our Canadian Chocolate Tour in September 2012 and recent Annual Convention & Industry Expo in June we visited confectionery retail stores that had designated gift designers. Attendees were consistently “wowed” by the beautiful displays and merchandising in these stores so this week’s tip is for you to hire a gift designer for your own retail candy store.

Gift designers are focused solely on the presentation of the products and displays in your store. Their job is to take your delicious candy products and turn them into beautiful gifts that your customers can’t resist buying. It’s about more than just wrapping paper – it is creating a theme, designing a shopping experience for your customers.  

If hiring someone solely for the purpose of designing gifts isn’t something you can do, then consider making it a seasonal position or incorporating it into an existing position. You’ll be surprised at the difference having an individual focused on designing your items will make when it comes to the presentation of your products.

One other tip: once you hire someone, be sure to give him or her freedom to be creative and come up with new and original ideas. Share your vision and brand strategy and then step out of the way and be amazed at what is created and the exquisiteness it adds to your displays.

Tip #89: Save Time Finding Emails and Contacts with Xobni

As the holidays get closer, we know that means you are getting busier and busier. Therefore this week’s tip will help you find emails and contacts in your email quickly so you can make the most of your time.

Xobni is a free tool that works with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Android and iPhone to help users search and discover all of your contacts, including emails and files exchanged. You can instantly view each contact, complete with photo, job title, company details and email history.  That’s right; you can get forget about tirelessly searching by keyword or date for a specific email or attachment. With Xobni, it’s easier and quicker than ever.

Watch this quick video for a glimpse into how Xobni works for Outlook or view these videos to see it work within Gmail, Android and iPhone. Download and set-up time is minimal and worth it for the time you will save with this great tool!

Note, Xobni was recently acquired by Yahoo! which means company and service changes are taking place over the next year. At this time, there are still free versions and paid versions available to meet your needs.

Tip #82: Add RCI’s Classified Ads Page to Your Web Favorites

Looking to buy or sell used confectionery equipment, post a confectionery job or purchase or sell a confectionery business? Then be sure to utilize this week’s tip to add the Classified Ads page on the Retail Confectioners International website to your website browser favorites.

The Classified Ads page is consistently one of the most viewed pages on our website. Both RCI members and non-members are invited to post an ad and available categories include For Sale, Wanted and Job Postings. Updates are made to the page on a regular basis and you’ll find a variety of used equipment and supplies available for purchase.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a moment to visit the Classified Ads page and add it to your web browser’s favorites. Then, when you have equipment to buy or sell or a job to post, be sure to post it with RCI.

Looking to get more familiar with the RCI website and the resources available there? Check out this blog post that lists some of the popular industry resources.

Tip #74: 4 Free Tools for Managing Projects Online

As a candy store manager and/or business owner, you have a number of projects on your plate at one time. Therefore, this week’s tip provides some of our favorite tools to manage projects online. One of the benefits of using online tools is that you can access the information from nearly anywhere and team collaboration is amplified. Plus, the online tools below have accompanying smart phone apps, making access even easier.

1. Trello – Trello is a simple and visually pleasing way to organize projects. Add images, checklists, due dates, attachments and more to keep your projects organized. You can have multiple boards, or projects, and organize tasks, or cards, within the boards in whatever fashion you choose. Additionally, assign collaborators to tasks to easily track who is responsible for different pieces of the project.

2. Freedcamp –  Freedcamp provides project templates to help you get started as well as a group wall to communicate with all users within your projects.  The system also makes it easy to choose what your employees and clients can see with a fully customizable user permission system. Freedcamp includes a great dashboard providing an overview of projects, important tasks and recent activity.

3. Teambox  – Teambox has thought of nearly everything when it comes to project management. Keeping track of conversations, workloads, files and notes and documentation are just some of the features. Users may also view a Gantt diagram of a project’s status, share calendars and connect projects via email.  Teambox is free for up to five users and utilizes a “pay as you grow” structure for more than five users.

