A message from our new Blog Mistress

Hello everyone out there in the blogosphere. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Melissa & my husband David & I own Illinois Nut & Candy. I will be the new blog ‘mistress’ so to speak, until David decides that it is no longer good for business, which I think should be under six months. If we weren’t married & he didn’t have to be nice to me, it would probably be more like six weeks. Why do I say that? I’ve decided that I’m not just going to write about our products and promotions in the hopes that the search engines will pick us up. I am going to write about our business-every aspect of it that is share-able (don’t want to get sued or give away any proprietary secrets). Sometimes it won’t be pretty & a lot of times I won’t be very nice. It will however, be honest & forthcoming. Of course there will also be information about our store and our products, because that is why we’re here. On that note, here is a free offer. For the first five of you (limit one per customer or family, other restrictions may apply) that prints out this entry & brings it into the store, receive a half pound box of our very own Fantasia Confections English Toffee, dairy or lactose free/pareve-your choice. Let your friends know about the blog, as I am a firm believer that our products speak for themselves. Once you taste them & experience our excellent customer service, you’ll want to come back for more. So…see you soon!

Gifts of Gratitude

While almost all of us have been affected by the current economic situation in one way or another, the holiday season is the perfect time to reflect on and be grateful for the things we do have. At Illinois Nut & Candy, we are counting our blessings and would like to give something back to our community. We have teamed up with LifeSource for our second annual blood drive. The LifeSource Coach will be in our parking lot at 3745 W Dempster in Skokie on Sunday, December 13th from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. You can give the gift of life simply by donating less than an hour of your time and a pint of blood.

Not only does it benefit it others, but you can reap immediate satisfaction too. Did you know that your donated blood goes directly to someone in need? Within 5 days of donating, you’ve directly improved the quality of someone’s life. There are also various health benefits you get from donating. When you show up, you get a free mini-physical – the technicians measure your pulse, blood pressure, as well as iron and cholesterol levels. Additionally, you’ll get free Illinois Nut and Candy cookies and award-winning confections afterward. We’re also handing out coupons for 10% off all purchases through the end of 2009 and a free bag of popcorn to take with you. The kids aren’t forgotten either – we’re rewarding their patience with balloons and lollis!

Unfortunately, blood donations are way down this year. I promised that I could get 50 people to give blood. So far, I have seven. I’m asking you, readers, if you are anywhere near Skokie, IL or in the Chicagoland area, to help me keep my word. Come on out to the store and help make a difference.

it’s the holiday season…

I love the holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving all the way through New Year’s Eve, the season bustles with activity and the store really comes alive. I’ve always felt that this is when we’re at our creative peak. I get to experiment with all the ideas bookmarked in the back of my mind and play with all the new equipment I see at trade shows. One of my favorite things about the holidays is making molded lollis out of our signature lactose-free semi-sweet chocolate.

Our Thanksgiving line has some great ones this year. My personal favorite is the wishbone lolli. Now you can make an after-dinner wish with someone special and eat it too! If leftover turkey bones aren’t quite up your alley, we also carry the entire cast of seasonal characters. We have Native Americans, a pilgrim family, pilgrim hats and, of course, Tom Turkey. We also do pretzel sticks topped with chocolate pilgrims or turkeys. They’re whimsical and delicious.

I guess I’ve always like our chocolate lollis because they’re so versatile. They can be given as gifts or become part of a larger centerpiece. There are so many creative options to explore; to mix and match. In fact, if we don’t have a lolli design that you had in mind, we do custom orders too. We’re always looking for a reason to shop for new molds, so feel free to give us a call. We’ll set you up with whatever you may need for the holiday season.

Stay tuned for our next post where we’ll unveil more of our holiday molds. For a sneak peak: chocolate dreidels and santas!

exciting news updates

I’m proud to announce that we won first place in the Desserts, Candy, Cookies or Crackers category of the 2009 KosherFest New Product Competition! We submitted our smooth peanut butter bark and our crunchy variety too. Each is kosher pareve, as well as lactose-free and casein-free. The judges loved both! Winning this sort of award is a big deal for the store. It’s an exciting development in our store’s growth as we continue to serve our customers who either choose a particular dietary lifestyle (kosher, like me) or must have sugar-free, lactose-free or gluten-free diets because of allergies.

In other candy news, our taffy apples and our sugar-free English toffee were featured in the Sweet of the Week webcast at 24/7 Moms. Since the store is geared toward family fun, we’re really excited to be involved with and get support from the mom-blog community. The webcast aired Tuesday, October 20. Give a listen and see how they weighed in.

free samples

I’m always giving away free candy. Kids visiting the store get free lollipops. I suspect they know this on some unconscious level, which is why they all love coming here. When we have a mom or dad who is worried about organics, we even supply an organic lolly to those kids.

Most recently, I gave one little guy his first lollipop. An old friend from grade-school visited the store the other day with her 11 1/2 month old son. We haven’t seen each other in a while and I hadn’t met him yet. Like any good host, I offered them a snack while they browsed. The look on his face was priceless! He broke out into a huge chubby-cheeked grin and his eyes lit up like it was the best thing in the world. It is, of course.

Adults aren’t forgotten, either. A few weeks ago, one of our regular customers who buys candy for her family from us mentioned how she really misses red licorice since being diagnosed with celiac disease. I let her try some red licorice Scottie dogs, which are gluten-free. This small sample made her smile from ear to ear.

I think our sampling policy makes the store one of the sweetest places on earth. No matter how old or young you are, everyone loves a free sample. We want everyone who walks in to have fun.

Being the candyman is sweet!

Catching up…

Wow, it really have been a few weeks hasn’t it?

Life at the store has been nutty to say the least. This time of year is very busy the season starts off with Rosh Hashanah which was on September 18th, followed by Yom Kippur and them culminates with Sukkoth. Needless to say there is a lot of celebrating with family and friends during this month. Additionally, this is the time that many of our corporate customers choose to send out their business gifts, which distinguishes them from the rest of the crowd. So on top of our specialty chocolates molded into traditional shofars and sukkahs and beehives, we were selling hundreds of our custom taffy apples. It’s been a sweet start to the New Year celebrations.

And speaking of our taffy apples – we were featured in an article on the MyGourmetConnection website! Our deluxe cookie taffy apple was listed as one their top twelve “terrific Halloween treats.” Who says Halloween is only for kids?

Shine a Light Nomination

We’ve been nominated for the Shine a Light contest! This competition, sponsored by American Express in partnership with NBC Universal, spotlights small businesses and business owners. We’ve shared our success story online and need 50 endorsements to move into the next phase of judging. If selected, we’ll win a $100,000 grant that can go toward business and marketing.

We’re really close to making the 50 endorsements, but we need more. Please take a look at our story. If you like it, let them know by voting online!