Holiday Gifts

Fairytale Babies!

Thursday, September 2, 2010 by Melissa Eisenstein

This has been an extremely eventful week here at Fairytale Brownies. As our loyal readers know, one of our Customer Service Team members is having a baby. Well, she's due anytime now, and we decided to throw her a Fairytale Surprise Party!

Needless to day, any good party here at Fairytale includes the best brownies on earth! (No, the cake is cake, brownies were later.) Tanika was so surprised and pleased...and I hope Mackel will be pleased with all the love shown by all our people here, and I'm sure he will be.

On Tuesday, we're kicking our season into high gear with the arrival of our seasonal employees here in Customer Service. They will be here until just before Christmas to help us send brownies, cookies, and all of our other corporate food gifts for the holiday season. We have one who is with us for his fourth season, and has started with us already! Welcome back Tony "The Confrontation" Sanders!

As a side note, Rosh Hashanah will commence at sundown on September 8th this year, so, Happy New Year!

Fairytale Brownies prepares for the holidays in September

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 by Alyssa Andrews

It's September! Sixteen weeks from today is the Wednesday before Christmas. How's that for time flying?

No need to panic though. Fairytale Brownies has everything you need to guarantee your gifts will be well received. New tower gifts, new gourmet cookies, new gift bands, new truffle flavors - the hardest part of purchasing will be deciding who is getting what new gift!

Personally, I like the tower gifts because they include a little bit of everything we bake - brownies, Sprites, Magic Morsels and cookies. I love to reuse my boxes so once the fudge brownies are gone, something else will fill their place.

September is also is the month when our retail store goes back to winter hours. Beginning Tuesday, September 7, we will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Once the holiday season officially begins in December, we will be open Saturdays, but until then we are on a Monday through Friday schedule. Find our address and retail store hours here!

Although most of the country is enjoying some cooler temperatures, Arizona still is experiencing high 90- to 110-degree temperatures. Fairytale Brownies will continue its practice to ship all gifts in an insulated box with cold packs Monday through Wednesday. October soon will arrive with cooler temperatures and our regular Monday - Friday shipping schedule will resume. Getting brownies delivered or cookies delivered is easy!

Hmm. All of this talk about the holidays is making me want some hot chocolate. Who has the marshmallows?

The Holidays Already?

Thursday, August 26, 2010 by Melissa Eisenstein

This week has been extremely fun-filled and interesting. Here at Fairytale Brownies, we are gearing up for the Holidays! We've brought in additional staff to help bake the best brownies for holiday gifting, and we're working on ramping up our staff here in customer service too! The holiday boxes are coming, and they're gorgeous! Those should be up on our site soon, as well as the new delicious Fairytale Cookies, which are eagerly anticipated!

If you'd like to see a preview of all our new offerings, go to www.brownies.com/new to take a look. I'm sure those beautiful new packages will inspire you to ship brownies to your friends, neighbors, and business associates.

As for customer service, we're helping businesses gear up for the holidays already! We're offering up to 30% off their holiday brownie orders if they prepay before the end of this month. Just think of the awe when your customers or collegues receive a beautifully wrapped brownie gift delivered right to their door, and they don't have to know you received a large discount!

Delicious, wonderful fudge brownies are a great way to celebrate any holiday! Remember, only 4 months left until Christmas - visit brownies.com today!

They sell the best brownies in the world... What is Fairytale Brownies?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Alyssa Andrews

Every month during the off season, Fairytale Brownies team members gather for an all staff meeting that includes lunch and a celebration of staff birthdays and anniversaries. For the last few months, we've been reviewing each department's duties and procedures. We call these gatherings, "Learning Lunches."

The Marketing Team (Catalog, Web, PR, Corporate Sales and Wholesale) shared its procedures today with a friendly game of Fairytale Jeopardy!

Emcee Eileen (pictured in top photo) read the clues from five Marketing categories (Fairytale Potpourri; C's The Day; Around The World; Sell, Sell, Sell; and It's In The Mail) while three different teams vied to answer with the most correct questions.

Team Brownie: "Around the World for 100, Eileen."
Eileen: "Also known for its beer, this European country produces the fine chocolate we use in our brownies."
(A bell rings.)
Eileen: "Team Sprites, your answer?"
Team Sprites: "What is Belgium?"
Eileen: "That is correct!"

Donna and Leslie are pictured here cheering Team Sprites's correct answer.