4. Evernote – Evernote is essentially an idea board for managing projects.  It’s great for visually focused projects. For example, if you’re looking to redo your packaging soon, you may begin collecting photos, links, documents and notes about what you want your new packaging to look like and accomplish.  Note that Evernote is great for you to organize projects and ideas, but to collaborate with others, you’ll want to use Evernote Business which is fee-based.

Now, pick one that works for you and have fun project planning and organizing for your company!

If you have additional project management tools you’ve used successfully, please leave us a comment below – we’d love to hear what they are and why they work well for you.

Tip #66: Complete a Post-holiday Recap

Now that Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter are behind you, this week’s tip is to take a moment to do a recap for each holiday. By stopping to review items such as inventory, sales numbers, marketing and more, you can forecast more accurately for the following year’s holidays.

Questions to ask during your post-holiday recap may include:

• What was the day of the week and/or date of the holiday?
• Did the weather impact sales (positively or negatively)?
• What sales or special offers did you have? What was the response to each?
• Did you have too much or too little inventory of any particular items (products or otherwise)?
• Was staffing adequate for each day and time leading up to the holiday?

Be sure to include your staff in the process. Oftentimes, they see and hear things from customers that could be enlightening for your holiday planning.

RCI Members: Access a post-holiday recap template created just for RCI members by signing in to the RCI website as a member. Then, click on Planning Tools under the Member Resources tab.

Tip #44: Magnetic Tape for Labeling

Oftentimes the most random items or places provide inspiration for great ideas. That’s the case with this week’s tip that was originally shared by one of our candy making members in Candy Clinic, an idea-sharing session at our Annual Convention.

This member discovered that magnetic tape can be a great organizing tool. Many candy makers and businesses have metal shelving and storage units. Rather than using sticker labels which leave a residue and are difficult to replace, she found a great use for magnetic tape which can be purchased at retailers such as Wal-Mart for as little as $8 for a 20 foot roll. They use the tape to label storage shelves, etc. which makes it easy to move items around as needed and just peel the magnetic tape and restick.

Do you have a great labeling or organizing solution to share? Leave us a comment below!

RCI Members – Did you know you can watch past Candy Clinic videos on the member side of the RCI website under the ‘Candy Clinic’ tab?

Tip #39: Color-code Your Inbox

The typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. So, today we’re going to give a great tip to help organize your inbox: categorize by color-coding!

Categorizing your inbox may take a few different forms, depending on the email provider you use. We’ll focus on Microsoft Outlook since that is the most popular email provider for the corporate user but we’ve provided some links at the end of this post to help organize your inbox if you use Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo!.

Assigning a color category to your email messages will allow you to easily identify and organize emails. Additionally, the color categories you create are available for other items in Outlook such as notes, contacts and appointments. To define your categories, click on the ‘Categories’ button next to ‘Forward’ and then click on ‘All Categories’. From here you can name the category associated with the colors you wish to use. 

Once your color-coded categories are defined, you are ready to assign categories to your Outlook items. Just right-click on the email message, task or calendar item and then click on ‘Categorize’ and select a category. You’ll see small colored-box show up on the message or task and the item will completely change colors in the calendar.

One of the great features is that you can sort items by category. So, if you want to see the emails just related to wholesaling, it’s just a few clicks away. Additionally, items in your Outlook may be assigned to more than one category. For example, an email message may be assigned to the categories Supplies, Wholesale and Marketing.

Once you begin color-coding your emails, you’ll wonder how you lived without this great tip! If you have other tips and ideas for organizing emails, please share them in the comments below!

Looking to organize emails in Hotmail, Yahoo! or Gmail? Check out these links!

Categorizing in Hotmail

Organizing Emails in Yahoo

Using labels in Gmail

Tip #35: Keyboard Shortcuts to Increase Efficiency

All business owners could use extra time in their day, right? To help you be more efficient and save time while on the computer, we’ve compiled a list of commonly used keyboard shortcuts for you. Keyboard shortcuts are simply keyboard combinations that perform a specific command. For example, instead of going to click File, then clicking Save, you can press both the CTRL and S keys to perform the command.

