Our first BIG order

Environmental Health Services, Inc (www.ehspest.com) ordered 40 boxes to give out to their clients. At first I said "no problem!" not having to fill such a large order before. Once we started making, rolling, dipping, packaging all 240 bon bons I thought different! I work full time & we have two children so we are still trying to find the balance starting & operating a new business together. There are a few things I learned during this process.

1. We make a great team. Travis & I shared the responsibilities & since we are both hard workers we got the job done.
2. Gabbie isn't just the namesake, she is a worker too. Now she didn't help as much as I wanted her to but she grabbed a hair net & gloves & pitched in. (I will try to get a picture of her in a hair net next time)
3. We need a chocolate tempering machine. This delicate process takes a lot of time & if you make the chocolate too warm you will not get the gorgeous shiny finish. Having a machine will cut the tempering time down considerably & will keep the chocolate at the right temperature during the entire dipping process so I do not keep having to bring the temp up on a double boiler a million times!

This was a great experience & it helped us envision how we will pull this awesome business off when orders start pouring in. Lastly, it made me thankful to God for the blessing. All these things are a gift from Him.

WRKO- Tom & Todd show likes Gabbie's Goodies!

So here is how it all went down....I listen to the show every morning on my way into work. I decided to follow Todd on Twitter after hearing him talk about it one morning. He sent me a message asking about Gabbie's Goodies so I offered to deliver some to the studio. We made fresh batches of all the flavors, packaged them up & delivered them early Monday morning. 
Todd met Travis & even gave him a tour of the studio (how nice is that!). 

 
Evidently they opened them right up & started eating them while on the air. Both Todd & Avi Nelson (who was filling in for Tom) said they were delicious! Todd mentioned the website & how Travis had just dropped them off. I know it seems silly but it was quite a thrill to hear them talk about our bon bons! It takes a lot of hard work to get a business up & running so every little bit helps. Hopefully some day we can actually make some money of Gabbie's Goodies! They mentioned it again at the end of the show which I heard since I was in my car listening at the time. I clapped & screamed a little. I had to resist the urge to text while I was driving to tell Trav they mentioned us again. It just felt really good....

Thanks Todd & Avi for giving us a plug! Tell all your friends :)

Tempering Chocolate

We had to prepare about 200 bon bons on Sunday to fill various orders. The most time consuming part is tempering the chocolate. Tempering gives the chocolate a nice shiny look & also gives it a nice snap when bitten into. It takes melting it, cooling it & raising the temp again. Each phase must be exact or you will not get the results you are looking for. This takes a tremendous amount of time!

We are likely ready to make our first business equipment purchase. We are looking at a small table top tempering unit but even they are expensive! But it will be worth it in the end since time is money. Even saving an hour off each bon bon making session would mean a lot.

The magical world of flavors

My mind is constantly dreaming up flavor and nut butter combinations.....cashew butter with butterscotch? Brazil nut butter with cinnamon? Macadamia nut butter with coconut? Pecan nut butter with maple? oohhh what about cayenne pepper in the chocolate? YES!

Even though I am tempted to make a bunch of flavors I keep telling myself we need to get an actual customer base to get excited about new flavors! So I will keep focused on building our business then delight all our customers with these new creations.

Mommy's Little Helper

This is Sawyer. He loves bon bons! He is sporting a fabulous hair net so he can help dip bon bons in chocolate. I let him watch :)

Isn't he a doll? Maybe someday he will run Gabbie's Goodies with his sister Gabbie! Hopefully Gabbie will let me take a photo of her one of these days.

New Flavor Combinations

We are testing some new flavors. Travis wants to do it practically everyday! The latest flavor is using Brazil nut butter. Brazil nuts have a mild, slightly sweet taste that is not too "nutty" so I thought it would be a good candidate for vanilla. I also knew I wanted to try this wonderful cinnamon oil I got at Whole Foods so this seemed like a nice place to start. The center ended up being on the salty side so we decided to use milk chocolate instead of the usual dark/bittersweet we usually use. This combination worked really well!

The creamy, slightly salty nut butter and the sweet milk chocolate with a touch of cinnamon is a keeper. I do want to tweak the flavors a little but before we sell them. What's next.....something with coffee!

One Happy Customer!

So since we are just getting started friends, co-workers, family & locals all get to be our guinea pigs. We have dropped off bon bons to the groomer, the gas stations owner & co-workers have brought them home to their families. Here is what one happy bon bon eater had to say. 

"I received my selection of bon bons to test tonight. I have one word....DEE-LISH! My fave so far is definitely the dark chocolate coconut almond. I enjoyed the exotic flavor of the white chocolate pistachio cardamom. The chocolate peanu...t butter, the original is still yummy! ;-) Definitely recommend that everyone must try some! Variety is the spice of life!! ;-) Best of luck, keep up the yummy work! Can't wait to try all of the new flavors! What a great gift idea: holidays, birthdays, just because days, teacher gifts, and for those selfish indulgence days! ♥" Jamie Lopes

How wonderful is that? Come visit www.mygabbiesgoodies.com & see for yourself how delightful they are.