Some of the answers were a little tricky, so our Marketing Judges were called upon to determine a question's correctness. You can barely see our judges, Kari and Holly, way in the back of this photo.

The first-place team received mini board games for each member, while second- and third-place teams received "lovely" parting gifts of their own.

Save up to 30% on holiday gifts with early order discounts!

Monday, August 16, 2010 by Hilary Lee

I know it's only August, but it's never too early to think about Holiday Gifts! If you are thinking about ordering early to save money, Fairtyale Brownies has the deal for you! Now you can Save up to 30% when you order your holiday gifts by August 31st! If you're not sure what decadent brownie gifts to order, just place a deposit to secure your discount. Call customer service at 800.531.5209 and we'd be happy to help you get started! Or, you can visit our website, brownies.com for more Volume Discount/Early Order Discount details.

With Early Order Discounts:

No addresses or brownie gift selections needed.
Just prepay now and place your order when you're ready.
We'll help you find the best holiday gifts for your budget and follow up as the holidays approach!

Don't forget to look for delicious NEW GIFTS and delicious new Fairytale Cookies starting September 8th. With Fairytale Brownies, you'll not only be sending the finest all-natural gourmet brownies, but you'll also receive our world-class service. Visit brownies.com/new for a sneak peak at our new gifts coming your way soon!

Another Fairytale Birthday, and a Little Surprise!

Thursday, August 12, 2010 by Melissa Eisenstein

This last weekend was an extremely eventful one for me. Not only were there two birthday parties, but as my friends here know, I was surprised by my husband with a trip to Las Vegas! A second honeymoon...and my kiddo got to have two day sleepover at Grandma's! She was excited.

The first party was a nice dinner for Cousin Kaitlyn, who turned 9. She's extremely excited about being in the 4th grade this year, and loooooves Fairytale Brownies. Last time I was at her house, I left her a peanut butter brownie to share with her little sister. This time, I decided that it was time she had her own stash, since she's 9 now. I brought her a Magic Morsel Dozen in all four flavors to go along with the ZhuZhu pet playset we got her. She was SOOO pleased!

Her mom was jealous because she loves our fudgy chocolate brownies as much as her daughter does! Knowing Kaitlyn the way I do, she'll share with everyone, so no problems there!

I brought home another brownie gift for my daughter to take to her second party on Saturday afternoon. That was for a neighbor/friend of ours whose daughter was turning 11. Elizabeth was thrilled to take her the best brownies in the world as part of her present. And I'm sure she was very pleased as well.

As you can tell, I completely advocate the heavy use of Belgian chocolate brownies as great gift ideas, and they work for all ages! Gourmet brownies = Happiness!

10-Year Anniversary Celebration

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 by David Kravetz

Yesterday we celebrated the 10-year employment anniversary for a number of our team members. When you order brownies from Fairytale Brownies, remember that there is a dedicated and professional team behind the scenes.

There were three team members celebrating anniversaries in August. Kim Brandimarte is our Shipping Team Leader who makes sure that when we ship brownies around the world, everything is packed to perfection. Chris Corn runs our retail store here in Phoenix and provides gourmet brownies with a warm and welcome smile to our walk-in customers. Donna Baker is our Controller and she ensures that every time we send brownies, all of the financial accounting is complete and accurate. We also honored Jen O'Flynn with a belated recognition plaque. Jen oversees the customization of packaging for our corporate gifts. She has been a team member for over 10 years.

Fairytale Brownies would not be the success it is today without the hard work and dedication of these incredible team members! Eileen and I learned early in business that we cannot succeed alone. We have spent many years building an empowered workplace filled with dedicated, hard working and, most importantly, happy people. Thank you to all of our Fairytale Team Members!!

Kim, Chris and Donna celebrating 10 Fairytale years!

Eileen, Jen, Kim, Chris, Donna & David with 10-year recognition plaques

Fairytale Brownies, the perfect Birthday treat just in the nick of time!

Saturday, August 7, 2010 by Kim Silva

As I sat at my desk working this week, I remembered that my niece has a birthday coming up and will be turning 3 years old. I have been racking my brain trying to think of what I might send, which may seem odd to most of you considering I work for the best gourmet brownie company around. Call me crazy, but it did slip my mind . . . sending brownies that is. I think it might be because I get so caught up in the daily operations and future initiatives of the company, I just plain forgot that I am a customer too!

