Raise The Candy Bar

Place your candy orders today to make it a sweet day! Call us at: 847-677-5777

Sunday, January 30, 2011

More than just Candy, Nuts and Chocolates

As many of you know we specialize in gifts that leave lasting impressions. We normally do this for our corporate client gifts, holiday gifts that range from the Jewish Holidays of Rosh Hashanah , Hanukkah , Purim and Passover to the Christian Holidays of Christmas and Easter.
14% OFF all online purchases at illinoisnut.com thru Valenitines Day!  Use PROMO CODE "cupid" during step 2 of checkout to take advantage of this special offer.
But Friday we definitely delivered a gift that left a lasting impression; almost 5 pounds of assorted chocolates topped off with a bouquet of over 50 balloons.


Wow, living the Life of the Candy Man is sure sweet!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Justice Served


Don't forget to send a sweet treat this 
Valentines Day! Click Photo to view our 
wide assortment of Sweet Treaats.
Nothing really exciting has happened in the store the last few weeks other than a few corporate clients that chose to send out their corporate gifts at the begining of the year and a not for profit that placed a chocolate order.
So today I wanted to blog about a story that started about three and half years ago. Some of you may know we wholesale some of our products to other online sites and then fulfill the orders for them.
About three and half years ago I got a call from one of the companies and my contact, lets call her 'Sue,' asked if we had an employee with long dark hair?
I said yes, why?  Well, she got a call from a guy who claimed he got a gift box of trufflesfrom her site as a wedding present from someone, but could not remember who.  The gift supposedly had a long black hair.
Here were the problems
  1. Up to that date we never fulfilled a box of truffles for her.
  2. We don't ship boxes with her name on them either.
We both knew we were being scammed, but the guy was threatening everything under the sun, so to make him go away I sent him a new box of truffles at my expense.
I assumed the story was over and wrote it off as the cost of doing business.
Chocolate Business Card & Thank 
You box; click photo to choose from 
wide assortment of custom 
branding and client 'thank you' options.
Then about two years later I got a call from the Marion Ohio Prosecutors office.  I was asked if I had sent Mr. X a box of chocolate.  I told her "yes" and she asked me to tell her the story.  After I told her the story she told me that I was part of this persons elaborate scheme and that he had been arrested and would I like to press charges. I said "of course."
So here is what this person was doing and how he was caught...
Mr X was using his home and work computer to target various industries and telling them he had either a hair or some other foreign object in their product. This individual happened to like California wines and had targeted a number of wineries in the region. Low and behold at an association dinner one person in the group started telling how he knew he had been scammed, but didn't want the bad press it might cause; so he sent a bottle of wine to Mr. X.
All of sudden a relatively large percent of the room realized they had fallen victim to the same scam and had sent Mr X a bottle of wine; for the same reason that I sent the box of chocolates.  Being an association, they hired an attorney or PI, not sure, to investigate and go after this guy.  I guess the cost for a bottle of wine is a lot more than a box of truffles.
Cutout Wood Wine Box comes with a bottle
 of sparking grape juice, Gummi bears,
jeweled almonds, cashews, mini jelly beans,
liquored flavored cordials & assorted
wrapped candy.
The association investigator then contacted the local authorities with a enough evidence for them to obtain search warrants for the this person's home and office.  Guess what the bozo was using his work computer too.  Upon searching his house they found my shipping box with my box of candy as well as dozens upon dozens of other specialty items which included wines, caviar and chocolate to name a few.
To sum up a long story Mr X was found guilty.   What happened to him?
  1. His company fired him immediately and cooperated with the authorities.
  2. He had to serve time in jail (not sure how much)
  3. He had to make retributions.
I figured I would never see a dime, but was happy he was being punished.  Then a few months ago I got a check from Marion, Ohio.  It was a check for the wholesale price of a box of chocolate plus shipping.
A sweet ending to a bitter sweet story (OK bad pun) all part of a day in the Life of the Candy Man.
Have a sweet day!

Friday, January 7, 2011

A new years resolution


Small Fruit Mix a great healthy snack
 I for one do not make new years resolutions. I end up breaking them within a week, so I made a decision years ago to stop making resolutions that could have been the one resolution that I kept, oh well.

This time of year many people make health and weight resolutions; health clubs see a rise in memberships and use, and believe it or not our store sees a trend as well. What we see is people purchasing healthier options such as:
The nuts are definitely a healthier option, but truth be told the dried fruits have sugar in them. Though the sugar free chocolates and candies do not have sugar they still have calories.
As you've been reading along you are probably wondering where is the Candy Man going with this? And the answer is that "exercise and eating in moderation" are the only way to see fit to your helth related resolutions. So indulge in confections, but just have one or two.
Here is an interesting fact -- the majority of American adults (54.1%) do not engage in the recommended minimum amount of physical activity (30 minutes per day of moderate activity, 5 days per week or 20 minutes per day of vigorous activity, 3 days per week, as recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association).

Roasted Mixed Nuts
That being said the way that I stay somewhat healthy and in shape is through exercise. I actually need to eat candy on a daily basis as part of our quality assurance program. Tough job but someone has to do it.

So a bizarre blog from the 'Life of the Candy Man' - don't make new year resolutions especially one you can't / don't plan on keeping and work out on a regular basis so you can eat what you want (at least in moderation).

Have a Sweet and Happy New Year!

-David Levine