Tip #130: Use Nutter Butters to Make Seasonally Themed Treats

Nutter Butters are a delicious treat all by themselves. This week’s tip is to take this beloved favorite cookie, dip it in chocolate and create seasonally themed products throughout the year. Below are a few ideas but the possibilities are endless. Therefore, let these ideas just be a starting point for your creativity!

Bunnies

Mummies

Ice Cream Cone

Reindeer

Flip Flops

Tip #129: Host a Pinterest Party at Your Store

Have you heard of a Pinterest party? Based on ideas found on the online idea-sharing board, Pinterest, it’s a chance for “pinners” to get together for a time of crafty fun. They get the chance to bring ideas to life that they’ve found on Pinterest.

Hosting a candy-themed Pinterest party at your store is a great way to get new potential customers in your store and to showcase that your products make great gifts and crafts. You can choose some great pins from Pinterest and then create a space in your store to allow customers to get crafty.

After a quick Pinterest search for candy themed gifts and crafts, we found the following ideas to get you started:

Lollipop Bouquet

Jelly Bean Bracelets

Candy Chicks

Candy Ornaments

So, how do you host a Pinterest party? There are a variety of ways! You could make it an all-day event; customers can drop in at their leisure to make a fun candy themed craft. Or, make it a more formal event that requires signing up ahead of time. Of course, which way you decide to do that will help determine your craft. A simple craft is better for drop-ins and a more involved craft is better for the latter. Either way, provide a coupon or shopping discount for purchases made in your store by anyone who participates in the party.

Happy Pinning!

P.S. We're in St. Louis this week for the RCI Annual Convention & Industry Expo. Check out photos on our Facebook page throughout the week!

Tip #128: Use a Heat Gun to Quickly Melt Wafers for Seeding

This week’s tip is quick and easy and may save yourself a headache as you temper chocolate in small batch tempering machines.

Are you using chocolate wafers as seed for your tempering unit? Before putting them in the feed of the tempering machine, quickly (don’t overheat!) use a heat gun on them to form one large clump or block of wafers. By doing this, you will help keep the wafers from sneaking through the blade and over-tempering your chocolate.

See? Quick and easy!

This week’s tip was shared during our Chocolate Boot Camp education course. RCI will be hosting a Creams, Fondants & Fudges course August 5-7 in Dayton, Ohio. Visit retailconfectioners.org/events to stay up-to-date with RCI's education course offerings in the coming year.

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 #126: Honor Fathers Leading Up to Father’s Day

Father’s Day is just a few weeks away (June 15) so this week’s tip is to utilize social media to help your customers honor their fathers – and hopefully they’ll come in to buy your sweets in the process.

Below find a few ideas for some of the most popular social media tools. Take one and use it, or take a combination approach for the social media avenues your customers use most.

Facebook – For the week leading up to the holiday, have followers post their favorite sayings or lessons learned from their dad. Make a daily post and have followers comment in the post with their sayings or lessons. Then, choose your favorite at the end of the week to win a Father’s Day gift basket. You could take a humorous or sentimental approach with this one!

Twitter – Use a custom hashtag to encourage followers to post about their dad. Similar to the Facebook suggestion, you can take a humorous or sentimental approach here. Be sure to promote the hashtag so you can view all participant submissions.

Pinterest –  Have a Dad’s Sweet Dream Gifts contest that requires entrants to have a Pinterest board full of their dad’s favorite items from your website or online store. Require the board to include your company name (awareness builder!) and then have entrants submit the URL to their board by emailing you or posting the link on your Facebook page. (Check out this Pinterest contest for an idea of how it to communicate the idea to customers.)

Instagram – Photo contest! Have customers submit photos of themselves with their dads holding their favorite chocolates or candies from your store. Just as with Twitter, encourage a custom hashtag so that you can easily view the submissions.

For each of these items, you could say that if they come to your store before Father’s Day and show their comment, Tweet, etc. on their phone then they receive a free piece of fudge, truffle, etc. As you know, once you get them in your store, they’re likely to purchase your irresistible treats!

Tip #125: Celebrate National Candy Month

It is almost June, also known as National Candy Month! This week’s tip is to have some fun with a month-long celebration of all things candy.