My niece is having a small party over the weekend so I decided to ship her a Birthday Morsel 24 to share with her little pals. How lucky am I . . .since I waited so long to think of what to send, I also happened to luck out in that we also have expedited shipping available, so her fudgy chocolate brownie treats will arrive just in the nick of time. The size of our Magic Morsel brownies are perfect for little ones - I'm sure they will be the hit of the party.

Enjoy your Fairytale Brownies, and Happy Birthday, Little Fia!!

Customer's Rave about Belgian Chocolate Brownie Gifts!

Monday, August 2, 2010 by Hilary Lee

I just wanted to share some of the great comments and raves that we've had pouring in to our customer service center about our great Fairytale Brownies and our excellent service! Here are some of the best ones from this week:

Fairytale Brownies offers a huge selection of brownie gifts in every price range - the quality is top-notch. My families request for birthdays is that I send birthday brownies! So easy to order brownies online and the shipping is a great value. ~ Stephanie B., TX

Our entire family enjoys the fudge brownies from Fairytale Brownies, and when there is a time for a special treat, we always look to Fairytale. Thank you for such an excellent product! ~ Ruth B., PA

I received Fairytale Brownies recently as a housewarming gift and loved them so much that I'm sending brownies to my Dad for his birthday! ~ Vic J., AZ

Great product! Ordering brownies online couldn't have been easier. I really appreciate the reduced shipping promotion. ~ Mary S., PA

I enjoyed Fairytale Brownies when I received them as a gift. The people I have sent them to raved that they were the best brownies too! ~ June F., IL

Visit us online at brownies.com for more information or to order brownies online!

Brownies on Vacation!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by Kari Gayes

I am very excited this week, because Thursday morning I am heading out of the Phoenix heat to some (hopefully) cooler temperatures on the Connecticut coast to spend a week with my parents and my sister's family, including the two most adorable nieces in the world (I may be biased, but they're pretty stinking cute). If there's one thing I've learned about being a cool aunt, it's to always have some fudgy Fairytale Brownies when I visit! I'm taking a Magic Morsel Dozen for the girls so they have their very own bite-sized gourmet brownies to devour. Since my dad just turned 60, I decided I should take him a Happy Birthday brownie gift as well. I think I'll take the Birthday Sprite 24 so he has plenty for himself and to share with the rest of the adults, who are always very happy when I send brownies for the holidays.

Order NEW holiday brownie gifts & save with early order discounts!

Monday, July 26, 2010 by Hilary Lee

Fairytale Brownies is excited to announce that we have many new and delicious gourmet brownie gifts coming your way, including our long awaited New Fairytale Cookies (available September 8th). We have New Christmas and Holiday gift packaging, New Towers, and New Keepsake Tin gifts! Check out this exclusive link to our New Products page here: brownies.com/new!

While you're browsing our new gift selections, why not consider thinking about placing your order for Holiday Gifts? If you order now for the holidays, you can and Save up to 30%! If you're not sure what to order, just put down a deposit to secure your discount. Call customer service at 800.531.5209 and we'll help you get started!

No addresses or gift selections needed.
Just prepay now and place your order with you're ready.
We'll help you find the best brownie gifts for your budget and follow up as the holidays approach!

Call our customer service team today at 800.531.5209 to take advantage of these early order discounts! For more information on early order discounts, please visit the volume discounts page on our website brownies.com, or click here. Thank you and have a Fairytale Day!

Brownies.com getting a fresh update

Monday, July 19, 2010 by Hilary Lee

Every year the catalog & web team here at Fairytale Brownies discusses improvements and updates to our catalog and website based on what our customers are asking for. We listen very closely to what our customers' requests are and plan for updates and upgrades. We do this not only to stay close to our customers, but we strive to stay technologically competitive and implement features and benefits that are industry standard.

For example, on our website brownies.com we've just added a great new feature called "Enlarge/More Views" for our product details pages. This allows the customer to see close-up beauty shots, or "zoomed views" before they buy brownies. This will help the customer in understanding exactly what they are purchasing when they buy brownies for themselves or send brownies as a gift from Fairytale Brownies. For example, based on a simple product photograph, some customers did not realize our gourmet brownies are individually wrapped for freshness with all nutritional information listed on each brownie wrapper.

Another feature we are adding both to our website and catalog (coming September 1st) is a full and complete description of the gourmet brownies including quantities/flavors in each brownie gift. Previously, we've included a product description with a descriptive photo for the customer. Now, we will be including all flavors, inclusions, weights, and their respective quantities in every brownie gift.

