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A New Year, a fresh start

costascandies

Welcome to the first edition of Julie’s monthly update.

The idea of doing a blog or monthly newsletter has been thrown around for many years but never started because how would I possibly have time to tackle 1 more project?  But I decided it’s time to stop putting it off!  We have an amazing staff that has taken on more roles, our kids are older and all self-sufficient in helping at home and work (if they decide they want to), and Costas Candies has grown so much in the 15 years we’ve owned it that now’s the time to share more behind the scenes.  The final reason I decided it was time to start a newsletter is because one of our kids asked, “What do you actually do at work every day now that’s it’s not the busy holiday season?”  So, I was inspired to give all of you a taste of seeing the ins and outs of Costas by starting a newsletter.

 

This is how the first week and a half of the new year looked:

Right after Christmas we transition from 15-20 employees 6 days a week to just 3-5 employees 5 days a week & 1 person on Saturdays.  It’s a huge change of pace, conversations, noise and energy.  The numbers of customers coming in the door is a drastic change too.  We love the busyness of the holidays, but it’s nice to have some quiet days too.  It’s important to have time to get some other projects done so that the next season is successful.

 

The first 3 days of the New Year were inventory & cleaning days.  After 3 months of nonstop candy making and the busiest season of our year, it’s time to inventory supplies, do a deep clean and get ready for the next season.  After an inventory of boxes, bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, foil and more is completed it’s time to order supplies.  Some supplies are ordered just once a year, like shipping boxes.  Other supplies are ordered monthly, and the rest as we prepare for each holiday season.  Valentine’s Day is the next holiday, so inventory is compared to what we used last year for seasonal supplies and new supplies are ordered.  This process can be long and tedious, and it sure feels great when it’s done!

 

While I was busy with inventory my staff was busy cleaning the front retail space and the production room.  If you’ve ever done a lot of baking, you know how flour can get everywhere.  So, imagine using cocoa powder &/or powdered sugar nearly every day making anywhere from 1000-3000 pieces of candy.  Even though cleaning happens every day, we can still find cocoa powder hiding. The machines need a regular maintenance, so it works well to do that when we have a few days of no candy making.  It sure feels rewarding to see everything looking brand new after some deep cleaning days!  After that it was time to take down Christmas decorations & put up Valentine’s.  A big task, but also fun to get ready for the next season.

 

Valentine decorations are hung
Valentine decorations are hung

Then it was on to 3 days of candy.  This week we had 2 days of chocolate covered caramels.  My day begins at 8am by starting the chocolate so it’s ready to go when the dippers arrive.  It takes about 1 hour for the chocolate to be tempered to start dipping candy.  While the chocolate is going through the tempering process I start cutting the caramels.  There are approximately 2200 pieces in 1 batch.  Approximately 3.5 hours of cutting and about 7 hours of dipping later the 1 batch is completed.  And prior to these steps Grant spent about 3 hours making the caramel the night before.

 

1 pan of 8 cut & ready to be dipped in chocolate
1 pan of 8 cut & ready to be dipped in chocolate

The 3rd day of candy was some of our specialty candies – peanut butter deluxe & our newest candy Northern Delights.  These candies are smaller batches, yet more time consuming in some ways.  We don’t make these as often and are both newer candies, some we don’t have the process down as smoothly yet.  But it’s fun to do something different.  Again, I was the cutter of the candies while Christa dipped them.  Christa & I also made a lot of our chocolate hearts and heart pops those 3 candy days to get ready for Valentine’s Day.  Jodi & Amy spent lots of time wrapping the hearts in foil and packing up all the candy that was dipped.

 

In between these main jobs other small tasks were taken care:  contacting wholesale partners about their next orders, talking to a new wholesale partner, talking to a homeschool group about a possible tour, communicating with a company about a large Valentine’s order, another company about a partnership for a Valentine’s night out, updating our online store and more.

 

 

The last day of the week I was able to take off work to help at the regional DECA meeting being held here in Owatonna.  DECA is a high school business club, and the students pick from various categories including: interviews, role play, financial, marketing, tourism, small business startup campaigns and more.  Our oldest 2 children participate in DECA and we love being able to give back to the community and help youth learn skills to be great members of the community.  It was amazing to see so many fine young men and women from 5 different high schools in our area doing great things.  The future is bright for these students.

 

 

There’s just a small glimpse into what one week in January looks like at Costas.  Every week is a different and the variety makes it fun for all of us.  Of course, in between all these tasks we were helping customers in person and with online and phone orders.  This is the most rewarding part of our job!  Having customers continue to support us, share Costas with friends and family and share their Costas memories with us is why we continue to do what we do each day.


I'll leave you with this heartfelt handwritten letter we received during our busy Christmas season. This made our day and shows us that the long days are definitely worth it!



 

Until next month, I hope you enjoy a piece of Costas Candies that gives you a little taste of heaven.

Julie



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