Golden Tickets and Wrapped HERSHEY'S® Chocolates

Summer is a great time to promote your business and nothing sends a sweeter message than a personalized HERSHEY'S® bar.  We find that this is a popular time of year for companies to recognize employees, prospect for new business and advertise for special sales or campaigns.  We typically produce some of our largest orders of the year during the summer months and this year is no exception.  Growing in popularity is the Golden Ticket promotion.  Just like Willy Wonka, a company releases golden tickets hidden beneath the wrapping of a custom wrapped HERSHEY'S® bar.  The lucky finder of the ticket may win anything from a 10% discount on products or services to a free car!   

• Just this summer a national furniture store promoted Sweet Summer Savings and issued golden tickets for percentage discounts off of purchases and free recliners.

• A large casino used the golden tickets to promote their event taking place 7/7/07, where 7 lucky winners will find golden tickets awarding them a chance to win $250,000!

The golden ticket promotion is the perfect way to bring a little child-like fun to any event, advertising campaign or sales meeting.  Carson can help you find sweet success no matter what your promotional needs may be. 

First Annual Ethical Business Award

On June 20th, I proudly represented Carson at the Fairfield Rotary Club and Fairfield Chamber of Commerce luncheon as we were one of seven businesses in the greater Fairfield area nominated to receive the first annual Ethical Business Award for maintaining high ethical standards.

Nominations were based on the following characteristics:  Ethical Leadership, Concern for Customer, Integrity, Respect and Loyalty.  Many of these characteristics mirror our Core Values which as a company we work to uphold daily whether we're dealing with our vendors, customers or our own team mates.

While Carson was not the winner of this year's award, it really is no surprise to me that we would be considered.  I have never worked for a company that believes more strongly in its customers or its people.   We do not just say it is our goal to exceed our customer’s expectations; we work toward that goal every day.  We also put much effort into making sure we provide our team members a rewarding environment, and work to create partnerships with all of our vendors.  It is what makes being part of the Carson team a positive experience.

Cincinnati Favorites at Carson Wrapped Hershey’s

If you travel anywhere near or just happen to live in the Cincinnati area, you know that we have several "local favorites" when it comes to food.  Larosa's pizza, Montgomery Inn ribs, Skyline Chili and Graeter's ice cream  are some of the local edible treats we all enjoy around here.  There is not a week that goes by when most of us "locals" don't enjoy one, more or all of these.

Last week, as a special treat, we grilled out at lunchtime and as part of our normal monthly company meeting enjoyed barbequed chicken smothered in Montgomery Inn sauce, and had a Graeter's Sundae Bar for everyone to enjoy.  They do this wonderful set up where they provide individual vanilla ice cream cups, and all the sundae necessities like hot fudge, caramel, strawberries, whipped cream and pecans.

If you haven't  had the opportunity to enjoy Graeters or any of these other terrific treats, you can order directly from their websites and have shipped worldwide, or go to http://www.cincinnati-to-you.com/ and you can order a variety of these different items together and bring Cincinnati to you, wherever you are.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Travels to Tennessee

     There was a package here at Carson that wasn't like the others. It didn’t fit in with the other packages. This package had different beliefs, different tastes in music and fashion, and different hobbies. On June 13, 2007 the package decided he was going to leave his home at Carson Wrapped Hershey's Chocolates and start a new life. He did not know where he was going or what he was looking for. The lonely package had been traveling south for several hours and felt hopeless. He passed Nashville, Tennessee and knew that wasn't the place for him because of his hatred of country music. The package was losing hope. He was almost to the end of his rope. Then about 60 miles south of Nashville he started to see a large collection of vehicles. He wondered where he was. He was in Manchester, Tennessee.  After doing some research, he discovered there was a music and arts festival taking place this very weekend. He decided to check it out. He had never heard of Bonnaroo but thought it sounded exciting. He purchased a ticket from a scalper and was on his way. He waited in line for two hours to get in; he was searched by security, and was made to camp surrounded by total strangers. He now doubted his decision. He left his camping area in search of knowledge. He couldn't believe his eyes, people living according to their own rules. Different smells, hair styles, clothes, food, hygiene all behaving peacefully in close quarters under oppressive heat. He had found his calling in life. After seeing bands such as: Mute Math, Clutch, Cold War Kids, The Black Keys, The Nightwatchman, The Roots, Tool, Aesop Rock, El-P, DJ Shadow, Ween, The Police, Sasha and Digweed and much, much more, he decided the music business was the place for him. He learned how to play the harmonica and travels from festival to festival trying to make a living. To supplement his income he sells tye dyed shirts, hemp bracelets, and glow sticks. He is finally free.

