Candy Site

[Sickie Ickie]

I love this site for its innovative ideas with chocolate. The shipping and big prices are a bit too high for me, though.

$8 per candy bar, plus $8 for shipping = $16 for 1 oz of chocolate bar. heh

Hey, who's the chocolate candy maker here? *nudge nudge, wink wink*

Muffy! I could use ya! Especially with the smoked bacon chocolate bar! Yum!


http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/

[digbugsgirl]

A friend of mine got one at a boutique in NY. It was the Red Fire bar. The chocolate was good, but I was disappointed with the rest. I was expecting it to be hot, but it wasn't....at all (at least not to me.) It just had a little bit of cinnamon taste. Maybe the bar was a little old?? Not sure. I've been wanting to try more but refuse to pay those prices. Hopefully I'll find somebody that carries them.

[Mummy deer-est]

so if you learned anything from our chat...you would probably know that I would have to eat these things only on a bet. I'm a purist. But I love dark chocolate...yumm.

Now, where did I hide the rest of those collinwood treats??......

[Sickie Ickie]

The fire bar holds a special temptation for me, too. I love hot sauces.

I'm also dying to try this:


http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/soda-pop_2007_4952717
Bennett's Hot Cola
Contains:Water, HFC, Cola extract, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate. Habanero Chile Extract Calories: 130

There used to be a pop called Coca-Cola Hot Tamale: a blend of Coke, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lime and black pepper. It was in 2006, but I haven't seen it around now.

[Carrie]

SI, where did you find the Bennett's Hot Cola? I would LOVE to get some of that for my son (the kid eats Jalopeno peppers like popcorn and uses tabasco like I would use ketchup!)

[Sickie Ickie]

http://www.popsoda.com/behotco.html

[Mistress Muffy]

Getting here a little late on this one......Vosges Chocolate......some of these people come out of nowhere & are extremely fortunate to be able to open a unique shop & offer something that most candy makers don't have. These gals really went all the way with trying different things. They must have had good backing ($$$$$$$) to market their products the way they have & to get those prices. Plus a big pat on the back is in order when you can actually sell candy at those prices & STAY in business...as I said your marketing program has to be in order & you really have to follow thru.

When you sell quality chocolates its not really to easy.....many times the product sample sells itself when the accounts taste it, so when you slide in for that follow-up call most are ready to order. The real test comes when you both stand by to see if your customers will be willing to put out the money for a quality chocolate, so placement in the right stores with the kind of people that will push your product is very important. Thats how we do it.

Now for those that cannot send salesmen in the field, you usually come together with stores at a trade show where they order or if your have a lot of publicity & your name gets out. That opens many doors for you that you may have never found. When we were in Nebraska, the state worked with me & our story made it into the big newspapers in Omaha so we got many calls from people looking for our products & also when we started the routes & went into stores....a lot of them had already heard of us & of course the public is then more aware of your name also. And...the Economical Dept. helped us a lot with statewide press releases. Nebraska is heavy on small food producers...at the time I was in the program there was about 357 of us.

Here in North Carolina its been much harder cause no one knows us......so in the stores product moves slower cause people will think twice before spending the kind of money our chocolates sell for retail.This is where the store personel come in to help......we try to stuff their mouths full of candies......they like the candies...they like us......so they hustle our product to the public.....but then again this is a slow process sometimes, especially now where the economy situation has really hit the upscale independent shops pretty hard. Still we keep moving ahead. And of course with my health issues this has really dragged its feet but we'll keep moving ahead! lol

Hail Hail to those that can get people to buy those kinds of candies at those prices. Sometimes I laugh that they can pull it off cause I can make those things too so I wonder.....how the heck do they position themselves to get that kind of money....but there are a lot of them. Vosges does infusions.....I have a specialty tea shop that has requested those kinds of truffles from me. Its a process, takes more time than making regular truffles.......taste wise???>>>>maybe a little smoother than regular truffles.Still its fun to watch what all the candymakers do.......we just added about 13 pages of product to our price lists so we'll see whats gonna happen.

We also started working Charlotte, dropped off bags got some orders right up front but still have to make return calls, then I was sick for almost 3 weeks & that really messed us up.......so Monday we are going back to Charlotte & then Tues I'm back at the Doctors. Will it ever end> Lol!

Muffy

[Sickie Ickie]

Sounds like you have been super busy! Glad to see you just finding time to post with us, Muff!

[Nancj]

So much work goes into selling candies, making, marketing, packaging, selling...
I think I'll stick to just eating them!!:)
Hope your feeling better Muffy, you've been missed around here!

[Sickie Ickie]

Hey, guess what! I saw Dinner Impossible last night and they served...chocolate covered bacon strips with crushed pecans on top! Yeah!

[Carrie]

SI! I saw that episode last night. The older lady they showed munching on it really looked like she was relishing every bite. I thought it looked really tasty too and sat there wondering ("hmmm..if I fry the bacon pretty crisp, dip it in bittersweet and then roll it in crushed macadamea nuts, that might work because I'm out of pecans..")

[Sickie Ickie]

Carrie, I have every intention of trying this. Just have to wait until next week.

