2012 World of Chocolate



For the last several years we have participated in the Aids Foundation World of Chocolate Gala. The event is lots of fun people eat lot of chocolate and it gives us an opportunity show off our creativity.

So this year for the World of Chocolate we actually created a World of Chocolate, a picture is worth a 1000 words .....

Have a sweet day!

Even Bad Publicity is a good thing

Sorry for the span between posts but if I don't have anything interesting to write I don't.

But here is an interesting story. About a month or so ago in Synagogue a gentleman came up to me and said something to the effect of " I was watching PBS the other night and all of a sudden your store was on the screen I was so excited for you did you know about it?

I answered honestly that I had no idea what he was talking about, but he went on to tell others about it which was great.

Then a few weeks later he called my Dad who called me to say the show was about to be rerun.

So I called a friend with a DVR and asked her to record it for me.

Here is how bad publicity is even good.

The show was "Architect Michael Grave a Grand Tour", sound good right.

In theory yes were people talking about it yes but when the show was talking about the form of architecture used to design the strip mail we are in right as they showed my store the narrator referred to this form as a joke?

Ouch

So tell me is our store a facade a joke? Perhaps before we branded it.

Not sure but at least people were talking about our store.

So even bad publicity is good when it comes to the life of the candy man.

Have a sweet day!

The Thrill of Victory

In the last week I have experienced to quote the TV show the Wide World of Sport "The Thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"

How you may ask? First the thrill with our winning the Evanston Burger war wiht the most creative burger.

Thank you to all voted early and often I could not have done it without your suport.

What was the most exciting part of the contest was that it allowed my staff to show off their creativity. This same creativity allowed us to help our bride Missy win the TLC reality show the Four Weddings earlier this year, as well as help countless clients brand their gifts from chocolate mice to chocoalte printer cartridges and chocolate shoes and logos in between. 

But the week started off with finding out that we did not win the Facebook, Living Socail grant. Oh well nothing in this world is free and that includes the free money I was hoping to get.

So to all have a sweet day and to my Jewish followers have a sweet and healthy new year.

Happy Eight Years

It has been eight years since we bought the business. Wow, how time has flown by.

This past year we had some siginificant accomplishment:

• Dec 2011 Appeared on NBC 5 news to promote World of chocolate aids event (Watch Video Online | Read Full Story)
• Jan 2012 Our client won the TLC show the Four Weddings with a chocolate recreation of the Emerald City. (Watch Video Online | Read Full Story)
• Feb 2012 featured on Fox Business all day long (Watch Video Online | Read Full Story)
• Mar 2012 featured in Jewish Woman Magazine featuring a new item
• Mar 2012 featured in the Skokie Pioneer Press the article was then picked up by the Chicago Sun Times.
• Apr 2012 English Toffee featured on the Discovery Show How It’s Made (Watch Episode Online)
• May 2012 On-air interview at AM560 Wind Game Changers radio show (Listen to the Interview Online | Read Full Story)
• Jul 2012 Featured on WLS TV 7 news I Love my Ride

But the most significant accomplishment is that we are still in business and we owe that to you our customers.   So thank you for allowing us to continue to serve you.   

Have a sweet day!   

David  

Burger Wars

The life of the candy man is an interesting,  one day I can be helping a client talking about chocolate lobsters and then I can be at a networking event and hear that one of chambers I am involved with is Having a Burger War.

A burger war what does the candy man know about hamburgers? Actually I can grill a pretty good one but I digress, the contest the chamber was running which starts today has three categories 1) Taste 2) Creativity 3) Presentation.

I know our chocolate is good but better that an beef burger in a burger contest -- perhaps if you are vegan. So I figured we would go for the creative angle and create the ultimate chocolate hamburger and fries plate.

In addition to the fancy plate you can also purchase a milk or semi sweet chocolate burger on a stick.

So let the voting begin you can vote once a day starting today through September 16th.

In our great Chicagoland tradition please be sure to vote often.

Have a sweet day!

National S'mores Day

Who knew that there was an actually a day called National S'mores day!

Well I just found out that Friday August 10th is National Smores day which is why I am posting twice in one week.
So to honor this confectionary holiday we are selling s'mores on August 10th for $2.00 a smore instead of the usual $2.50 that is more than 15% off of the regular price.

Here is what is special about our s'mores A traditional s'more is a graham cracker sandwich filled with chocolate and marshmallows. Our s'mores are a graham cracker sandwich filled with marshmallows and then covered in chocolate  -- our own special twist on this national favorite.

Have a sweet day!

Wedding + Chocolate = Happily Ever After

Our Chicago Skyline chocolate bars and 2 piece
chocolate barks recently aided in the success of a
client's wedding weekend. 

At Illinois Nut & Candy we help people with life cycle events, usually happy ones like: weddings, bar \ bat mitzvahs, birth dates and personal successes stories.  Of course, we are also there when the sad ones happen including Shiva /Bereavement.

Thankfully at Illinois Nut & Candy, the happy moments far out number the sad ones. One of the happier moments that we recently had was for a couple getting married in late July. They were looking for help with hospitality bags for their hotel guests.  The couple had a moderate budget, and they wanted to assemble bags on their own.

Many ideas went back and forth through e-mail for months out, but as the weeks passed and the date neared a few phone were made and finally a decision.  The reception was for 40, and their hotel block consisted of 5 rooms. The reason I say this is that we put the same care in the big parties as we do the smaller ones.

In the end, the couple went with a 2 piece chocolate bark combination of Smooth Peanut Butter Bark and Chocolate M&M Bark for each table setting, and Chicago Skyline chocolate bars for their out of town guests staying at the hotel. And a special thank you to Jennifer for letting put her email in my blog ...

Dear David, Thank you again for accommodating our last minute order. The skyline bars and chocolate barks were a big hit. We think we got about as many compliments on the chocolate as we did our ceremony and reception. Our friend Carleen said she devoured the skyline bar after checking in, thinking she would just take a bite before heading to the ceremony. Another friend, Michael said he couldn't remember a chocolate bar that was as creamy and smooth as the skyline bar, and regretted that he couldn't finish the bar, because his +1 yanked it out of his hand. The restaurant placed the barks Peanut Butter side up at our reception and they looked great against the Fern Bichon linens and Chocolate L'Amour runners. What doesn't go good with Chocolate? Thanks 1000x to you and your staff.

Please give us a call if your next event could use a custom chocolate touch, or if you're seeking Chicago themed treats for your out of town guests.

And if you are looking to have a large event see video our Wizard of Oz themed sweets table featured on TLC's Four Weddings.

Another sweet moment in the Life of the Candy Man!

Have a sweet day!