Christmas in July

Over the past two months, the graphic artists have been extremely busy.  Final drafts for the Anniversary, Sweetest Day and Halloween collections were due Friday, June 22.  Now comes the data part so these fabulous new items can be sold.  The new Anniversary collection should be available in 1 week!

So begins the next collection…Holiday.  We have started reviewing our data from last Christmas and bringing in new containers.  Next week, with July 4 being on a Wednesday, I will take the product development team on a field trip.  We will travel to The Christmas Shop. we will begin our research and look for inspiration to start the brainstorming sessions that will become our new Holiday collection. 

Please add comments if you have any suggestions on new Holiday product ideas.  We would love to hear from you!

It Doesn’t Hurt to be Safe

To get prepared for National Safety Month this June, Carson employees attended a meeting held by Joe, our safety guru. The meeting served as a great reminder of the many ways safety is important in our environment.

Promoting safety with a company meeting is great, but promoting it with chocolate is even better. See our Safety Campaign collection to promote and reward safety in your workplace.

One company who rewards safety in the workplace on a regular basis is UPS. Being that a large number of their employees are out on the road, it’s important to keep safe practices on their minds. My favorite chocolate bar UPS orders from us has such a powerful message and makes their drivers aware that they are not only being safe for themselves, but for the people waiting for them at home.

Each week of National Safety Month has a different theme to promote safety: Workplace, Home, Community & Driving Safety. Click here to read about shocking statistics that could have been prevented by safety awareness, or a little chocolate reminder.

Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

Todos los cumpleaños son especiales, pero todos sabemos que cuando alguien celebra 50 Años de vida es aun más especial. Y en esta ocasión fue mi Padre quien el pasado 3 de junio celebró sus 50 años. Yo tuve la oportunidad de viajar a mi querida Costa Rica, para asistir a su fiesta de cumpleaños. Esta fue una perfecta ocasión para compartir con mi familia algunos de nuestros chocolates personalizados.

Yo seleccione el diseño llamado POPARTY; este es uno de mis diseños favoritos, porque está lleno de color, además la línea que dice “Original desde 1957” es la descripción perfecta de su personalidad. También le llevé chocolates a mi mami (¡no se fuera a poner celosa!), su cumpleaños será en julio y aunque yo no podré estar presente, mi dulce obsequio, así como mi espíritu y buenos deseos serán parte de su celebración.

Carola Stiver

**********************************************

Happy Birthday Dad!

Every birthday is a very special occasion.  However, everyone knows that it is even more special when somebody celebrates their 50th birthday. Last June 3rd was my dad's 50th birthday and I had the opportunity to travel to my beloved Costa Rica to attend his party. That was a perfect occasion for me to share some of our personalized candy bars with my family.

I selected the design named POPARTY for my dad.  This design is one of my favorites because it is colorful and I like that it has“Original since 1957!” on the wrapper.  It is the perfect description of his personality.  I also took some chocolates for my mom (otherwise she would have been jealous!).  Her 49th birthday will be in July.  Although I will not be able to attend her party, my “sweet” gift as well as my heart and best wishes will be part of her celebration.

Carola Stiver

 

The Nose Knows

Have you ever walked outside of your home to the sweet smell of chocolate?  Do you think that you would have to live in Hershey PA in order to be so lucky?  Not so!

Several years ago, my wife and I were turned on to Cocoa shell mulch for our flower beds. It holds its deep brown, rich color year around, is a great fertilizer for your soil, and yes, it smells just like chocolate, or more properly, cocoa.

