Customer Brownie Stories

I just wanted to share a really great blog article that was written by Geoff Fox, who is a weatherman on WTNH New Channel 8 in Connecticut. Geoff's wife Helaine decided to send brownies as a holiday gift this last December and the scheduled delivery date was set for December 21st. The following story is from Geoff's blog.

"This blog is often the best place to give a kiss on the cheek to a business which has gone above and beyond the call. That's especially true of David Kravetz at Fairytale Brownies (brownies.com) who came through and saved the day in the midst of their/our Christmas rush. Fairytale Brownies is a Phoenix based business. This is not a case of someone being nice because they've watched me on TV for the last 25 years. Helaine sent a gift to a friend. The package tracking info said it would be there on the 21st.  When Helaine hadn't heard from the friend by the 23rd she called. No delivery! Except that's not what the tracking data said. UPS said the package had been delivered to her apartment building. 

Helaine called Fairytale and spoke with David. Whether he always answers the phones or was drawn in for Christmas isn't clear. He saw we'd been good customers over time. He didn't need to see any more. David said he'd make it right even though Fairytale could have defensibly claimed it was a UPS problem. As someone with a stake in the business, he knew this was where long term relationships are made and lost. If Helaine would provide a daytime address, he'd sent it overnight at his expense. 

This is a Christmas story with a happy ending. The brownies arrived the next day. Thanks David! The Foxes of Connecticut really appreciate your kindness and wanted everyone to know! Oh, and the brownies are really yummy!"

Our goal at Fairytale Brownies is to provide the highest quality products and incomparable service. That's why we offer our "One Pure Promise" which states from choosing the finest Belgian chocolate to our customer's last bite, we are uncompromising in our standards for product quality and customer service. Our "One Pure Promise" is supported by our unconditional guarantee: If you or your gift recipients are ever dissatisfied - even a little bit - we will cheerfully do whatever it takes to make things right, whether it's replacing the brownies or issuing a credit or refund! Thank you, Geoff for sharing your story! You can read Geoff's blog post here  http://www.geofffox.com/MT/archives/tag/christmas. 

Order brownies at brownies.com.

I am sad to say this will be my final blog as a team member of Fairytale Brownies. Although I won't be here physically I will forever spread the brownie love, obviously I have become a huge fan of our gourmet brownies over the years. While I am excited to explore new ventures I will miss the smell of a fresh baked fudge brownies when I come to work each morning. I will be frequently reading the brownie blog to stay updated on the behind the scenes happenings at the Fairytale bakery. It has been a great 5 years, Fairytale Brownies is not only the best brownie company but an awesome company to work for. Thank you to all of my customers, co-workers and the many friends I have made over the years. It's been a very sweet experience but now it's time to go... Goodbye!

March has arrived, and I started thinking about creative ways to use Fairytale Brownies in a St. Patrick's Day recipe. I scoured the internet for ideas and found this really great recipe from About.com's BusyCooks. The recipe is called Irish Mint Brownies - but I made a few small adjustments. Instead of baking the Mint Brownies from scratch, I've substituted them for our individually wrapped gourmet Mint Chocolate Brownies - which are to die for (and my personal favorite). I thought they would be perfect in this great brownie recipe! Imagine hand drizzled chocolate mint spread over our rich 3" x 3" Belgian Chocolate brownie. Yum!

Ingredients:
12 Mint Chocolate Fairytale Brownies

Green Frosting:
1 tub vanilla ready to spread frosting
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
Few drops of green food coloring

Top Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 1/2 tbsp water
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preparation:
Unwrap all 12 Fairytale Brownies. Arrange them on a serving plate, or line them in a pan. In a small bowl combine frosting, green food coloring and mint extract and beat will until frosting is evenly colored. Spread the mixture over the Fairytale Brownies. 

In a medium bowl, mix with a wire wisk the powdered sugar and cocoa. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, water and microwave for 30-45 seconds until the butter melts. Add the powdered sugar and wisk until smooth. Stir in the vanilla until smooth. You may need to add more water to reach a pouring consistency. Then carefully poor this frosting over the green frosting and gently spread to cover. Don't worry if some of the chocolate frosting mixes with the green frosting - that just looks pretty!

I've included a picture of the recipe, however keep in mind yours will look different if you use Fairytale Brownies. They will be square and not in a pie shape. 

