CCBerries Chocolate Covered Strawberry blog » discount

Libya and Ivory Coast: Gas and Chocolate

CCBerries — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:57:00 +0000

The Ivory Coast produces over 37% of the worlds cocoa and Libya is the 9th largest oil exporter.

Just as you’ve seen a huge jump in gas prices: the same thing has happened in the cocoa market. Local conditions are preventing/restricting exports.

Without the cocoa bean there would be no chocolate of any type, it is the only source of cocoa powder, chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Without the cocoa bean your only option would be the fake chocolaty flavored vegetable oil that other companies try to pass off as chocolate.

The downside to using real gourmet chocolate is that it is expensive and has been getting more expensive.

Below is a cropped screen shot taken from the International Cocoa Organization (http://www.icco.org), they keep track of the wholesale prices.

As you can see the cost of the cocoa beans has sky rocketed since 2005, it’s now twice what it was then and while the chart does not show it yet, the prices have continued to climb to record highs, as I write this the price for just the raw cocoa bean is over $3600 a ton. Prices have changed due to availability, better wages for the growers and speculation by commodities traders.

It’s really hard to export when people are running around blowing things up and shooting. Chocolate and gas prices have jumped, you’ve seen the effect at the pumps and FedEx and UPS have raised their fuel surcharges to cover their higher costs. That means we pay more for shipping and as a result we have to charge more for shipping.

Packages do not fly around the country without jet fuel, and after they land: the delivery trucks need their fuel as well. Some chocolate covered strawberry companies have taken to using two day service as the basic delivery method for chocolate covered strawberries, we feel that a product delivered this way ends up with a very short shelf life and is not as fresh, and if anything goes wrong: the product is quickly ruined. You can tell when a company is using these methods by seeing if they charge a rush surcharge for Tuesday delivery or a special surcharge for next day delivery.

Saving a few dollars on shipping costs may look like a bargain, but if the shipment is delayed for any reason (weather, security, the business not opening on time, or a dozen other possible issues) then you are talking about delivering strawberries that were made 4 days before, those berries are going to be pretty rough and most likely ruined. There are no magic gel packs that are going to last 3 days, UPS and FedEx do not offer door to door refrigerated deliveries for any amount that you would be willing to pay for a single box of strawberries, and even if it were available a refrigerated strawberry still has a very limited shelf life.

To deliver chocolate covered strawberries nationwide you have to do some things right, you can’t ship them cross country and have have them show up next week, the best strawberries are delivered after spending a minimal time in transit (next day works best). So even though you may order today for a delivery next week: we will make them up just before we give them to FedEx/UPS and if everything goes correctly they arrive the next day. This results in a gift that is fresher than one sent by other methods (such as a planned two day delivery).

So what the heck is Sweetest Day?

CCBerries — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:04:00 +0000

Many people have never heard of it, but it has been around for about 90 years.. So what the heck is Sweetest day?
First off, it’s mostly regional:
Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo are the biggest cities according to the group that follows such things (Retail Confectioners International), but as people move around it follows them. My youngest brother was blindsided by it by his Chicago born girlfriend (now wife), his not knowing about it was as big of an event as missing Valentine’s Day or a birthday. He had never heard about it, but ignorance of a candy Holiday is no excuse in the court of a wrathful girlfriend.

How did it start:
In 1921 a group of confectionary companies in Cleveland Ohio gave out over 20,000 boxes to the elderly, poor, orphans and newsboys (the kids that used to sell newspapers on street corners). They also arranged for the delivery of confections to some of the biggest start of the day. In 1940 another 10,000 boxes were given to charities, and various religious group leaders.

Unlike Valentine’s Day, it’s not just about your special someone; it’s not affiliated with any religious beliefs or dependant on family or personal relationship.

But… if your girlfriend comes from an area that comes from an area that celebrates it (or picked it up somewhere along the way) you might want to ask her about it.. just to be safe…

Sooo. What do we do for Sweetest Day, unlike the bog box stores that change what they sell dependant on the season, we sell Chocolate Covered Strawberries all year round. Just like we make chocolate covered strawberries for Birthdays, Romance and Halloween (and just about every other holiday and event) we also make our custom creations for Sweetest Day.

Hints for saving on Sweetest day:
Giving to two or more local people or two or more people at the same address? Combining shipments, (even with friends) saves about $10 per box on the chocolate covered strawberries just on the shipping alone, when combine that with our pre-discounted assortments of 2, 4 or 8 dozen strawberries the savings can be huge. Just make sure to get your orders in early (delivery dates are selected during checkout).

Even if you are sending gifts to more than one address: a discount coupon code is shown on the final page of checkout that is good for orders that you place on the same day.

Other ways to save: join our e-mail newsletter, Facebook group or follow us on Twitter

How to save on Valentine’s Day shipments

CCBerries — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:33:57 +0000

With these tight economic times many people are looking for ways to save money but still get a first quality product. Lets face it, you can pay a lot less and get some tiny flowers in a discount store red drinking glass.. but that will not go over very well, and neither will sending strawberries dipped in fake chocolate. Below is a list of ways to save considerable money on shipments of chocolate covered strawberries and roses for Valentine’s Day (or every day).

How to save

The final checkout screen (the ‘thank you’ screen) has a coupon code for strawberry and floral orders that you place the same day. Think about your other gift needs: a birthday or long delayed thank-you gift.. use the code on the final checkout page to send upscale gifts at a discount.
Combine your orders with others, your friends co-workers.. (one shipment to a single location) and you’ll save a lot over separate shipments
The 2, 4 and 8 dozen gift sets are packaged in one dozen boxes, do the math… we’ll wait.. yep that’s a huge savings (combine with #2)
When Possible avoid Saturday delivery, it’s a lot more expensive. (we don’t make money on shipping so if you want to go ahead)
The bulk rose shipments are also a great way to save money, just pick up your vases locally and save a ton, if you look around the house you probably already have a vase or two. (combine your rose needs with the other people you work with to get the deepest discount on long stem roses) . Again do the math.. look at the 100 rose package and divide by 8 (that will give you the price for a dozen roses… you’ll see it’s about an eighth of what some florists (local or online) will be selling roses for, that’s a huge savings.
Get your orders in early, our suppliers pass the rate increases on to us and there have been crop destroying freezing in Florida (Strawberries and Flowers) and South America (Flowers), they have agreed to honor the current pricing on the orders we have in-house when the rates go up
Join our newsletter, it always has the best coupons and discounts.
Don’t wait till the last minute, there is a limit to how much we can make and ship in a day, if you wait till the last minute we may be at capacity and not taking any more orders and you may end up shelling out a huge amount for something from someone else at the last minute.

Cheesecake Strawberry Launch Day set

CCBerries — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:14:34 +0000

We’ve set the date for the launch of our cheesecake stuffed chocolate covered strawberries:

New Product Deliveries Start 8/26
Exclusive Savings

Enter code “NL-Cheesecake” for 12% off of a single box of our new cheesecake stuffed chocolate covered strawberries. The first delivery date available for this new product is 8/26/09

Each strawberry is first stuffed with a delicious cheesecake filling, then hand dipped in tree gourmet chocolate and is finished off with a graham cracker crumb base. It’s our new top of the line premium gift.

Discount code must be entered at the first step of checkout and can not be entered at a later date, not valid for phone or fax orders or if you have canceled an order in the last 30 days. Can not be combined expires 08/31/2009. Pre-discounted gift sets of 2, 4 and 8 dozen strawberries not included.