Ideas for fun candy month celebrations include:

• Specials and coupons, of course!
• Interactive in-store contests. For example, coloring contests for kids is a great way to get the entire family in your store. Display the submissions in your store throughout the month, letting other customers vote for their favorites. The winning prize could be a fun candy-filled gift basket.
• Limited edition candy. What about getting your staff involved and asking them to create a new product inspired by their own favorite confections that’s only available for the month of June?
• Host a Candy Making Camp where kids can sign up for a day of candy making at your store for a fee.
• Have a new candy contest, encouraging customers to contribute ideas for a new chocolate or candy to be made by your company. They can come up with creative names, or you could even name the winning idea after the winning contributor.

The key here is to have fun celebrating because candy really does make life more sweet – and fun!

Tip #124: Control the Temperature of Your Packaging Room

You’ve made a delicious product covered in chocolate and now it is time to package it. Have you considered how the temperature of the packaging room or area will affect your product?

This week’s tip is to control the temperature of your packaging room or area in order to protect the integrity of your products. Oftentimes the focus of room temperature is on the cooking or kitchen area but the temperature and relative humidity of the packaging area is important as well. For example, conditions with high humidity will lead to moisture condensation which will eventually result in sugar bloom on the product’s surface. Additionally, conditions that are too warm could melt your products.

Confectionery experts recommend that the packaging area be maintained at 65° to 70°F with a relative humidity of maximum 65 percent. To help with control, install a thermometer that measures both temperature and relative humidity and assign an employee to check the measurements on a regular schedule.

Temperature control is one of many factors and variables that should be considered as you prepare product for customer distribution. The decisions you make about these items can help to prolong the beauty and shelf life of your confections.

Tip #123: Train Employees in Customer Service

Think about the last business you entered, retail specifically. Were you greeted upon entrance? If you received a warm welcome, did it leave an impression on you? Likely so as a warm welcome is no longer the norm when it comes to customer service. That’s why today’s tip is to train your employees in customer service.

One of the best examples of excellent customer service is the Apple Store. A Forbes article outlined the five steps of service that Apple Store employees are trained to follow for each customer interaction:

Approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome.

Probe politely to understand the customer’s needs (ask closed and open-ended questions).

Present a solution for the customer to take home today.

Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns.

End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.

How are your employees doing at each of these steps? Oftentimes we assume that employees understand the basics of customer service, but it’s up to you as the business owner/manager to train them.

Remember, 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated (salesforce.com). So start preparing your employee training today!

P.S. The Opening General Session at the RCI Annual Convention & Industry Expo this June will provide more insight from industry expert Phil Bruno on building great customer experiences. Register online by May 16 and save $100 on full registration!

Tip #122: Update Your Ice Cream Display

La King's Confectionery, RCI 2011 Fall Regional

It’s almost summertime which means it’s nearly prime time for ice cream! Therefore, this week’s tip is to take a critical look at how you display the ice cream in your store.

As with candy merchandising, the way your ice cream is displayed can have a positive or adverse affect on sales. During our 2011 Fall Regional Conference in Houston and Galveston, Texas, members visited La King’s Confectionery. The owner, Jack King, shared that when he revamped his ice cream display to be more of a European style (similar to the way gelato is displayed), ice cream sales in his store went up. The photo above is an example of how he currently displays his ice cream.

So, if you are still hand-dipping your ice cream out of traditional, round buckets, consider a display redesign. By displaying ice cream in a more modern style and adding embellishments such as cookie crumbles or caramel swirls, your customers won’t be able to resist your delicious ice cream!

Take it a step further: Take your display a step further and offer a toppings bar nearby.  Take products that you currently offer (i.e. chocolate covered pretzels, caramel, nonpareils, etc.) and let customers create a new favorite ice cream treat!

Tip #121: Perform a Technology Audit

Is the technology at your company helping or hindering productivity? This week’s tip is to take some time to perform a technology audit to determine how it is working and also how it can be improved.

Not sure where to start? Unless you have a skilled IT professional on your staff, you will likely need to hire someone to help you through the process and make recommendations that best fit your company size and goals. The following points are from the SCORE website as items to be sure you consider during a technology audit:

·     Information Security

·     Training your staff so that they’re using technology as efficiently and securely as possible

·     Your future needs and what current/developing technologies will help meet them.

·     What is not working right now or what could work better?

We also found this checklist as well as this step by step guide that will help you get started.

Be sure to include your staff in the process as they are in the trenches and can provide some great insight as to what is and is not working in terms of technology and processes. While a technology audit is an investment, it has the potential to provide a large return if you take the time to do it well.