    
Here is the original recipe pic    Here is our Mint Chocolate Fairytale Brownie

You can visit our website brownies.com to order brownies online, or you can call our customer service line at 800.324.7982 to reach our 24-hour customer service number. I've included the link to our Fairytale Dozen (here) but don't forget, if you are ordering brownies for this recipe, you'll want to order all Mint Chocolate Brownies so click the Choose Your Own Flavors button! I hope you find this brownie recipe delicious and useful. 

Recipe courtesy of Busy Cooks (About.com http://busycooks.about.com/od/barcookierecipes/r/mintbrownies.htm)

Hello, Hello, Hello...... to all of the wonderful readers of the Fairytale Brownies Blog. I know it has been a while since you have heard from your happy customer service team member and reading about the glorious stories from customers ordering brownies online. Well your resident "Brownie Gift Giving tour guide is here!" I love reading all the wonderful comments and raves from all of our customers, so since I love them so much I anounce them to all of the staff at FTB on Thursdays, we call it the Rave Wave. We get all kinds a letters from customers that have ordered brownies or recieved brownies as gifts and say they are the best brownies in all Fairytale land....I Love it!

One letter that made me smile was from a customer that purchased birthday brownies for her Aunt Ann birthday who turned 100 year old. She said that her aunt looks forward to the brownies. That just brings a smile to your face and applauds all around that we are apart of such a glorious day. Happy 100th Birthday Ann, enjoy the fudgy brownie treat.

~Happy Reading~

We appreciate all our customers who buy Fairytale Brownies.  We also appreciate the opportunity to donate our gourmet brownies to our Troops.  This month we received a special request from a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard.  Her unit has been deployed to Haiti to assist in the recovery process for the devastating earthquake that happened a month ago.
 
We are so grateful for the service our Military men and women provide both here at home and abroad.  We hope the Connecticut Air National Guard enjoys these fudge brownies we are sending. On behalf of the team members of Fairytale Brownies, thank you for all you do!

Our delicious fudge brownies are great alone, but even better when we enrobe them in 60% dark Callebaut Belgian chocolate, an indulgence that we lovingly call Fairytale Truffles! Fairytale Truffles are rich, fudgy Morsels (1.5" x 1.5" mini brownies)  that are enrobed in velvety dark belgian chocolate. Our Truffles gifts contains 9 purely decadent truffles in Caramel, Raspberry Swirl and Walnut flavors nestled in an elegant brown box with a purple or red satin bow.

View our Fairytale Brownie Truffle Gifts here. 

What are people saying about Fairytale Brownies? This review that came to our service department raving about Fairytale Brownies gourmet brownie gifts: "Fairytale Brownies are absolutely delicious, and the prices are very reasonable considering the care in gift wrapping and delivery. I would recommend this product to any chocolate lover. ~ Candace C., Clarksville, AR"

Order brownies and Fairytale Truffle gifts online at brownies.com or by calling our customer service number at 800.324.7982. Thank you for making the world a sweeter place! 

  

Last weekend a number of Fairytale Brownies Team Members participated in a "Road Show" at two of our local Costco stores in the Phoenix area.  This special event for Valentine's Day allowed customers to buy brownies for their loved ones.  Below is a photo of Holly preparing Valentine brownies for some delicious taste testing.

Our fudgy brownies are the perfect chocolate indulgence and we received rave reviews during this three-day event.  The response was fantastic and we hope to be back in the coming months with Easter gifts, Mother's Day gifts, and Father's Day gifts.  Thank you to all of our customers who supported us last weekend!


 

Looking for a way to create a lasting impression on your clients? Fairytale Brownies offers a fantastic variety of Custom Logo Corporate Gifts! Not only is your logo imprinted on the packaging but they will get delicious gourmet brownies inside!



Make a tasteful impression with new and loyal clients by giving a dozen gourmet brownies. Our best-selling assortment presents 1 each of all 12 rich chocolate flavors in a classic gift box with your company logo printed on the custom band.

This gift is just one of the corporate gifts in our selection. To see more click here. We offer a very simple ordering system, volume discounts that can save you up to 15% on your order and can drop-ship worldwide!

For more information call or email our Corporate Sales Team at 602-489-5123 or corporate@brownies.com. 

How Brownies.com Reached 2.5 Million Brownies Annually! 
Source: Startup Nation, by entrepreneurs - for entrepreneurs!

Foodie and retail oriented entrepreneurs, tune into this podcast to hear Eileen Spitalny, co-founder of Arizona-based Fairytale Brownies, describe how she transitioned from a home based kitchen business to the number one selling catalog brownie retailer in the world. Hear Eileen describe the moment when she reserved the domain name brownies.com "just in case the Internet turned into something" and what that has meant to her success. Also learn how she brings out the inner entrepreneur in all of the company team members!