The bags are much lighter and easier to haul around the house when putting down, and the application is easy as well.  I suggest anyone who enjoys a nicely landscaped flower bed, and also wants a sweet smell of choclate aroma in the air without moving to Hershey, PA try some cocoa shell mulch at home.

Making Your Ideas a Reality

We do live in a busy world and when our customers take time from their day to send an email such as this it makes the sentiment even “sweeter”.  By the way, Lyn, one of our customer service associates, really is great.  If you’re ever looking to design your own wrapper she can help make your ideas a reality.
                                                                                              - Michelle

To Whom It May Concern:

In this busy world we live in we tend to overlook the small details such as a Favor for a Graduation. We went online and came across your site. We would be remiss if we didn't tell you how satisfied we are with your company.

We did receive our order today, and were very happy and satisfied with your service and also the product. We work for a company who thrives on customer service so we are use to giving good customer service but very seldom get it back when we go to do something. From the initial phone conversation with Lyn who took our order to the updates by email. The service couldn't have been better.

Thank you for helping being apart of a memorable event for our son David.

Robert and Christine Teodosio

The Art of Chocolate

When it comes to providing our customers with great looking and tasty products we do our very best to exceed their expectations. One of the more intriguing areas in which we seek to please our customers is with product development. It usually begins by paying close attention to our customer’s ideas, taking our own concepts and molding them together to form a premium product that everyone can be excited about. I can honestly say that this is the coolest part of my job. I can take an idea from within our product development/ brainstorming sessions and put my own twist to it. It really gives each designer an opportunity to let their creativity show. I think there will be a very rewarding feeling knowing that people will be using my artwork to celebrate a special event in their life. I really do take pride in that, because art is my passion and anytime I set about creating something whether it be designing wrappers at work or a painting in my free time I want to be proud of that piece and I want others to enjoy it as well. Ya know I shouldn’t call the aforementioned wrapper design “work” because when you’re doing something you love it’s not really work. Anyways, I can’t wait for the new designs to come out. They will be a great addition to an already awesome collection of wrappers. I’ll keep you posted as to when to check out our new wrappers. Hopefully you will find them as cool as I do. Well, now it’s time to get back to “work.”

-Mike Reuter

Don’t Mess With Our Chocolate!

There is a controversy brewing in the U.S. about just exactly what properly constitutes the content of real chocolate  and some fine people have taken up the cause to protect all of us chocolate lovers.

Probably one of my favorite blogs out there is CANDYBLOG.   This is really a must visit for anyone who enjoys candy even the slightest, which pretty much qualifies all of us.  You can also learn about the fight to keep the FDA from messing with the definition of real chocolate here at http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/dont_mess_with_our_chocolate.

To learn even more, visit http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/  for all of the current information and industry positions, and there even a place to leave your comments to be registered with the FDA.

Cupcakes and Icing

Today I was at the grocery store with my mom and we saw some cake batter. We then decided that we were going to make cupcakes for dessert. I let them cool before I put icing on them. Hershey’s icing!

Let me just tell you they are great! I hope you can be patient enough for next month’s blog post!

Photography and Marvin Lewis

This is Ellis’

Every once in a while, I find a new awesome hobby to take over my life for about five days. My newest? Photography. And this one I LOVE. It's so incredibly different, because you can do so many things with it. I've taken loads of pictures so far. My cat Mocha, my lil' sis Chase, my mom's foot (bah ha ha ha), cupcakes, orchids, and an action figure have become pictures.

Gorgeous pictures by yours truly.

I have also taken a  picture of two candy bars that Carson wrapped from the Marvin Lewis Golf Tournament.

We went to it last Sunday, and, well, let's just say I'm so jealous of my dad. HE MET CHAD JOHNSON! He's my HERO for catching that really long catch in the Chargers game last season (best half I've ever seen for the first, worst for the second). Not to mention HE WAS IN A COMMERCIAL WITH RASCAL FLATTS! MY FAVORITE BAND! But I did meet Marvin Lewis for the second time in my life. He gave me a hug! Man, he's so awesome. Incredibly nice. And Coach Sheppard (Wide Receivers Coach) is going to make sure he has a great season catching even more long bombs. I love these connections. I really do.

