This week marks part three and the final addition to our series on how to make the health inspector’s “nice list” this holiday season, inspired by a past article published in RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine by Patrick Huffman, former president of The Warrell Corporation. reading the new federal and local regulations and keeping your staff updated on new requirements is critical. Consider conducting brief meetings to cover a specific topic or provide updates on a regular basis.

 

IN-HOUSE INSPECTIONS

Get ahead of the inspector by designating a manager to perform weekly inspections. Contact your local health department to request the form they use to during inspections as a reference.

 

GET ORGANIZED

Every time we have to search for the right tool to do a job, we lose time and money. By keeping tools clean and stored properly, they are ready for use and keep us productive. More important, a neat manufacturing area immediately tells inspectors that we know what we are doing.

 

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Getting the buy-in from your employees can be a constant struggle. It’s important to recognize that a commitment to food safety begins with an organization’s managers and owners. Every time we walk by a dripping faucet or step over a scrap of paper or a chocolate spill, we fail to teach our employees. By witnessing management who are as dedicated to keeping equipment clean as they are making quality candy, they teach their team by example.

 

FRIENDLY REMINDERS

Signs, reminders, and brief, yet, oft-repeated videos, keep the message in the forefront of every employee’s mind, but nothing works better than setting an example personally.

 

One of the best ways to ensure your business makes it on the inspector’s coveted “nice list” is to assemble a team of trained and confident staff, who understand the big picture of why maintaining clean stores and manufacturing facilities is so important. After gaining this understanding, it is critical that your team be given proper guidance and tools to efficiently and effectively manage your business’s food safety initiatives.

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Tags:  Health Inspections  Member Recommendations  Organizing  Owning a Business 

Looking for ideas to get the creative juices flowing? This week’s tip is to use a mind map to spark creativity!

 

What is a mind map? It’s a diagram used to visually outline information. Typically it begins with a word, image or phrase in the center and then other ideas and images branch out from the center across the page.  One of the key benefits of a mind map is that an idea doesn’t have to be full or complete or even in sentence form in order to be displayed. The idea is that the process of a mind map resembles how your brain actually works!

 

Tips for an effective mind map:

• Start with a large piece of paper (Give your brain room to think!)
• Use images, not just words
• Vary the size, color and alignment of your images and text
• Keep topics and labels short (Think big picture.)

Mind maps are useful tools for individual creativity and also can help to get creative ideas flowing among a team of people. In your next team brainstorming session, consider using a whiteboard or oversized Post-it to map out ideas as they’re given and see where mind mapping can take you! If you prefer tech tools to paper versions, check out MindMeld or Mindmeister.

 

P.S. There is still time to register to join us at the RCI Annual Convention & Industry Expo! Register online now to meet fellow confectioners and suppliers June 16-20 in St. Louis.

Tags:  Creativity  Employee Management  Organizing  Owning a Business  Productivity  Technology 

Welcome to 2014! We hope you had a great time bringing in the New Year!

This week’s tip is to get your office organized. You’ve just been through a mad holiday season and orders and receipts were flying left and right. Now that December is behind us and before Valentine’s Day is upon us, it’s time to get your office organized again. We’ve found some great office organizing tips on Pinterest!


Organize the Papers on Your Desk with Labeled Folders

Use Clipboards to Organize Items You Need to Access Easily

Create Moodboards for Upcoming Merchandising/Packaging

Get Those Unruly Cords in Order

One last thing - get a labelmaker. We talked about this fantastic tool in Tip #7 and still think it will change your organizing life.

P.S. If you are heading to the Philly Candy Show this weekend, stop by the RCI booth and meet the staff! Be sure to mention you read the Tip of the Week blog!

Tags:  Cleaning  Leadership  Organizing  Owning a Business 

At each of our events, we take attendees on behind-the-scenes visit of area candy stores and suppliers. It’s one of the most anticipated parts of the event week as it’s a great time for attendees to find ideas to take back to their own stores.

 

During our Canadian Chocolate Tour in September 2012 and recent Annual Convention & Industry Expo in June we visited confectionery retail stores that had designated gift designers. Attendees were consistently “wowed” by the beautiful displays and merchandising in these stores so this week’s tip is for you to hire a gift designer for your own retail candy store.

 

Gift designers are focused solely on the presentation of the products and displays in your store. Their job is to take your delicious candy products and turn them into beautiful gifts that your customers can’t resist buying. It’s about more than just wrapping paper – it is creating a theme, designing a shopping experience for your customers.  

 

If hiring someone solely for the purpose of designing gifts isn’t something you can do, then consider making it a seasonal position or incorporating it into an existing position. You’ll be surprised at the difference having an individual focused on designing your items will make when it comes to the presentation of your products.

 

One other tip: once you hire someone, be sure to give him or her freedom to be creative and come up with new and original ideas. Share your vision and brand strategy and then step out of the way and be amazed at what is created and the exquisiteness it adds to your displays.

Tags:  Colors  Employee Management  Merchandising  Organizing  Owning a Business  Packaging  Photos 

Looking to buy or sell used confectionery equipment, post a confectionery job or purchase or sell a confectionery business? Then be sure to utilize this week’s tip to add the Classified Ads page on the Retail Confectioners International website to your website browser favorites.

 

The Classified Ads page is consistently one of the most viewed pages on our website. Both RCI members and non-members are invited to post an ad and available categories include For Sale, Wanted and Job Postings. Updates are made to the page on a regular basis and you’ll find a variety of used equipment and supplies available for purchase.

 

So, what are you waiting for? Take a moment to visit the Classified Ads page and add it to your web browser’s favorites. Then, when you have equipment to buy or sell or a job to post, be sure to post it with RCI.

 

Looking to get more familiar with the RCI website and the resources available there? Check out this blog post that lists some of the popular industry resources.

Tags:  Candy Making  Organizing  Owning a Business  Photos  Productivity  Quality Control