The First of Several New Products From the Recent Candy Show

A few weeks ago I wrote how I went to the Candy Show. I walked 20 plus isles of candy that had to be sampled. Such a tough job but someone has to do it.

But in all seriousness I walked the show with a mission to find natural and or organic candies. I must confess I did this for  two reasons. The first is selfish, my son has an allergy to food coloring and it must be brutal to be the kid of the candy man and not be able to indulge in all of the candy in the store.

The second and equally important reason is that I have customers who request these products.

I am pleased to announce that we are now officially carrying

Natural 30 Flavor Jelly Beans

I am happy to say that these jelly beans are just as good as their counterparts with the artificial colors and flavors.


The life of the candy man is sweet, have a sweet day I know my son will today!

Candy for All

This post may upset some of my readers but part of our mission has been to be inclusive whether it be in having a large variety of candies regardless of your allergy and/or dietary choice such as casein free or sugar free or whether you need a Chocolate Menorah or a Santa Claus.

My wife and I made the decision that we should be inclusive not just on the food front but on all fronts. You are probably wondering what is the Candy Man talking about?

Well back in December the Governor said that starting June 1, 2011 Civil Unions would be legal in the State of Illinois. I am happy to say we were ahead of the curve in that we were the first candy company to the best of my knowledge to offer LGBT friendly chocolate wedding cake toppers and  as well as LGBT friendly pretzel toppers as party favors too!












Well about a month and a half ago the Cook County Clerk's Office contacted me at the store and asked if we would be interested in participating in a Party at the Dailey Center for the first group of couples to get there Civil Union licenses I jumped at the opportunity and last Wednesday I was in Downtown Chicago bright and early.

So if you  know of anyone who is going to have a commitment ceremony or a traditional wedding please remember that we offer a wide variety of party favors and custom chocolates.

 Sweeten up peoples lives is all part of living the Life of the Candy Man.

The Candy Show

A Day in the Life of the Candy with King Chocolate or maybe the Chocolate G-d not sure he did not talk.

This week is the candy show I am very lucky the show is in Chicago so I don't have to travel to a far off location just to McCormick place. I normally go the first and last day of the show which is why I am writing today.

For those who are wondering the show is actually a lot of work. Yes I ate my way through 22 aisles of candy, confections, and snacks. Some were potential products for the store while others where just yummy treats. Thank you to Mars for the awesome Ice Cream sandwich lunch much appreciated.

For me the most important part of the show is touching base with my current suppliers who in many cases I only see once a year.  This face time allows me to let them know what works and what we would like to see. Additionally it allows me to tell some of the managers how great their customer service staff is. In one case the manager actually pulled out his blackberry and shot off an email thanking the staff person.

This year I found many new products that will grace the pages of this blog for the weeks to come some of the products will even make Mom's happy too!

Stay tuned as I plan on using the blog as a means to release the news about the new products in the store. 
 
Have a sweet day!

David

Play Ball

As the Summer rolls around Illinois Nut & Candy goes through a transition, from very busy and chaotic to a more normal regular stream of customers.  While my staff prefers slow & steady, I think I prefer insanity.

The question has always been how to get both the retail store and the online store to be busier during the summer. If you have any ideas please shoot me an email, I would love to hear your thoughts.

However I digress, this summer we are trying a new idea; we are giving away FREE tickets to two professional team sports. Not the Bulls and not the White Sox, but close. We have partnered with the Chicago Sky and the Chicago Bandits to offer our blog readers and shoppers a fun family activity at no cost to them.  Here is the only catch, the events are in the Chicago area so I must sincerely apologize to my out of town followers. (unless your travel plans include dates that are on game days)

Here is how you can enter to win:
(Enter as often as you like, as many ways as you like.)

