Tasty Travels

Can you believe that November is already here? It's amazing to think that in just a couple of weeks it will be Thanksgiving and then in another couple of weeks Hanukkah and Christmas. With the holidays just around the corner, our retailers have been stocking up on all sorts of specialty foods, including our products.

This is also a great time of the year to be doing product demos. I think in general, the best marketing you can do for a food product is to let people taste it. There are so many options at any one store and it's often really difficult to get your product to standout, even if it's something new. I think product demos are especially important for us because our Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds are pretty unique products and provide us with the opportunity to talk to consumers about what makes them so special.









Sampling at the PA General Store in Philadelphia.

After having done numerous demos these past couple of months, I have to say that many customers are surprisingly candid about what they think about our baked goods. Of course, we don't expect everyone to like our products, but when I started doing these demos earlier in the year and received some negative reactions, I would get a little flustered. I think my reaction was due to the fact that I'm naturally pretty non-confrontational.

But along the way I have learned that of course taste is subjective and I shouldn't take it personally. Plenty of people love our goodies and my mom and I really feel that the products we are making are nutritious, delicious and of the highest quality.














Visited beautiful upstate NY to demo at Chappaqua Village Market.

In just the past two weekends, I've clocked a total of about driving 800 miles! I don't know what I would have done without NPR and my carefully selected podcasts.

Goodies for Foodies

Recently, I stumbled across a wonderful site called OneGoodie, which I instantly fell in love with. There are two sections to OneGoodie- the first is called OneFoodie and the other is OneMommie. Everyday OneGoodie features one fun, interesting and unique product on each section of its site.

Earlier this week, OneGoodie actually featured our Cupola Clouds on their site! We were so excited about this. What's even better is that I was a OneGoodie fan and subscriber even before we worked with the owners of the site. For those of you who are foodies (and by foodie I mean anyone who likes to eat, drink, or for that matter think about food!), OneGoodie is also a great way to keep in the loop about innovative gadgets and delicious treats, not to mention great gift ideas as the holidays approach! Check it out for yourself here.

Cupola Cares- Share Our Strength Online Promotion

Did you know that 12.6 million children in America—that’s one in six—are at risk of hunger? From now through the end of the year, we will be donating a portion of our online sales to the non-profit Share Our Strength, which seeks to fight childhood hunger across the country in more ways than one.

I wrote about our partnership with Share Our Strength (SOS) earlier this year, but this non-profit does so much to fight childhood hunger through its numerous programs and events that I think it deserves another plug.

One of the major initiatives that the organization sponsors is the Great American Dine Out, where individuals can help out just by dining at participating restaurants across the country. The Great American Dine Out took place this past week, from Sept. 21-28. I was excited to find out that one of my favorite local restaurants here in Western PA, Passport Cafe, participated in the week-long event.

Here is a really moving promo that was created for the Great American Dine Out:



Although the Great American Dine Out is over, you can still help out! Here are a couple ways:

• Keep an eye out for A Tasteful Pursuit, a touring dinner series sponsored by SOS that features some of the country's top chefs.
• Operation Frontline provides knowledge and skills that help surround kids at risk of hunger with healthy foods where they live, learn and play, providing nutritional information and classes.

And of course, you can also do your part by purchasing some Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds through our online store!

C is for Cookie

I found this clip on YouTube and it made me remember just how much I loved Sesame Street. Plus, this is extremely relevant to our business! I'd like to think that Cookie Monster would enjoy our Cupola Cookies too.

What's in a name?

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare argues that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I beg to differ.

I have to admit that transitioning over to our new company name has been a bit of a chore. It is no small thing to update product packaging, marketing materials, the company website and inform retailers, customers and business contacts about the fact that we are changing our company but I think in the long run, it will be worth it!

Having only been in business for a year, I think were lucky to find out when we did, that the branding for our products was much stronger than our old company brand- Amandari Co. It's interesting because we thought this company name would resonate much more with customers than it actually did. But instead, it was Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds that everyone seemed to remember! So after lots of contemplating and quite a bit of debate, we decided to rename our company Cupoladua Oven. Cupoladua Oven is easier to remember, easier to spell and goes along nicely with the names of our current products. We love our new company name.

