Create a Branded Souvenir Chocolate Collection Showcasing Your Community

Showcase your local community by developing a branded souvenir chocolate collection using custom cocoa butter transfer sheets.

Susan Truax with Bruce’s Candy Kitchen teamed up with American Chocolate Designs to create a branded souvenir collection representing their tourist town of Cannon Beach, Oregon. To make the idea a reality, Susan and her team was, first, tasked with identifying four landmarks or events that could be translated into simple line-art designs and applied to chocolate-covered sandwich cookies.

Design mock-up from American Chocolate Designs

"It was easy to settle on the first two designs—Haystack Rock is a very recognizable and popular monolith in Cannon Beach and the cute tufted puffins that inhabit the area seemed like natural fits,” recalled Susan. She ran into a snag when the line drawing of the area's well-known Tillamook Rock Lighthouse didn’t turn out as expected. “Lesson learned, not every idea translates to a good design,” Susan reflected. “I replaced the lighthouse design with a sand castle to represent our Annual Sand Castle Contest, as well as memories made playing on the beach.” The fourth and final design was an outline of the state of Oregon with a heart.

Photo credit: Bruce's Candy Kitchen

In just four easy steps, American Chocolate Designs created their custom transfer sheets which were ready to be applied to chocolate. The finished products are displayed individually in Bruce's candy case as well as part of a four-piece boxed collection. The branded souvenir sandwich cookies have proven to be very popular, but not just with tourists. “The success of these branded products has even led several other businesses in our local community to order their own custom transfer sheets that we now use for their special chocolate pieces,” Susan added.

As in the case of Bruce's Candy Kitchen, custom cocoa butter transfer designs can help create unique and sweet opportunities for your business to highlight what makes your community special for a small financial investment. Your out-of-town customers will love the sweet souvenir of their visit and locals will take pride in sharing gifts that represent what makes your community special. 

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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!

Crave more? Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's 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. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

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