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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pralines & New Orleans

Pralines is to New Orleans just as Hersey chocolate is to Pennsylvania. Yes, I think they are just that important to our area. When visitors come down our way it is one of the first things they think to enjoy and purchase to bring home to family and friends. It's always a nice feeling for us when we know that the candies we make are traveling all over the world. Last week the big trip for our pralines was to Costa Rica. They were being used as a "taste of my hometown" by a group of students visiting there. We hope their host families will enjoy them and the other local fare they brought as gifts.

One speceial treat for us is always when children come in and are fascinated when they see us making our pralines. It's their wide eyes that gets my attention. Of course, the sweet smell is a delight to them too. They wander around the store but keep turning their attention back to the source of that sweet aroma. The favorite question of the kids from away from here is simply
"what's that?" Of course, we love telling them the story of how pralines first began to be made in New Orleans. While they listen, we always give them a taste (with their parents permission, of course). There is nothing like a hot praline. Let's face it, there is nothing like fresh candy of any kind. That's why we have never kept our pralines on our shelves in our shop. We are a small enough business that we can continue to cook just what we need to service our customers that day which allows us to sell fresh candy all the time. It's almost a common question is our store when someone says "Where's the pralines"? It's not that we hide them , its that we are busy making and packing them most of the day. All our mailorders are packed just after our pralines are made. That way, we make sure that those we ship to are getting the freshest candy we can possibly send them. This is not a commercial for our candy. It is a statement to let you know a little more about how we operate. And by the way, when we sell our products wholesale to other outlets we always make sure they understand the shelf life and that it is monitored.

Later, we will tell you the story of just how the praline was first made in New Orleans.

Mary Lou

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

OUR NEW WEDDING INVITATIONS

Hi,

We're very excited to tell you of a new product we have added to our store in answer to your many requests. Our wedding favors and secondline umbrellas have brought many of you to our store for years. Now, in answer to your many requests we have added a great line of wedding invitations and wedding accessories. We did a lot of reserch to be assured that what we would offer you would be top of the line products at the best possible pricing.

Patty and I are happy to say that we are now a distributor of Birchraft Studios. Birchcraft is a 3rd generation, independent family owned business. Five generations of our own family have served you over the past 70 odd years and we know the care and concern a family owned businesses gives its customers is important. But even that is not enough for us to decide to carry someone elses product. We need to be assured that the products they offer us for sale to you must be the best we can find. And yes, we feel that with Birchraft you will be getting top notch products at fair pricing . If you are planning a wedding or party of any kind and need invites or accessories we hope you will look over their line. We recommend them highly. AND TO INTRODUCE THIS NEW LINE WE HAVE OFFERED A 10% DISCOUNT ON YOUR ORDER.

By the way, if you're from out of town and are coming to New Orleans to be married we can help introduce you to our local planners whom we know would make sure that you have the very best NOLA wedding possible.

Later Y'all , Mary Lou

Monday, July 6, 2009

Pralines traveling the world this 4th of July!

Hey There,

Hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. During the last week we were very happy to see that our customers were taking our pralines with them all around the world. Apparently, the 4th is a big vacation time for the locals down here. Certainly, we hope that our candies will be enjoyed by those who took them as far away as Austria, Paris and Germany. Lots more ,of course, were taken around the USA. We always like to know where our products are traveling to. And,we like it even more when our customers stop by after their trip to let us know how much our candy was enjoyed. By the way, we hear more and more from our customers that they like the idea that there is no dairy or gluten in our traditional pralines. It allows for even more folks to enjoy them. Our small size pralines are a favorite in France and throughout Europe. These are always received better in the smaller size candy, so, of course we always recommend this size to those traveling in that direction. The guys in the U S seem to prefer the larger size praline. So, naturally we recommended this size candy when they are bing purchased for a gentleman. We ladies still prefer the smaller piece of praline. And then for groups the smaller candy is usually preferred.That way the person can make the decision as to how much to eat.

Let me take a minit to recommend to those of you who will be needing our second line umbrellas for your weddings in October that it is not too soon to order them. October is a big wedding month for us and we want to be sure that we will be able to make these for you.

Thanks for stopping by our blog and let us hear from you.

Mary Lou