Along with some really cool new features and benefits, we are debuting a fresh new look for both our catalog and website. Our corporate branding will remain the same, however, both channels will be updated with a modern and airy look and feel. We're excited for our customers to see these updates! Our catalog and web team has been working hard to get these updates ready for the Fall/Holiday 2010 rollout. Request a catalog here if you aren't already on our mailing list, and/or visit brownies.com after September 1st. You won't want to miss these updates :). Oh, and the delicious gourmet brownies are divine too, tee hee.

Fairytale Brownies gears up for the holidays . . . in July?

Friday, July 16, 2010 by Kim Silva

It might not seem like the holiday season is just around the corner, especially considering the extremely high temperatures in Arizona right now, but peak season for Fairytale Brownies is coming and plans are already being set for the upcoming holidays.

We're in the final stages of putting together our staffing plans and projections for the coming holidays and will be bringing on temporary seasonal staff beginning in late August. We typically stagger the teams for each department. Our brownie bakers will be coming first, followed by some of our CSRs, gift packers and data entry teams. We will have a few rounds of hiring up through November. We are lucky enough to have most of the same team members return year after year, but we also have to source new team members as our volumes continue to increase each season. By the time it's all said and done in December, we'll have brought on 100+ additional temporary team members to help us bake and ship delicious gourmet brownies to customers all over the world!

If you are interested in temporary seasonal employment, or any other available positions with Fairytale Brownies, you can download an application at www.brownies.com or send resumes to careers@brownies.com. We also accept applications in our Retail Store Monday through Friday from 8am - 3pm. For more detailed information on the various positions, requirements and start dates, contact Janet at 602-489-5154 or via email at janet@brownies.com.

Gourmet Brownie Catalogs - Down to the Wire!

Monday, July 12, 2010 by Kari Gayes

We are down to the wire with our Fall and Holiday Fairytale Brownies catalogs this week! We've been working hard for months, and will be sending the files for our gourmet brownie gifts catalog to the printer on Friday. The photo on the left is a stack of all the edits we made just in the last week! All this hard work can make us a little crazy, but it is always worth it in the end to see the mouthwatering catalogs full of our fudgy brownies and cookies that will be on their way to you soon! We've made some changes this year, and we hope you love these catalogs as much as we do. And if you aren't on our mailing list yet, fill out this form to ensure you'll have a catalog when you want to send brownies or have cookies delivered to your friends and loved ones this fall!

Back to our roots - brownies and play!

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Eileen Spitalny

My partner David and I met on the kindergarten playground and ever since we have played and eaten brownies together! Yes, that playing turned into starting a business together. And since 2001, we have partnered with KaBOOM! to spread the word about their important mission for all kids to have a safe place to play and we have donated dollars and brownies. Next year will be our 10-year anniversary working together and we are rasing funds to build a Phoenix area playground not too far from our bakery. You can read details here on our website - http://www.brownies.com/facts_info/kaboom.aspx

My daughter is helping raise funds for this playground build. She made a jar at home that asks for money for kids in need to build them a playground. We have filled it up once so far and brought it in to the big coin jar in our retail store. Her first haul was $41.78. Now the jar is back at home being filled up again. So if you come over be prepared to part with your spare change and a dollar or two. In return we will offer you a fudgy chocolatey Fairytale Brownie with a cold glass of milk as a sweet reward! There are many ways you can help us with our efforts. If you are interested just post a comment or idea. Thanks for making the world a sweeter place!

Red, White, Blue & Fairytale Brownies

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Melissa Eisenstein

This past Sunday, the United States commemorated it's 234th birthday! And many of us commemorated that with cookouts, parties, swimming, and of course, fireworks! Those of us who are chocoholics had to add in...Fairytale Brownies!

My in-laws had close family friends in from out of town over the long weekend. We were invited to a cookout there on Sunday for the 4th. Of course, I volunteered to bring Belgian Chocolate Brownies as a wonderful way to end dinner, and the out-of-town guests had yet to sample the goodness of one of our gourmet brownies!

Well, the selection I brought with me went over fantastically. Everyone found a flavor they loved, as well as sampling some new flavors. I think a few were even snuck into the luggage for a special take-home treat. I made sure to bring our tempting summer catalog with me, just in case anyone felt the need to order brownies.