Click this link to listen to the podcast!

If you've ever wondered how you can spread revenue out around the calendar beyond the retail-rich Q4 holiday season, hear how her strategy to start wholesaling helps Fairytale Brownies achieve that. If you're looking for a model of success, Eileen's fairytale story is a great place to start! 

This week I received a surprise email from one of our business affiliates, The Employee Network, that they had recently held a contest encouraging their members to write testimonials of participating businesses to win a Sedona Weekend Getaway. Several of their members wrote testimonials on behalf of Fairytale Brownies! Here is what they had to say about us:

Richard from Bank of America wrote:
"My testimonial is for Fairytale Brownies. I just wanted to tell you what a quality company they are. I was impressed from their website brownies.com to their delicious looking gourmet brownies of course. Their brownie selection is so varied and each one looks so scrumptious. I ordered a variety box and every flavor of brownie became my new favorite! Thank you for having them as a merchant."

Jeff from the City of Mesa wrote:
"Two weeks before Christmas we had relatives in from St. Louis, MO. My wife and I took them on a tour of the Fairytale Brownies Bakery. Everyone loved the samples and filled their lists with holiday gift boxes. The week after Christmas we got calls from relatives asking where they could get more so we gave them the brownies.com website so they could order brownies online. The 15% discount code they gave us was a big help too. Thanks for carrying Fairytale Brownies as a vendor!"

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries on behalf of Fairytale Brownies! We couldn't do it without the great support of our friends and customers! 

Well Kristie and I are back from Vegas. We decided to stay for a extra week or so. Just kidding! We have been back for a while but have been working very hard to get all the catalogs out that were requested. We talked to over 600 people, sampled over 1000 of our delicious fudge brownies and sent out over 1200 catalogs! Here are some pictures we took at the show...

Here is what our booth looked like when we first got there. 


And this is what it looked like when we were done working our magic. 
 

We had a spot on our table dedicated to our Valentine brownie gifts.


This is our display in the New Products Pavilion. We featured our newest custom logo corporate gift item, custom label brownies. They were a hit!


Thank you to everyone who helped make the show a sweet success for us! 

This week Brandie and Kristie from our Corporate Sales Team are in Las Vegas participating in the PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) Expo. The PPAI Expo is the premier tradeshow for the promotional products industry. Fairytale Brownies is there promoting our great line of products designed specifically for that industry.

Fairytale Brownies has many options for personalization which is very popular in the promotional products industry. For example, we can print your 4-color high resolution logo or photo onto either our wooden keepsake boxes, satin ribbon, favor boxes, and on our own custom craft box wrap. And since our gourmet brownies are individually wrapped, we can print your logo directly onto the brownie label! To find our more information on our custom & corporate gifts, including our promotional products, please visit brownies.com/distributor or brownies.com/custom.

Here is a picture taken by Brandie of our booth at the PPAI Expo. Today is the last day of the show, so we have lots of show details next week when Brandie and Kristie return. Until then...Have a Fairytale Day!

Fairytale Brownies co-founders Eileen Spitalny and David Kravetz believe that they can do more for children and promote the importance of play. Since 2001, Fairytale Brownies has been donating brownies and funds to KaBOOM!, the national non-profit that helps communities build playgrounds, but this year, Fairytale's focus will be to raise funds to construct a KaBOOM! playspace in the Phoenix area.

"We've helped fund and build playspaces in several Arizona cities, Chicago, Mississippi and New York, but other companies were the main funding partners," Eileen Spitalny said. "Our goal is to fund a playspace in Phoenix that will truly be a fairytale for the children to experience."

Fairytale Brownies customers play a significant role in funding the playspace. Through their pruchases of special occasion gifts (Thank You, Congratulations, Happy Birthday and Thinking of You), a portion of the cost is donated to KaBOOM! Customers are also able to give the "Gift of Play" by opting to donate $1 to any purchase made when ordering brownies online at brownies.com. In 2009, Fairytale customers contributed more than $3,000 by adding $1 "Gift of Play" to their online orders.

Eileen and David met while playing on their kindergarten playground at Madison Heights Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona in 1971, so a KaBOOM! partnership is a natural fit for Fairytale Brownies. Research shows that kids who play are healthier and less likely to be obese. They also develop the cognitive skills that are linked to learning and academic performance. Although the Fairytale playspace physically will be in Arizona, Fairytale Brownies' customers all over the world can be proud knowing they are helping to promote play. Learn more about KaBOOM! here.

