Chicago Themed Chocolate Souvenir

Have you ever needed a Chicgao themed gift?

Well, over the years we have gotten the request from corporations and party planners that they need a Chicago themed gift so we have added them to our repertoire of unique gifts.

We stared with the Chicago Skyline puzzle which has been used by many

but then reuquests came for smaller options which is when we stared to offer

 two different sized chocoalte bars both that featured a chocolate Chicago skyline.

Which gets me to the latest Chicago themed gift, like many of our unique molded chocolates the idea came from sitting with clients and trying to meet their needs with a semi branded gift.

Recently I met with a prospective customer she loved our International Thank You box of chocolates and wanted to know if we could do something similiar but Chicago themed. So after the staff and I thought about how not to get sued for violating a trade mark we came up with the following

This Chicgao Themed Box of chocolate features the skyline and some of Chicago's best known streets and neighborhoods which include 35th St, Addison, Astor St, Belmont, China Town, Division, Grant Park, Lake Shore Dr, Lincoln Park, Little Italy, Maxwell St, Michigan Ave, Oak St, Rush St, State St, Waveland Ave.

The Life of the candy man is sweet.

Have a sweet day!

Hot of the Fourth of July

It was really hot in Chicagoland on the 4th of July well over 100 degrees  but what is the difference between 100 and 104 not much.

Like we do every year we asked our friends  and their families to march with us in the Skokie 4th of July parade. Thank you to all who braved the heat and helped to pass out over 10,000 pieces of candy to the community.

Though it was hot we all all had fun and maybe found a new customer or two.

Our marches marched to the song the candy man being played on a loud speaker mounted to our van.

Want to march with us next year let me know it is a fun thing to do with your kids.

This week in the sweltering heat the life of the candy man was sweet, but it is just too hot thank G-d for air conditioning,

Radio Print Web & TV

This has been an exciting six months for the store. In the last six months we have been featured on TV, (TLC The Four Weddings, Discovery Channel How It's Made, Fox Business and our local NBC News) additionally the store was featured in the local Pioneer press which was then picked up by the Chicago Sun Times.
  

click here to listen to radio segment

The great press continued with being featured in a segment on the local radio station WIND on the show game changers, and most recently I had an appearance on the web TV show CEOInronet.


click here to watch show


With all this exciting press one thing has not changed at the store, our commitment to indulgence.  That being said we are not resting on our laurels. we are hard at work developing new recipes and expermenting with new flavors like our latest the Key Lime Truffle.



WIth a lot of hard work and help from the man up above, the life of the candy man has sure been sweet.

Have a sweet day!

Your Search for Lactose Free Pareve Chocolate Chips is Over

Did you hear the big news?

Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips will no longer be certified nondairy.

This may not sound like a big deal to the average person but to those who keep Kosher or have dairy allergies this is really big news.

I am here to say do not worry, because at Illinois Nut and Candy online at http://www.raisingthecandybar.com/ we offer several type of Pareve Chocolate Chips.

The first type type of our  Lactose Free Pareve Chip is the:

Lactose Free Pareve Mini Chocolate Chips

Next we offer the:

Lactose Free Pareve Chocolate Chips

Finally we offer
Lactose Free Pareve White Chocolate Chips

 

So as an incentive for you to try our lactose free pareve chocolate chips and baking supplies we invite you to come in the store with your last empty bag of Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and get 10% any of our baking items including our large variety of sprinkles and sanding sugars.

Have a sweet day!

David

Love is in the Air

Like I have said before the life of the Candy Man is sweet especially when I get to help someone make a love connection.

A Love Connection in May?

We actually had 2 today.

First was earlier today around 7:00am before the store opened I got a call from a person in his car who was looking for Chocolate Strawberries to surprise someone special with. I explained that this was a special order and we did not have strawberries but he could get them later in the day.

He explained he needed them now for an early morning surprise -- so I suggested dipped glaced fruit not strawberries but close.

He was happy and was on his way before 7:30am.

The Love Connection we made today was using our Spell it in Chocolate box. One of my staff took an order for a box with the message I Love You.

So for just an ordinary Friday in May there was love in the Air at Illinois Nut & Candy.

Have a sweet day!  

The Candy Man's Adventures at the 2012 Candy Show



I has been a year since my last visit to the candy show. As I tell my friends walking 24 rows of candy is a tough job.

They laugh when I say that but think about it for a minute regardless of your industry when you walk a trade show is it not work?

OK my work is sweeter than most but at the end of the day I have a goal to find new and exciting items to bring to the store.

This year I found some new items for the store

We are going to start carrying Gluten Free cookies individually wrapped. I tried them and you won't miss the Gluten. Those items are already available it is great when you can buy a booth at the end of the show.

The next to arrive hopefully next week is a line of natural gummy candies. This is great since as I have mentioned before my son is allergic to food coloring can you imagine being the son of the Candy Man and being allergic to food coloring?

Then soon to follow is a natural Australian Licorice. This was an item that I found last year except the company that we were supposed to get it from showed the product and then never produceed it. This is a new company with a superior product. I am very excited about it and will be ordering it today.

Some big news from the show is we will start to carry yummy earth buttons in bulk.

My last news of the show is that I found a company that has great pressed candy in some really cool shapes. Here is the problem they do not have a local distributor which means I would need to bring in a pallet of product at a time. Though we bring pallets in all the time it is never of just one type of product. This is a big decision not to be made lightly. If I decide to bring in the product I will be sure to put it on the web and let everyone know.

Other than that the show had some great samples and I ate my way through the show. The one thing that I missed was the ice cream samples.

Oh well I saved a few calories.

Have a sweet day!

It has been a while....

Sorry all it It has been a while since my last post.

I wish I had written sooner but when you take 1 week off for a holiday like I did for Passover some times it is hard to start writing again.

I wanted today to write about an exciting thing that aired last week

Several month ago I was approached to be on a radio show called Game Changers.

Why you might ask am I am game changer?

Well as the candyman I have helped our clients brand themsleves in unique sweet ways via corporate gifts.

So a few weeks ago I went out to their studion and partook in a pretaped on air interview. You can listen to the interview by clicking this link. (I am about 11 minutes in)

What I found most interesting about the experience was the following

1. Talking to the media gets easier and is more fun each time
2. Other small business people are going through the same types of things regardless of the industry.

I hope you enjoy listening to the show and promise to write about what is going on more regularly.

If you are in Chicgaoland come visit me at the Children Kohl Musuens Touch A Truck show this Sunday from 10am-2pm.

Have a sweet day!