Tip #120: See If Your Company is Being Pinned

We’ve mentioned Pinterest on our blog multiple times, typically because we love to find ideas there to share with you, our faithful blog readers. Did you know that there is a way to determine if your company has images or links being pinned by others on Pinterest? This week’s tip will show you how to check that and also why it matters. 

First, why does it matter if people are pinning links and images from your website on Pinterest? Pinterest users post captions to their images. By reviewing the pins along with the captions, you may find great customer insight regarding your current products as well as ideas to adapt them or make them better.

Second, how to find if you are being pinned. You may search to see if anyone has pinned your content by typing the following into your web browser’s address bar:  http://pinterest.com/source/retailconfectioners.org (instead of “retailconfectioners.org, enter your own url). The page that shows up allows you to check out the boards that have pinned images and links from your website. Take a few minutes to review the content and the captions. In addition, it might be a good idea to do a quarterly check on this to see if popular pins and content change based on the seasons or other factors.

It’s always a good idea to track your company’s online presence. We hope this week’s tip gives you a great tool to help you do just that! 

Tip #119: Whip Your Truffle Centers

Are you looking for a new variation on the standard truffle center preparation? Or, at least you have wondered if there is another way to do it. Why not try it whipped?

A light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth texture can be obtained by this method. After preparing your truffle center with the flavors, cream and chocolate, whip your cooled truffle center in a mixer until it becomes somewhat fluffy. The color will be noticeably lighter and the final density will be approximately 0.75gm/ml. After whipping, you can scoop or gently roll the center for enrobing.

This method is used in the hands-on lab sessions at our Chocolate Boot Camp® to show an alternative truffle preparation and it has been very popular with the students. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Tip #118: Celebrate National Pretzel Day

Have you ventured into the land of chocolate covered pretzels? If so, we bet they’re a customer favorite! Saturday, April 26 is National Pretzel Day so this week’s tip is to celebrate! Below find a few fun ideas we found on Pinterest to use pretzels in confections. Do you have a unique idea for pretzels? Please share it in the comments below!

Caramel Pretzel Bites

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

Pretzel Turtles

Patriotic Dipped Pretzels

Cinnamon Roll Pretzels

Happy April Fool's Day!!

Tip #117: Post Photos on Facebook

Are you looking to get your customers and fans more engaged on Facebook?

According to this infographic from Kissmetrics, a blog focused on marketing analytics, photos get 53% more Likes, 104% more comments, and 84% more click-throughs than posts that include just text or links. That is a huge difference!

Ideas for posting pictures include:

·     Production– let them feel like they’re behind-the-scenes of a candy store

·     Product– remind fans how beautiful and delicious your chocolates and candies are and they may meet a temptation they just can’t resist

·     Promotions – create great images highlighting promotions and sales happening in your store

·     People – make it personal by posting photos of your staff and customers

This is just another great reason for investing in quality photos just like we mentioned in Tip # 67!

**If you’ve visited RCI’s Facebook page, you know that we love to post photos from RCI events and education courses. Check out photos from last year’s Annual Convention & Industry Expo and then visit retailconfectioners.org/annual to get registered for the 2014 Annual Convention & Industry Expo in St. Louis this June. The expo is FREE to confectionery industry professionals and full registration for the convention covers education sessions, some meals, networking receptions, behind-the-scenes tours and an awards banquet. It’s a week you don’t want to miss!

Tip #116: Implement Quarterly Employee Check-ins

We’ve all heard of the annual employee performance review. You may even currently implement one in your own candy company. This week’s tip, though, is to move past only meeting with your employees to review their performance annually and instead check in with them on a quarterly basis.

It’s been said about annual performance reviews that if there is anything within the review that surprises the employee then it’s the fault of the manager for not communicating throughout the year. Therefore, how are you doing at communicating your level of satisfaction with your employees’ performance throughout the year? This week’s tip will help with that!

Rather than having a quarterly review, consider a more light-hearted or casual meeting where you check in with the employee. Consider using this time to review the goals you laid out together for the employee at the past annual review. In addition to providing your feedback, this is a great time to ask open-ended questions of the employee and provide an opportunity to provide feedback on his or her level of job satisfaction.

By checking in with employees throughout the year, you are keeping the lines of communication open which has been shown to increase employee satisfaction. And happy employees means happy customers!