Function	Shortcut
Save	CTRL + S
Open	CTRL + O
Print	CTRL + P
Copy	CTRL + C
Cut	CTRL + X
Paste	CTRL + V
Undo	CTRL + Z
Find	CTRL + F
Bold	CTRL + B
Italic	CTRL + I
Underline	CTRL + U
Zoom In	CTRL + +
Zoom Out	CTRL + -
Select all items in current window	CTRL + A
Delete an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin	SHIFT + DELETE
Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)	ALT + TAB
Minimize all open windows and display the desktop	Windows Logo + D
Find files or folders	Windows Logo + F
Open Control Panel	Windows Logo + C

The shortcuts shown here are for Windows operating systems. However, if you are using a Mac operating system, many of the same shortcuts exist by using the command key in place of the CTRL key.

If you have useful shortcuts to share, please leave a comment for our blog community below.

Note: The information in this post was featured in an article in the January/February/March 2012 issue. RCI members have access to this article plus many more useful articles on operating a business through Kettle Talk, RCI’s quarterly newsletter magazine. Net yet an RCI member? Learn more about the benefits joining RCI here. Contact RCI with questions at 800-545-5381 or info@retailconfectioners.org.

Tip #32: Regular Maintenance Check-Ups

Doesn't it seem like something always breaks right before, or even during, your busy season? While sometimes that is just going to happen, oftentimes breakdowns can be avoided by scheduling regular maintenance check-ups for your equipment and machinery.

To create a basic maintenance schedule, you can use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel and create a simple tracking sheet. Column headings could include machinery name and/or serial number while the rows list the date a check-up is needed. Then, the employee overseeing the maintenance or check-up would initial in the corresponding box. You could use the different tabs to divide out your equipment by department, or if it’s easy to fit all equipment on one tab you could use a different tab for each year. We’ve created a very basic sample to help you get started. As a starting point, we have inserted monthly checks but we recommend checking the manufacturer’s guidelines for each of your equipment to make the best plan for your company.

In addition to avoiding untimely breakdowns, equipment maintenance programs also ensure your product and consumer’s safety and reduce unexpected maintenance repairs. Be sure to check out this website on preventative machinery maintenance for thorough advice and reasoning for creating a complete maintenance program for your company.

One last thing: Don’t forget about regular check-ups of office items as well, including printers, carts, etc. You don’t want the copier or printer broken just as you’re about to print invoices for the month or reports for the year; or the two-wheel cart needed to transport product from store to store to be found with flat wheels.

Do you have tips for scheduling maintenance check-ups? Leave us a comment below!

Did you know that equipment maintenance is one of the many facets of HACCP planning? RCI members can access videos of past education sessions discussing GMP and HACCP plans on the member side of the RCI website under ‘past education sessions’.

Tip #29: Customize Your Invoices to Get Paid on Time

We all want to get paid by customers on time. So why is it that so many businesses don’t take the time to create customized invoices? If you send a bill out that doesn’t have your company contact information, company logo or even payment options, how is it you expect to quickly receive payment?

We all lead busy lives, including your customers. So, the easier you can make it for them by providing multiple methods to contact you with questions or multiple payment options, the quicker you will likely receive payment. If you use QuickBooks, it even gives you the option to create multiple customized invoices and name them so that you don’t have to recreate the wheel each time. If you’re not using QuickBooks, the system you do use likely has this option. If not, you can always use programs like Word to create a nice, easy-to-understand invoice.

So, what should be included on an invoice? Here’s our guide for the minimum information that should be included:

1. Your company logo
2. Your business name, address, phone, email and website
3. Name, address and phone of company receiving the invoice
4. Invoice number
5. Date invoice sent
6. Date invoice due / payment terms (i.e. Net 30 days)
7. Description of the goods (be specific about quantity, type, etc.)
8. Balance due
9. Payment instructions (If credit card is an option, provide space for the customer to write in credit card information and mail or fax to you.)
10. Don’t forget to include the word ‘invoice’ or ‘bill’ so there is no question
    
    

If you take the time to customize your invoices, you should reap the benefits of quicker payments.

