Flavor of the Month & Charity of the Month

Aren't they just the cutest little Cake Pops? Our Halloween Characters are online ready for orders now.

This month, we have started something new. We are now offering a Flavor of the Month. Sometimes there might even be 2 Flavors offered, but this month there is only the one and it's a fan favorite: Pumpkin Spice. It is like a piece of pumpkin pie made into a Cake Pop and it is so yummy! You will not be disappointed.

Along with our Flavor of the Month, we decided to start a Charity of the Month too. When you order the Flavor of the Month 10% of the Retail Sales of this special flavor will be donated to a special charity each month. This month's charity is Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and since my own mother had breast cancer and passed away, it is a cause that is near and dear to me. There is no special code to enter, just place an order for the Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops and we will donate 10% of your order to BCFO.

Half Price Sale on Tuesday

Classic Cake Pops on SALE Tuesday for HALF PRICE!

You read that right, I'm putting our Classic Cake Pops on Sale this coming Tuesday for Half Price! No, I haven't lost my mind, I just wanted to do something for my wonderful customers, fans and followers. So, this particular blog is going to go over the ground rules for this once in a lifetime kind of sale.


GROUND RULES:

This sale is only for Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010

Limit: 1 Dozen Classic Cake Pops for Half Price. ($10.50) By Classic Cake Pops we are referring to our round Cake Pops, like the photo above. You can choose 2 cake flavors and 2 candy coating colors. You also have a choice between swirls or sprinkles.

Order must be done online at www.cakepopco.com (NO phone calls please - you MUST order online)

Shipping (if needed) will be included with payment. Your options are FedEx Priority Overnight and 2 Day service. The temps are still too high for Ground Shipping. Please do not pick Local Springfield MO pick up option if you do not live in the Springfield MO area.

Orders must be paid for on day of sale, but you will have 30 days to use your half price dozen. (You can use a credit card with PayPal, if you don't have an account already set up)

You need to specify what date you'd like your order to arrive in the "comment" section of the order form. This is very important. We are anticipating over 100 orders and it will cut into production time, if we have to email or call every person to find out when they need their order. If you are unsure, try to estimate the best you can, so look at those calendars for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

The Secret Code for this 1 Day Half Price Sale is: yum half off

Enjoy!
Deb

Far too long

It's been over a month since my last post. I'd like to say time flies when you're having fun, but moving 4 people into 3 different directions is anything but fun! My husband and I have moved into a new phase of our lives......we now have an empty nest. The transition has been easy because all three of our kids live in the area, but we're excited to be able to focus on the business more and have time to ourselves.

So now that I've explained my absence, let me catch you up on what HAS been happening with The Cake Pop Company. I am working on a new line of Cake Pops. I don't want to let too much out of the bag, because we're working up a big release and a whole campaign for the new products. For years I worked in an office setting and didn't have the chance to be creative, so this is so exciting for me to actually create new flavors and designs. I'm anxious to share them with you, but all in good time.

Earlier in August we received an order from Toulouse Gourmet in New Orleans. They needed 450 Cake Pops for the HBO Premier of the new Spike Lee Documentary called "If God is willing and Da Creek Don't Rise." Of course we jumped at the chance to be apart of this film premier. My husband and I have a special connection to New Orleans, because we spent our honeymoon and our 1st Anniversary there. We decided that with the heat it would be best for us to drive the order down to NOLA ourselves. My sister-in-law lived there for many years and hadn't been back since Katrina, so the three of us set out with Cake Pops in tow, south bound to New Orleans. We delivered the beautiful Cake Pops to Toulouse Gourmet the morning after we arrived there and met Russ and some of his staff. They were so nice and so great to work with. I look forward to working with them on some of their other events. After delivering the Cake Pops, we were then able to spend the next three days reacquainting ourselves with the fascinating and amazing city of New Orleans. The shops! The sights! The Riverwalk! Bourbon Street! The FOOD!!!! We basically ate our way through the city. It was the most amazing food and desserts that we had ever eaten. I can't wait to get back down there. Don't you just love the old world charm in the photos below? I miss it already. I know that we won't wait another 25 years to visit there!
As if moving and a trip to New Orleans didn't keep me busy enough, we threw in a local Bridal Expo. We made 1,200 sample size Cake Pops to give out to local brides, mothers of the brides, best friends, etc. It was amazing to see people get so excited about our Cake Pops. We literally had people coming to our booth, telling us that someone had told them that they HAD to come try our Cake Pops! Cake Pops caused quite a buzz! We even recognized a few customers and Facebook fans. Thank you to everyone that stopped by.

I promise that I will try to do better about posting new blogs on a semi-regular basis. August was such a whirlwind of a month, but then again.....Christmas is coming! (Yikes!)

National Debut and Degrees of Seperation

On July 23, our Cake Pops were featured on The Today Show during the Hoda & Kathie Lee part of the show. The amazing Bobbie Thomas talked about them on her Bobbie's Buzz segment. It was quite surreal to see our Cake Pops on National TV!