I think the guests were suitably impressed by the selection of flavors offered in the Patriotic Sprite 24, as well as the quality of these rich, fudgy confections. Hopefully, I've made addicts for life.

Fairytale Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by Kim Silva

I just returned from a visit home for the 4th of July holiday where we had a great family reunion. Part of the weekend long festivities included a dessert competition, so I put my thinking cap on and decided to use some of our Fairytale Cookie samples to make ice cream sandwiches - a simple treat for a hot Summer day! The cookies will not make their official debut until this Fall, but we had so many samples from the various tests we've been conducting, I just knew I could use them somehow for the competition.

Apart from the ice cream melting before I could finish the entire project, they came out absolutely delectable! I took 3rd place with my entry, which I thought was commendable considering I didn't exactly make the ice cream, and the team here made the cookie samples for me. Either way, Fairytale Cookies made awesome ice cream sandwiches!

It's a small world after all...Brownies Delivered!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 by Hilary Lee

This past weekend, I took my son to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. It was the perfect weekend. We had absolutely gorgeous weather and the crowds were not too bad. The excitement in the air was palpable; we were ready to celebrate America's freedom with a bang! The main reason we went to Disneyland for Independence Day was for the amazing fireworks show they put on every year. Growing up in Southern California, I know how Disney does it up every year, so I was excited to share that with my son. Here we are standing in line for our favorite ride, the Matterhorn roller coaster!

While we were there the most amazing thing happened....and I realized what a small world it is after all. Just before the fireworks began at 9:30, we were trying to strategize the best place to view the show. We decided that the restaurant on the tip of Main Street right in front of the castle was the best place. Apparently my idea was not original because it seemed that there were lots of people out there too. Then, I was approached by a woman who said, "You're more than welcome to join us at our table for the fireworks show." I was so excited, because her table just happened to have a completely unobstructed view of this great show! We gladly accepted her invitation and got to chatting pre-show.

Turns out..... she is from AZ. Her daughter went to Patterson Elementary which my son currently attends, and we live about 5 miles from eachother! While we were exchanging contact information, I mentioned that I worked at Fairytale Brownies. Again to my amazement, she said that the doctors office she works at has gourmet brownies delivered frequently from patients. She loves our brownies and uses us to send brownies to her friends and family too. It was so awesome to meet new friends - and in the most unlikely of places! "It's a small world after all!!"

Belgian Chocolate Brownies for Special Occasions

Monday, June 28, 2010 by Hilary Lee

Today my husband called me and said, "Honey, we forgot to send brownies to our niece in Texas for her birthday." He was right, her birthday was 2 weeks ago and I can't believe that I forgot! So with an apologetic "Sorry, we're old and forgetful" note, I shipped her Happy Birthday Brownies today. She loves our gourmet brownies and loves to receive them for any special occasion. So, I sent her a Happy Birthday Sprite Dozen, since it has 1 of every delicious flavor we bake (Chocolate Chip and Toffee Crunch are her favorite flavors). I'm sure she'll delight in the brownie gift we are sending her as she always does.

Thank goodness for Fairytale Brownies! My gifting needs, especially for special occasions and for those people who "have everything" are taken care of! So, thank you Fairytale Brownies for the scrumptious gourmet brownie gifts! I am especially looking forward to the gourmet cookies debuting this September. My friends and family who are used to getting brownies delivered will delight in soon getting gourmet cookies AND gourmet brownies delivered :)!

Fairytale Friend

Friday, June 25, 2010 by Ellie Perry

Each gourmet brownie gift we ship includes a comment card, which we call a Business Reply Card. When a gift recipient completes the postage paid card and returns it to us we save them for a drawing at the end of each month. Each month we select 2 winners who receive a complimentary Fairytale Dozen (our customer favorite which features 1 each of all 12 delicious Fairytale flavors).

This week I received a wonderful letter from a recent winner. It reads:

"Dear Fairytale Brownie Friends,
Five days ago I answered the doorbell and found a box from Fairytale Brownies. My first thought was "what are my kids doing?" Did they forget they already send me a box of Fairytale Brownies for my birthday? After opening the box and reading the enclosed card I was shocked and surprised; I could hardly believe it! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I've been enjoying them each day since they arrived. Sincerely, Darlene"

We'd like to say thank you to Darlene's family for sending her a brownie gift. Fairytale Brownies makes delicious gourmet brownies that are perfect for any occasion. And thank you Darlene, for being such a great Fairytale Friend!