1. Come in the store and drop a business card, which will opt you into our monthly e-mail list
2. Join our monthly e-mail list by clicking on the "Join My List" link on our Facebook page.
3. Comment on this blog post
4. Like any posts on our Facebook page which mention the Chicago Sky or Chicago Bandits
5. Retweet one of the following posts on your Twitter:

• @illinoisnut will #Giveaway 100 tickets to ChicagoSky and ChicagoBandits games this summer http://bit.ly/j0ykNk @NPFBandits @wnbachicagosky
  
• #Enter to win tickets all summer long to see #ChicagoSky basketball games from @illinoisnut http://bit.ly/j0ykNk #giveaway @wnbachicagosky
  
• #Enter to win tickets all summer long to see #ChicagoBandits baseball games from @illinoisnut http://bit.ly/j0ykNk #giveaway @NPFBandits

Click on either team's logo above to view their 2011 summer season schedules.

Have a Sweet Day!

David

Our first Blog Contest!

As the candy man I learn something new everyday. For example a few weeks ago I learned that DeMets Candy Company has a trademark on a candy called Turtles. The candy caramel cluster has always been referred to generically as a turtle much like kleenex is for tissues.

Anyway a few weeks ago I received an certified letter from an attorney who work for DeMets, the letter informed me that we were in trademark violation.

Oops! I called him and let him know it was unintentional and that we were changing the name to Caramel Clusters. He was satisfied and all is good on the legal front.


But that brings me to our first Blog Contest.

Caramel Clusters are not the most exciting name though legal. We need a new name for our Caramel Clusters. So help us come up with a clever creative name for our Caramel Clusters we offer them in milk, semi sweet and on occasion by special order white chocolate. We also offer our caramel clusters in peanut, pecan, cashew and almonds.

The winning entry will receive one pound of Caramel Clusters (aka its new award winning name) a month for the next year.

The names you supply can not be copyrighted or trademarked by any other company. All entries should be submitted via email to lifeofthecandyman@gmail.com. By submitting an entry you are allowing Illinois Nut and Candy / www.RaisingTheCandyBar.com to use the name henceforth forward waiving all rights to the names submitted. Multiple entries per person are allowed. All decisions by the judging committee are final. If a new name is not found the judging committee has the right to extend the contest and or not pick a new name at that time. The contest is open only to legal residents of the United State that are over the age of 18. Employees and family member of employees are eligible to enter the contest. The contest deadline is July 1, 2011 at midnight. The winner of the contest will be notified by email that he/she has won.

Good luck to all of the entries.

Have a sweet day!

Passover and Easter are Right Around the Corner

To all my readers, I apologize for the length between blogs.  The store has been quite busy since the Holiday of Purim and we are gearing up for the next two holidays: Passover and Easter.

Every year we try to add something new to our holiday selections. This year we have added several new items to our Passover and Easter selections.

For Passover we have added two new items. First is a new twist on a relatively new item; our Semi-Sweet Coffee Bark which is Casein Free and Lactose Free. We take our rich semi-sweet chocolate and mix it with freshly ground coffee to create a mouth watering confection made Kosher for Passover.

Second, a Chocolate 4 Sons Lollipop. A complete set of each of the four sons from the simple one to the wicked one. A creative way to sweeten up your Passover while drawing attention to a central theme in the traditional Seder.





For Easter we have added a Large and a Jumbo Chocolate Easter Egg. What makes our selections for Easter unique is that they are Lactose and Casein Free as well as gluten friendly.



Please Take Note:

Illinois Nut & Candy will be closing for the holiday of Passover on April 18th at 5 pm for one week until April 27th, when we will re-open.

All non Passover orders must, for religious reasons, be shipped by 9:00 AM on April 18th. Any order received after 9:00am will not be shipped until after Passover.

Also I won't be blogging again until the first week of  May taking a short hiatus for the holidays.

Have a sweet Holiday Season!


David AKA the Candy Man

Another Sweet Holiday Season.

As many of you know the Jewish Holiday of Purim was last week. For us it a busy stressful time of year. We send out hundreds of gift of which each is unique.

This year instead of picking them we helped our clients personalize their own themes in a chocolate and unique candies that we brought in special for the holiday.

This weeks blog (sorry missed a few) is going to highlight some of our creative customers Shalach manos or Purim Gifts. If your theme was not featured please don't take it personal I was not able to take pictures of everyone.

Liquor Theme:


Archeology

Old Fashion Diner:

	Also used for the the Frank Family
Also used for the the Burger Family

What is your theme going to be next year? Never to early to start planning.

Have a sweet day!