RCI members have access to QuickBooks tips on the member side of the RCI website. Just go to ‘Past Education Sessions’ under the ‘Education’ tab and then scroll down to the 2011 Fall Regional Education Sessions to find the link to QuickBooks and Tax Tips. Plus, members have access to QuickBooks support. If you need help, call the RCI office and schedule an appointment with the RCI QuickBooks expert, Chelsea Abercrombie, CPA.

Tip #27: Windows Productivity Tips

Do you use Windows operating software on your computer? If so, we have some great time-saver tips for you today!

1. Print a document without opening it - If you need to print a document, this tip allows you to do it without even having to launch the program. For example, if you need to print a Word document, you can print without having to launch Microsoft Word first. All you need to do is find the file on your hard drive and then right-click on the icon and click print. The document will print to your default printer using the settings you last used for the file.
2. Shortcut to send an email attachment - Use this tip to send an email attachment without even opening your mail program (if you use Microsoft Outlook). Locate the file you want to attach to an email and right-click on the file’s icon. Click Send To and then click Mail Recipient. A new mail message should open with the file attached and ready to send. You just need to type in the recipient’s email address and any accompanying message and hit send.
3. Quickly view the desktop - Do you need to get to your desktop but have numerous windows open? Instead of minimizing each window individually you can quickly get to the desktop by just using your keyboard. Find the windows icon button on your keyboard and click on that plus the ‘D’ on your keyboard at the same time and you’ll automatically minimize all open windows to view your desktop.
4. View files by group – If you have a large folder of files and need an easier way to view them, you can actually organize them by group within the folder. This shortcut doesn’t create new folders – it just gives you an easier way to view the files within a folder. Just right-click within the folder and to go Arrange Icons By, and then click on Show in Groups.  You’ll then view the groups based on how the files are currently arranged (i.e. alphabetically, if by name) but you can easily change that by right-clicking within the folder, going to Arrange Icons By and choosing to arrange them by file size, date modified, etc. Then the groups will change accordingly. This is a great way to easily find the files you’re looking for.

For more useful tips, just click here or here. If you have some Windows or computer shortcuts to share, we encourage you to leave a comment with the tip.

Tip #26: Shipping Chocolate and Candy in Warm Weather

It is officially summer now and many chocolate and candy stores choose not to ship their products in warm weather. Whether it’s because the cost of shipping in heat is prohibitive for their customers or because they don’t want to risk their products melting in transit, it’s completely understandable. However, we also know that many stores continue to ship in warm weather. If you are considering shipping your product, here are a few tips we’ve learned from our members that may help protect the quality of your products:

• Choose a packing box large enough to surround the product with ice packs and bubble wrap.
• Consider using styrofoam insulated boxes.
• Place the ice packs at the bottom of the box, not on top.
• If you aren’t using non-sweating ice packs, wrap the ice packs in newspaper to absorb the moisture.
• Wrap the product package in bubble wrap to protect it.

Do you have additional tips and tricks for shipping in warm weather? Please leave a comment to share below.

Our April/May/June 2011 Kettle Talk newsletter magazine had an article on shipping in warm weather. RCI members can click here to view a PDF of the issue (turn to page 13).

Tip #7: Getting Organized After the Chaos

Now that two of the biggest candy-buying holidays are behind you, it’s time to get organized for the year ahead. We’ve given you tips on how to Declutter Your Desk, so now we have a tip that will benefit you anywhere in your facility. From the office to the retail store to the manufacturing facility, this tool will save you time and money.

What is this grand tool?

 A labeler.

Here’s why we love a labeler and think you will to:

• Very affordable and often on sale (Think ‘spring cleaning season’ sales.)
• No more straining to read someone else’s handwriting (or your own J )
• Provides a consistent look to keep your area organized
• Can be purchased in clear or white labels to meet your needs
• Adds a level of professionalism to your system
• Makes the most organized office staff and ‘type A’ personalities happy and more productive

There is a large variety of types and brands of labelers. Visiting your area office supply store is a great place to start. Have fun labeling!

If you have a labeler, share a comment and let us know why you love it so much.