For distributors, the upcoming holidays provide the perfect opportunity to provide quality, retail-inspired, unique specialty candies and foods to their customers. This is the ideal time of the year for companies to impress with custom, one-of-a-kind gifts that will stay with them for a long time. Whether it is chocolates, mints, cookies, candies, coffee, popcorn, or other specialty foods, the market is trending toward a high-quality edible with a gorgeous, custom package.
One company that is seeing a significant rise in the request for custom packaging is Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant. According to Nick Caputi, customers are now looking for printing capabilities that can make a visual impact. “By allowing them to design full-color artwork on our boxes we can create the perfect marriage of our countless candy and chocolate options with their creative artwork,” he comments. “We believe there is currently a demand for products that speak directly to a specific industry. This can be achieved either with custom artwork or custom shapes, but we are seeing a rise in requests for industry-specific products.”
Millennials are driving the trends in the foods market, Webb Company’s Sarah Hobson notes, such as retail packaging, pairing with lasting impression pieces and higher quality foods. “Packaging increases the perceived value significantly and presents gorgeously—and is more likely to be kept around long after the food portion of the gift/product has been consumed,” she states.
According to Debbie Tubbs of Fresh Beginnings, most of the company’s holiday gift orders involve individual drop shipping to a customer list. “Our discounted shipping programs make it possible for the distributor to provide this service at a lower cost than if the customer did it themselves,” she explains. “Limited staff and limited time are always a challenge for companies who want to do something special, but just don’t have the time or personnel to do it properly. Our processes and detailed training ensure that every gift is shipped out just as if the client has done it themselves.” Fresh Beginnings will also sign the cards, match business cards to customers, or personalize envelopes for each customer. Tubbs adds that the company trains its staff to envision the customer who will be opening the gift with every package shipped.
Sharing an experience is a strong theme seen at Chocolate Chocolate. According to Lynne Sterritt, consumers desire high quality, edible food items to share at special times such as a romantic evening home with a spouse, a girls’ night out, or a late-night soiree. “Our newest items are presented with several items in boxes or baskets that are not your typical fare,” she says. “They offer a discriminating foodie an alternate without spending tons of dollars on things they may not enjoy. Putting our best creators’ heads together and forming the optimal box for sharing and on those cold fall or winter nights, on the sailboat and share with your friends with cocoa or chai tea. Have a romantic night in with your special person over a chocolate sharing box with a fine zinfandel. Share this dipping adventure with your foodie friends’ get-together and dip your cookies, marshmallows, and pretzels and a young port or a citrusy beer.”
For Midnite Snax, fall typically signals an increase in do-it-yourself kits, notes David Katz. “They are fun and delicious products for the entire office or family to enjoy,” he comments. “Of course, the holiday season is right around the corner, and the gift collections and popcorn tins will be flying out the door. “
To that end, Midnite Snax has added a multitude of new and exciting offerings to its 2017 Holiday Gifts Catalog. “For something delicious and new, we are offering a large variety of gourmet truffles,” Katz comments. “We offer everything from four-piece truffle boxes which can be topped off with a custom printed ribbon to a 24-piece box as well as a 20-piece box with a custom chocolate bar in the center. We have also created an entire new line of amazing gift towers, with an abundance of stock designs to choose from. We have made it easy—just add custom-printed ribbon.”
Towers are also prevalent at Fresh Beginnings. “Towers of Treats are always popular during the holiday season,” Tubbs notes. “This year we are featuring our Gourmet Holiday Gift Tower with a large tin Sweet & Salty Chocolate Explosion and a regular tin with 20 Chocolate Chip and Red Sugar Cookies.” For a slight upcharge, the company will add a beautiful decorative ornament to a tower, adding a touch of class and elegance to that special gift. “The Sweet & Salty Explosion is filled with Dreamy Drizzle Chocolate Chip Cookies, Candy Bark, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Sweet & Nutty Trail Mix, Chocolate Drizzled Toffee Crunch Popcorn, and Fancy Mixed Nuts,” Tubbs adds.
The new favorite at Fresh Beginnings is its Winter Wonderland Cookies, which Tubbs describes as a Chocolate Double Chip Cookie dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with Peppermint, for the perfect holiday treat. The company’s best seller is its fresh-baked Gourmet Cookies, available in a wide variety of flavors and packaging to choose from. “They are a great choice for any price point… and who doesn’t love fresh-baked cookies?” Tubbs enthuses. “Chocolate Chip has been our number-one seller for over 30 years. We also offer Sugar (many colors to choose from), Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Double Chip, Double Chip, Jewell, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, White Chocolate Cranberry, Peanut Butter, Hope (with colored mini marshmallows), and Rocky Road!” Any of these flavors can be dipped or drizzled in Chocolate, White Chocolate or Peanut Butter for an extra special holiday treat.
Demand has been high for Webb Company’s Bento Box gift sets, which Hobson points out feature retail-inspired packaging and more than 20 candy fill options. “Our most popular set includes a tumbler, a mint tin, and a candy jar, we had to rush order extras to fill the demand of orders coming in for the holiday season,” she says. “This is the most popular because it has that lasting impression piece and can hit a wide range of price points.” This year, the company has added candy bag stuffer options for its drinkware as well as offering nearly all its drinkware with the option of stuffing with coffee pods.
Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant recently added an assortment of shaped mint tins to its product line, and they have quickly become some of the company’s best sellers, Caputi points out. Shapes include Flip Flops, Surfboards, Guitars, Shopping Bags, and much more. Each shape is available in several color options and filled with the refreshing mints.
The aforementioned Dipping Sweet Box is generating a big buzz at Chocolate Chocolate. “The demand to have a specialty dipping sweet box loaded with so many sinful items to share and enjoy has been great and we look forward to sharing more with our customers in the upcoming holiday season,” Sterritt emphasizes.
To successfully sell these products, Caputi of Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant recommends that distributors be observant of the markets they are selling to. “Our new mint tins have clear distinct markets that they thrive in,” he comments. “For example, our Flip Flop Mint Tins have been extremely successful in beach towns and companies with summer-themed promotions. Our Guitar Tins have been popular with concert halls and music shops. These mint tins may be unique but they have very strong applications in markets that have a need for promotional products.”
Webb Company’s Hobson adds that educating customers is the best way to sell edibles. “They may see the food gifts as a consumable gift that won’t be seen but taste is strongly associated with memory, so if you give a delicious gift—along with a gorgeous presentation—it will definitely leave a lasting impression,” she elaborates. “In addition to that, the food gifts are definitely a more personal gift that truly sends more of a thank you message to the receiver.”