Be sure to check out our new website, www.cupoladuaoven.com. And keep an eye out for Cupoladua Oven branded items at a fine establishment near you!

Treasure Island Foods and Julia Child

Due to my blogging dormancy, some of you may be wondering what we've been up to lately. Just wanted to let you know we're still baking our Cupola Cookies & Cupola Clouds and boy, have these last couple of weeks been busy! We were were silly to think that after the Summer Fancy Food Show, things would calm down.

One exciting development as a result of the Show was that a large local specialty food chain in the Chicago area called Treasure Island Foods placed orders for both our Cupola Cookies & Clouds. Treasure Island Foods is literally a treasure trove of specialty and international foods. The first store was opened in 1963, and since then has grown to 7 locations, in neighborhoods like Lakeview, Hyde Park and Lincoln Park.In fact, the culinary legend Julia Child once called Treasure Island Foods "The Most European Supermarket in America."

Treasure Island Foods- Elm Street Location

Last weekend, we set out for Chicago to do a marathon of product demos at 6 of the 7 stores. I think that product sampling is really key to making those first initial sales- especially since our products aren't like the typical chocolate chip cookie or cheese straw. They've got such a different texture and taste. To be honest, I've always been a fan of the "try before you buy" mentality- I think it just makes for happier, more satisfied customers.

Because our products are brand new to Treasure Island Foods, we received great product placement in each location, and for the most part, our demos were situated in a high traffic areas of the stores.

One really important thing we learned though- product demos on Saturdays and Sundays are best after 11 a.m.- before 11, most people are not really in a chatty mood, are quickly popping into the store for just milk or bread, or consider it be wayyyy too early to be eating cookies or cheese snacks.

Speaking of Julia Child, did you hear that in her earlier years, she secretly worked for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA)? I had no idea she was a female James Bond! You can read about the role she had with the OSS here.

Gluten-Free Does Not Mean Taste Free

Today I thought I would talk about something that is becoming increasingly more prominent when it comes to diet, health and lifestyle: gluten-free foods.

Just a couple of years ago, "gluten-free" used to be something that you would only find on packages in select health and natural food stores. Now, it seems that just about everyone is familiar with the term "gluten-free" or perhaps knows someone that is on a gluten-free diet, whether by choice or because they have an allergy to wheat or its derivatives. And now you can find gluten-free baking mixes, crackers and other products in a variety of retail locations, from groceries and convenience stores to coffee shops.

Why are gluten-free products and the gluten-free diet such an interest to me? Because our Cupola Cookies & Cupola Clouds just so happen to be made with ingredients that are naturally gluten-free. When we created the recipes for our baked goods, my mom and I didn't intentionally set out to create gluten-free products. We knew that we wanted to make things that were wholesome and nutritious, but the idea that our baked goods could possibly be considered "gluten-free" is a welcomed surprise. At the moment, we don't have "gluten-free" on our packaging because we intend to get certified/ recognized by an organization which will help us ensure that our products contain the minimal amount of gluten (those that have gluten-free status may contain a very minute amount, measured in parts per million). This is particularly important for those who have Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease is defined by the Celiac Sprue Association as a genetic disorder in which eating certain types of protein, called gluten, sets off an autoimmune response that causes damage to the small intestine. Gluten is found in wheat, barely, rye and to some extent oats. People who have an allergy to gluten can become very, very ill if they consume anything with wheat or its derivatives.

For the past couple of months, I've been doing an extensive amount of research on gluten-free diets, Celiac disease and the pretty robust community that has formed around those who abide by a gluten-free diet.

While the number of gluten-free products out there is growing, the options are still somewhat limited. We think it would be great to add our Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds to the variety of foods that our gluten-free friends can enjoy.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on our quest for gluten-free status over the next couple weeks!

A couple of related links to check out if you want to find out more information about Celiac Disease or gluten-free products:

Celiac Sprue Association
Glutenfree.com
Celiac.com