      

Article by By Amy Silverman in Shweet! courtesy of the Phoenix New Times Food Blog!!

We know there are those of you out there who strongly believe that pie is the next big thing, and we see the signs, sure, but we're also betting on the brownie.

On a recent trip to ABC Baking in Phoenix, we couldn't help but notice the prominent display of brownie-making and decorating supplies, and did you know Wilton has its own Brownie Fun! book?

Hmmmm. And what about that brownie-cutting pan on late night TV? 

Locally we're still seeing a lot of love for the cupcake, but we forgot all about Sprinkles earlier this week, when a big box of Fairytale Brownies landed at New Times.

Now, this is a band of bakers with some history. The company started in the Valley in 1992, using a 50-year-old recipe someone's grandma graciously offered up (or perhaps not -- we don't know that part of the story) and Fairytale Brownies has been around ever since. You can find the brownies in some specialty shops, or order them online.

We groaned when we saw that box. So much for New Year's resolutions. But the FB folks (hmm, that could get confusing) graciously accomodated us with a box of individually wrapped, bite-sized morsels -- just 100 calories for an "original" brownie, rather than double that for one of their traditional-sized treats.

And they taste just as good as we remember. Perhaps a trend is reborn.

Kristie and I are off to Las Vegas again for the 2010 PPAI Expo at the Mandalay Bay convention center. We will be back in the office on Monday the 18th. If you are attending the show make sure you stop by our booth #5505. We will have our yummy gourmet brownies to sample and samples of all of our custom corporate gifts! I will be sure to take pics to post when we get back. Hope everyone has a great week!

Our giant New Year's Sale is about to come to a close. We deeply discounted up to 50% off of our most popular holiday gifts such as our Sprite Extravaganza: Our giant purple box contains an astonishing 96 snack-size Fairytale Sprites - 8 each of all 12 signature chocolate flavors. Also at 50% off is our Fairytale Delights: Our giant purple box contains 12 brownies, 6 Fairytale Sprites, a 4 oz. bad of Fairytale Jumbo Cashews, 8 oz. each of Fairytale Coffee and Fairytale Cocoa, plus 1 jar each of our Chocolate and Caramel Fairytale Endings dessert sauces. 

We have other deliciously satisfying popular Fairytale Brownies gifts discounted from 50% - 20% off. Visit our sale page here. Our New Year's Sale ends this Friday, January 8, 2009. Order brownies today at brownies.com or call our 24-hour customer service line at 800.324.7982. All of our gourmet brownie gifts are all-natural and free of trans fats, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and artificial colors. Send brownies today!

OK... My birthday is in a couple days. And as self serving as it may sound, while truly, from my heart, promoting one of the best brownie companies I have found to date. That’s why I love the name of this company...FAIRYTALE BROWNIES. But the ending is like that of Cinderella. Dreams do come true at this company. The happy ending IS incredible brownies that will delight the child (young or older!) in all of us. Another incredible, awesome gift for any brownie lover (and personally I, too, would love this, love the reusable box they come in), on your list, for any occasion. Even as a great HOSTESS gift or a thank you gift.

Now after all is said and done, how can you not run to your phone or to their site and order one or two of these awesome special today?! They can stay about a week in the refrigerator (I dare you to try and keep them that long) or a bit longer in the freezer. They freeze great as they are individually wrapped. Just take them out and put them on a plate, still in wrapper, while they thaw. They are also a great treat or surprise to put in a loved ones lunch. But, to be frank, they are truly so rich and fudgy, if you are looking at calories, what I suggest is cutting in half (what they call SPRITE size Brownies), and wrap up individually to put in that loved ones lunch. I also have cut them in 4 and put a bite size piece on each dessert plate with a sorbet or French vanilla frozen yogurt.

Another wonderful option with this company is that you can choose your own flavors for an additional cost of $3.95. For example if you love Toffee, Caramel, Raspberry, Cheesecake, or Original Plain, (my personal faves), you can choose to have your assortment be just those flavors. If you are having a corporate function, they have large bulk boxes, or for a more elaborate social event, they do corporate logos on the boxes, via box sleeves or ribbons of any size. You can go to their site, and see an example of how beautiful the corporate boxes can look! So if you are in a firm that gives employee gifts, or has social events, you may want to forward this blog review to them.