So how did this all come about? One of our celebrity clients of had sent a dozen of our Cake Pops to Hoda & Kathie Lee as a gift. They shared one with Bobbie Thomas, who then called me to order some as a gift. I was headed to NYC the next day and arranged a time to meet with her while I was there. Bobbie is the nicest, most genuine and generous person. She expressed interest in featuring the Cake Pops on her Bobbie's Buzz, but wasn't sure what date would be best. I received the call on Monday, July 19th saying that we needed to send the Cake Pops the next day and they would be featured that Friday. So of course, we hopped right on that!

http://bobbie.com/2010/07/bobbies-minute-buzz-13/

So this is why I haven't blogged for the past couple of weeks....we've been swamped with orders. We have some other exciting things in the works but nothing in concrete yet, but I will blog about them once they do come to be. Stay tuned.

The funny thing is that I can trace this whole experience back to my friend June. She is a kindergarden teacher in California who loves our Cake Pops and because of her generous spirit, my company was featured on The Today Show. You never know the degrees of seperation your customers and friends might have. She didn't have a direct link to any celebritites but knew others that did and liked our product so much that she shared it. So if you own your own business, my best advice to you is....treat ALL your customers like VIPs, because they are. Without them you would not have a business.

Baby Shower

I recently received an order from a wonderful lady, who described herself as a "cake snob". By "cake snob" she meant that she likes cakes that are as delicious to look at as they are to eat. When she came to pick up her order, we had a chance to visit a bit more and I found out that she is a photographer, so her original comment made sense. She was planning a baby shower for her friend and insisted on something beautiful and unique like Cake Pops instead of the typical sheet cake. I had fun making these pretty pink treats for her and her friends to enjoy.

Her name is Marcie Smith and she owns Star Portrait Design. (http://bludomain7.com/star/index2.php) You have to check out her website. She does amazing work!! (She's also on Facebook)

She shared the following photos that she took at the shower. They are displayed in sippy cups! What a great idea for anyone planning a shower.

Enjoy!

Sidewalk Angels Fundraiser

When I started my Cake Pop business, I knew that I wanted my company to participate in fundraising of some sort. We donate arrangements of Cake Pops to local charities when they have a need for an auction item, but I felt that we needed to do something on a larger scale.

I have been a Rob Thomas and Matchbox Twenty fan for over 13 years, so when the idea came to me to partner up with Rob and Marisol Thomas' Sidewalk Angels Foundation for a fundraiser, I was more than excited when I received the email accepting my offer. I had heard about their support and help for Pets Alive and being a pet owner myself, I was ready for my first fundraising challenge. I emailed Sidewalk Angels and discussed the details with Maria, Rob's Mother-in-Law, who helps them run the foundation. I sent a dozen Cake Pops for her to try.

To give you a little more information about what Sidewalk Angels Foundation does, I've referenced their website to give you a quick overview:

"Established by Rob and Marisol Thomas, Sidewalk Angels Foundation is a New York-based non-profit organization that works hand-in-hand with charities in and around America's big cities. Life in the city can be so fast that those in need are often passed by. People who are destitute or homeless and get lost in the system; those who cannot afford proper medical care; animals that have been abandoned or abused -- these are universal problems that Sidewalk Angels encourages people to address locally." (http://www.sidewalkangelsfoundation.com/)

We were able to schedule a photo shoot when Rob was doing a concert in nearby Kansas City and although I had met Rob at another time, I was very excited to do an actual photo shoot with him. So I asked two of my best pals, Erin and Danielle to tag along. Erin was our photographer that day. We didn't really know what to expect, but were allowed to observe Rob's Meet and Greet time with local radio winners. Once they had all exited the room, we had our time with Rob. I had brought enough Cake Pops for his band and crew but I also made a special dozen just for him that looked like cats and dogs. He was amazed that two of the Cake Pops looked like his two dogs. We talked about the work that Sidewalk Angels was doing and how he and his wife, Marisol enjoyed the Cake Pops that Maria had shared with them when we first set up the fundraiser. He loved the fact that Erin and Danielle kept calling the Cake Pops, Crack on a Stick. Rob made sure that we had great seats for his concert and we had a memory that we'll never forget!






























We didn't raise as much as we had hoped but I look forward to working again with them in the future. I highly recommend getting involved with a charity or foundation that you believe in and have a passion for. We can all make a difference in some way.

Emmy Style Event 2009

I mentioned in my Year One blog about the Emmy Style Event that we participated in. I've had a few questions about how we participated in such an event, so I thought I would expand with a quick blog about it.

When I first started this business, I had several sleepless nights and was brainstorming about how to market my new "baby" to the world. So I Googled Unique Marketing Ideas and after sorting though a ton of stuff that just wasn't very unique, I came across the idea of Gifting Suites. I looked up a few companies that special in celebrity gifting suites and found Secret Room Events. They responded quickly to my initial email and after a few emails back and forth, I found myself signing the contract to participate. Most of the gifting suites are associated with a charity and this one was sponsoring The Tigerlily Foundation, which raises money for Breast Cancer Research. I knew that this was the right one for me, as my own mother had passed away from complications of breast cancer.

My son, Josh flew out with me to help with the event, and my friend Melissa came up from San Diego to help out too. It was held at the beautiful SLS Beverly Hills Hotel. It was an experience that I will never forget. I even met Deidre Hall, from Day's of Our Lives!

See if you can pick out some of the celebrities below:

(Nick & Jay from Project Runway, Nancy Cartwright - voice of Bart Simpson, Kirsten Warren, Riley Weston, Sonia Rockwell are a few names that you may recognize)