[Mistress Muffy]

HAHAHAH you guys let me know how that comes out! Sounds pretty yucky to me & I'm an avid bacon eater!

Muf

[Nancj]

ditto what Muffy said!!

[Sickie Ickie]

pshaw. you guys are just too closed minded to even taste it. :p

[Carrie]

I have every intention of making some this weekend. I can't get it out of my mind, it really did look delicious! Muff and Nancj, if you had seen this stuff, you might change your minds! Yummy!

[Mummy deer-est]

Blech!
Bacon = good.
Chocolate = good.

Bacon + Chocolate = Nastyness! It's a sin, I tell ya! Back away from my bacon or your gonna get hurt, says the lady with Collins Chocoate still all over her face!

[Sickie Ickie]

quick! hold her back! I only have time to spike the chocolates with bacon bits!

[Carrie]

quick! hold her back! I only have time to spike the chocolates with bacon bits!

Okay, I'll hold her SI! Work fast! But please.. just make sure the bacon bits are "real" not those yucky fake things from a jar (now thinking of those makes me reach for the airline reverse parastalsis bag! LOL)

[Mummy deer-est]

Now were gonna throw down.

You messed with my bacon....YOU WILL PAY!

[Sickie Ickie]

*empty of pockets* I have some lint, a paper clip and a receipt from Menards. You Carrie?

[Thomas Steiner]

You people crack me up. This is so darn funny. But I held to my computer chair this time around without falling from it. LOL. :)

[Carrie]

*empty of pockets* I have some lint, a paper clip and a receipt from Menards. You Carrie?

I have a 10 year old jar of bacon bits!

[Sickie Ickie]

Quick, run to muffy's chocolate! :p

[Mistress Muffy]

Hahahahahahhahaah>>>>YOU AIN'T PUTTIN THAT BACON NEAR MY CHOCOLATE!!!!


MUF

[Sickie Ickie]

mmmmmmm you got chocolate on my bacon.....you got bacon on my chocolate....

[Candee]

Hi Everyone,
Someone at the Mini was talking about Chocolate covered bacon it didn't sound so good then and gotta say it isn't sounding much better today. LoL!
It sure was nice meeting you guys at the Mini this past weekend and thanks for telling me about Christmas fan club !

[Mummy deer-est]

Welcome Candee...but be prepared. We are pretty nutty around here -- as evidenced by the bacon/chocolate wacko's! (I still love 'em though!)

[Sickie Ickie]

Candee, that was Greg (who has an appetite after my own stomach. LOL)

Great to see ya here!!! Let me one of the first tie dye wearing guys to welcome ya here! Say hi in the new members section and let everyone at'cha! :D

[Mistress Muffy]

Well I finally got hit!! Ya know this new chocolate I picked when I moved here to NC was $100.00 a case more than the chocolate I used for 20 years. But we did it cause it was so good with our centers. Now we got a lot of price booklets in the field for the wholesale accounts & guess what......now they just raised the price $72.00 more a case. This could be a pretty big problem!

Muf

[Carrie]

Bacon covered chocolate is a delicacy..a sophisticated taste treat. Give me fat and calories..yummy! You have to have the bacon really crispy..adds a nice pleasing mouth feel, a great crunch!

[Sickie Ickie]

...now they just raised the price $72.00 more a case. This could be a pretty big problem!

Muf

Yikes! How are ya gonna offset the difference?

[Sickie Ickie]

Guess what I made last night? Bueller? BUELLER?

Chocolate covered bacon! Very yummy! yay!

I will say that I used Hershey's chocolate and it overpowered a lot of the bacon. I think I have to find a chocolate not so powerful.

[Tiny Tim]

At the MN state fair, they had Chocolate covered bacon on a stick.
I didn't make it to the fair, but I heard it was VERY good.

[Sickie Ickie]

bet it was messy if cooked over a campfire like hotdogs. LOL

[Tiny Tim]

I think the bacon was chilled and then dipped in the gourmet chocolate. Served cold.

[Sickie Ickie]

Yummy yummy. I have to get gregg's recipe for that pulled pork. It was incredible!

[jgwood]

bryce glad to help you guys got me thinkig i have a ham in the oven and trying to decide on a glaze .Il have to see if i have any chocolet
Gregg

[Mistress Muffy]

Well kids the more I keep getting around with my chocolates the more little candymakers I am finding here in North Carolina. There is one about 50 miles form me, she has a small business & is a very well educated pastry chef, been to the culinary academy & worked in New York for awhile, some schooling in europe along with quite a few jobs there as well in the pastry field. Anyways, she is hard at work making a name for herself in her area, her hometown is Ashboro, just down the road. Her specialty my friends>>>>>Chocolate covered Bacon! She even puts it on caramel! I for sure will get down there to try it as soon as I can.

http://lucachocolate.com/index.html

There was a write up on her blog about doing this bacon candy & some online show tried it & did a very good & in depth review on it for her. It was well done....I'm anxious to try it now!

Muf

[jgwood]

Bryce if you can get in touch with richard carmony on cc he is a pastrey chef and has sent me some good recipies
Gregg

[Sickie Ickie]

yay! Chocolate covered bacon conversions! LOL