And last but, not least, please take a few minutes to head over to Facebook and join them as a Facebook Friend. If you do, please tell them I referred you, or let me know you joined them on Facebook. If they receive only about 60 or 70 more fans, they will have a drawing for some brownies! (And to be clear, this is an awesome product and awesome company and I would have made the same blog statements with or without this Facebook friend contest!!)

Oh and one more thing I have to share, FAIRYTALE BROWNIES ships to our service men and women! Please let them know about anyone in the armed forces you wish to purchase and ship to and ask them about any special shipping discounts for armed forces shipments! You can also buy in bulk to ship to a bunch of service people! Their customer service is more than happy to help you make the best choices for your purchases and shipments. Did you know that FAIRYTALE BROWNIES is no newcomer?? Even FOOD NETWORK has found out about them! So let's help spread the word about a great company, with a great product and special caring people! So settle back please and take a quick look at a little of Fairytale Brownie History! (It’s about a 4 minute video from Food Networks program..."UNWRAPPED" from April of this year.) FAIRYTALE BROWNIES.... "UNWRAPPED" If you liked this blog post, please do me a favor and leave a comment, here or on their site at Facebook. Maybe they will see the review and decide to award one of my readers with their own Fairytale Brownies to try! You never know! Blessed and Prosperous New Year to all of you!

Name: ProjectHope7

State: FL

More GREAT feedback from our happy customers and gift recipients! We love hearing how your gifts were received. Send us your feedback today :).

"The quality and freshness is excellent. I received them as a gift and thought they were so good I've continues to send them. Most recently I sent them to my son who is serving in the Persian Gulf so he could have a little taste of home." ~ Tim O., Wayne PA

"The brownies were sent to our son & daughter-in-law, who are both serving our country in Baghad, Iraq. They enjoyed the browneis very much and even shared some with their friends. Thank you for being able to ship to APO." ~ Toni L, Phoenix AZ

"I received this as a gift and loved it, so now I love sending brownies as a gift to others. It's always a bit hit!" ~ Liane C., Herndon VA

"Always love Fairytale Brownies. Delivery is fantastic. Very good service and have always recommended them." Monique L., Las Vegas NV

"The people I send Fairytale Brownies to have always been very satisfied with the product. It is easy to send brownies online." ~ Cynthia H., Tolleson AZ

"The brownies were well-received by my family and friends. Absolutely fabulous! Thanks so much!" Laurie J., Long Beach CA

"We received brownies as a gift and we are now giving them as gifts over and over. We love them and we love the quality too--absolutely love Fairytale Brownies." Kim M., Lambertville MI

It's been another successful holiday season here at Fairytale Brownies. We've worked very hard getting the word out about our delicious Belgian chocolate gourmet brownie gifts.  We're happy to report that we have had a lot of happy feedback from our customers and their gift recipients! Check out what people are saying about their Fairytale Brownies Holiday Gifts! 

"Received as a gift from a client years ago, purchased once before and remember still how wonderful the product is. I want to share with others!" ~ Mary F., Nashville TN.

"Love the site. Yummy brownies." ~ Jason C., South El Monte CA

"Everybody that I have sent brownies to really love them!" ~ Kathy G., Chino CA

"Fairytale Brownies delivers a consistently high quality product that provides exceptional enjoyment. They never disappoint." ~ Peter M., Briancliff Manor NY

"I received brownies as a gift last your and ordered them this hear as gifts. I wish I would have ordered brownies for myself too though!" Michelle M., Long Beach CA

"Those were the best brownies I have ever had. The service was super fast...this was one of the best shopping experiences I have had in a long while!" Katy B., New York NY

"The order was received by my friends in Honolulu, HI ahead of the scheduled delivery date. Much mahalos!!" Coco J., Clermont FL

Last week, we were asking for anyone who happened to have snow - and a Fairytale Brownie - on hand to take a picture of it lying in the snow! Since it never snows in Phoenix we thought we would live vicariously through our customers photo's and pretend we were having a white Christmas. We actually made a contest out of it; the first person to send in a picture of a brownie in the snow would win a Fairytale Brownies gift. We had a few (very creative) customers send in pictures of their brownies - but not in real snow...Until now!

Our graphic designer Erin happens to be in Menomonee Falls, WI this week for a press check of our Spring/Summer catalog press run. She cleverly decided to snap a photo of a brownie - and catalog - in the snow! Yes folks, that's snow! Apparently there is lots of it up in WI. You'd never know it here; this week in Phoenix the highs are in the 70's! 

If you are in the snow and have a brownie on hand, snap a picture of it then visit this link:
Fairytale Brownies in the snow - CONTEST. That brownie gift is still up for grabs!