Well, I'm going to go take more pictures.

xx<3Ellis.

PS: I know Jordin won American Idol. I'm so sad. I remain a Blaker
Girl.

Funshine & June

At Carson, you’re a person, who makes an impact.  We celebrate everyone and no job is too big or too small, whether it’s taking an order for someone’s special event, producing and shipping the packages, helping with the art work or taping the standard bars.   

Employees at Carson enjoy the work environment.  There are always fun things to participate in.  If we’re lucky – Scott grills lunch for us or Funshine brings it in.

Funshine is a program that, well, is fun!  It’s an employee group of volunteers that puts together ideas for holidays, birthdays, company events or sometimes cool games.  Funshine is getting ready to plan some great events for this summer like the Company Picnic and a few others yet to be announced.

Help me in wishing a Happy June Birthday to
Sylvia Thornburg
Celebrating employment anniversaries are
Linda Mason
(4 years)
Carola Stiver
(1 year)

Check back next month for more exciting FUNshine!

         

Amish Friendship Bread Invasion

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Dianne Beeson and I work at Carson Wrapped Hershey’s Chocolates.  I can be found, depending on the day and the pressures du jour, in the Customer Care Center or in Production. 

A couple weeks ago one of our graphic designers,  Jeff me handed a Ziplock baggie containing white goo of dubious origin and purpose accompanied by an instruction sheet.

The goo in question turned out the be the starter for Amish Friendship Bread.  One nurses it along daily for a period of about 10 days, sometimes adding ingredients, sometimes just squeezing the bag, sometimes unzipping and letting the buildup of gasses escape.  The joke was made that giving the starter to someone is akin to giving them a puppy as a gift: sweet, but requiring care.  Jeff distributed his remaining “puppies” around and I took my charge home with me and followed the care instructions as best I could.   

When it was ready I made two cakes, one for the Frederick’s at home and one for the folks at Carson to enjoy.  I must say, the result was one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever had.  It was a dense cake, rich and flavorful, perfect for breakfast or dessert or just a snack.  Everybody raved over it and it was consumed in record time, gone but for one small piece by lunch time.  (I suppose guilt looms large over the taker of the last piece.)  I brought the remaining 3 servings of starter in to Carson as well, and they were snapped up. 

Dee’s husband was the first to introduce the starters at Carson.  Because I didn’t know exactly what was in the original starter, I looked it up.  Here is everything you need to know about starting an Amish Friendship Bread invasion of your own.  Make it, and everybody will be your friend, at least for as long as the cake lasts!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE STARTER
•    1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
•    1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
•    3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
•    3 cups white sugar, divided
•    3 cups milk

DIRECTIONS
1.    In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. At this point you can put it in a gallon size plastic ziplock baggie.  It might be wise to leave a section of the top unzipped so accumulated gasses can escape.  DO NOT REFRIGERATE.
2.    On days 2 thru 4; squish the starter in the bag each day.
3.    Day 5; mix in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk, squish well.
4.    Days 6 thru 9; squish the starter in the bag each day.
5.    Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, divide the remainder into 1 cup portions and give to friends along with this recipe. (They’re beginning with step 2).

RECIPE FOR THE CAKE
1.    Pour the starter into a large glass or plastic bowl. 
2.    With a fork, stir in the following ingredients: 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup oil (I used peanut oil), 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3.    Mix well, then stir in 1 cup sugar, stirring till well blended.
4.    Stir in 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding mix.
5.    Combine 2 cups flour with 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon baking soda.  Add to starter batter and stir until blended. 
6.    Stir in a couple handfuls of chopped nuts and/or raisins if desired.  I used walnuts. 
7.    Pour into a well greased and sugared bunt pan or two loaf pans. 
8.    Sprinkle top amply with cinnamon sugar.
9.    Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.