My packaging can beat up your packaging!

Our new and improved candy wrappers have finally arrived!

If you've had Barbary Brix caramels up until now, you've been eating them out of a natural, recycled wax paper wrapper. We certainly don't want to diss the lovely, and compostable little guys that have served us so well but they tend to seep a bit of oil, making things a smidge greasy. :(

The good news is that our Innovia Films, custom cut NatureFlex (tm) wrappers have arrived! Innovia is a company that makes a fantastic, sustainably manufactured, compostable film similar to cellophane. It's clear, so you can see the caramel better and it prevents that distracting oily film on the outside. Yay! As if that weren't enough, they are, I'm trying to find a good description...uber-compostable. Basically, not only can you compost them in a municipal compost bin, they would even compost in your home compost in a mere 34 days! Really.

Incidentally, I heard that worms loooooove them. Even fancy worms that wear fancy worm top hats. (Don't worry if you don't follow, that was an Always Sunny reference for that crowd...)

Bet you'd like to, maybe, know whyyyy we are so excited about this? I'll tell you.

Well, for starters, candy packaging is a big contributor to landfill waste. You might think those little wrappers can't make much of a difference but the average American consumes a staggering 23.8 pounds of candy per year according to the US Department of Commerce! (2008, most recent data.) That's a lot of packaging; it adds up, yo. In fact according to a, maybe outdated but interesting 1997 study (Ackerman), food packaging is about one third of municipal waste in the United States. Yikes.

Something else to think about is the environmental impact of manufacturing that packaging... How many food companies disclose that or are they even aware?

Theeeen, and probably more troubling, is the fact that food manufacturing is one of the more significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the US, 20-30%. Whoa. Candy is a big part of that industry and you don't hear much about sustainable food or confectionery manufacturing, now do you...

So, long story longer, as a small part of how we are trying to pay attention to and be responsible for our own environmental impact, we feel really good about using this environmentally low-impact wrapper as a part of our eco-friendlier packaging line-up!! Check back for other posts on the rest of our eco-friendly packaging later... :)

In summary, PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMPOST THESE WRAPPERS!!

Hugs,

Sugar

PS This is an interesting research report for your reading pleasure.

Last Week of Orders for 2010

The BBx team has been busy as ever giving it our all to keep up with all the holiday orders.  We're getting down to the last few days to get those orders in to guarantee holiday delivery.  So, if you're waiting till the last minute to place your order, now is the time!

We've had a few people ask us about the number of caramels that come in each bag, so... Here's a quick breakdown of the approximate number of chews that you will be getting in the different sizes.

1/4lb = 12 - 15 Caramels
1/2lb = 25 - 30 Caramels
1lb    = 50 - 60 Caramels

Last day to place orders is Friday, December 17th (Orders will be shipped on Monday, December 20th).

If you're looking to check out our wares in person, you can also catch us this Sunday at the Indie Bazaar downtown on the second floor of the Metreon!

-Cap'n

Thank You!

Just wanted to take a minute out of the hectic production schedule to thank everyone that came out to the party on Tuesday night. We are lucky to have so many friends and supporters that we can draw a full house all night on a Tuesday night!

We ended up selling out of everything that we brought with us, and have been steadily adding additional orders to our production queue. We are going to be taking orders through Friday, December 17th, so if you are looking for a last minute holiday gift, you have a little over a week left.

You can place orders here!

Also, if you have any questions, feel free to email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Happy Holiday Party Season,

-Cap'n

Launch Party Tonight!

That's right, Kiddos!

Launch party is tonight, starts at 8pm at Sip Bar and Lounge . We're going to have plenty of samples to go around as well as some product up for sale. If you can't make the party, you can still get your hands on some of our delectables right here.

Come on out, try our wares, have some cocktails, and get into the holiday Spirit with Barbary Brix!

-Cap'n Rob

First Day of Production!

As with any first day, it was bound to be a long one....

After making our way out to our kitchen in West Berkeley, unloading our second car load of equipment and other supplies in as many days, and getting set up, we were FINALLY able to get down to the business of actually cooking the caramels (insert golf clap here).  All the work over the past few months to get to the point of actually producing...  all the testing, legal paperwork, research, more testing, infinity samples handed out, design work, packaging, more testing...  Just to get here.  It was somewhat surreal to actually get down to business, but definitely in a good way!

We soon fell into a rhythm.  Mostly it was Sugar running around the kitchen while the stirring and temperature monitoring was left to the help.  However, as it turns out, the cooking wasn't any more complicated at the scaled up batch sizes (phew!). Since we were the only ones in the kitchen on Saturday, the whole place took on a sweet aroma that made the neighboring businesses jealous.

For reference, the photo below is of a pot of approximately 4 gallons of 230ºF+ bubbling cauldron of sweet caramel goodness, that wooden spoon? Over 3ft long.

After we had cooked the caramel, it was time to cut and wrap.  Fairly straight forward until you realize that there are over 4000 caramels that needed to be wrapped by hand!  Hey, at least they looked nice in the pans, right?

Thankfully, we soon realized that if we were going to get the job done that night, we had to call in some reinforcements.  We had some great friends come out and help us get all the caramels wrapped up so that everyone can now officially order them on our site!

Take a peek at some of our early packaging, to see what our customers will be getting very, very soon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and hope to see you at the launch party at SIP on Tuesday!

-Cap'n Rob

p.s. Launch Party details here!

Countdown to launch...

Our launch party invite has been sent!

Whew.

In a matter of two short months of nearly around-the-clock devotion, we've managed to get ramped up to the point where we can make this product available for sale. Our launch party is going to be a great event where we get to talk about what we are doing and feed you samples of our candy while plying you with delicious specially-paired cocktails to boot!

You might be interested in a little background on how Barbary Brix came about...

Growing up, every year my mom would make delicious caramels at the holidays to give away as gifts to neighbors and friends. It was a family tradition that included cooking, stirring, wrapping, packaging, and delivering, all while being forbidden to consume too much of the candy. You can imagine, for a child, the difficulty of this task.

A couple of years back, all grown up now, I got together with my very good friend Rob (aka Captain Rob) to continue the family tradition and with his culinary expertise, improved the recipe to rave reviews. The subsequent year, we ramped up production and started testing new variations all the while hearing, "Please sell these!"

Well, this got the wheels spinning.

But here's the rub... candy is not a very eco-friendly nor sustainable product due to the production methods, packaging, and the farming methods used to produce the ingredients! In addition, the ingredients used can be very detrimental to the public's health as well as a contributor to problems like childhood obesity and diabetes, to name a few. So how could we feel good about contributing to those problems even if we were making people happy with a yummy, gourmet, hand-crafted candy?

Well, to keep it simple (we'll discuss in greater detail later) after months of research we realized that not only was it possible to source local, sustainable and organic ingredients, eliminate preservatives and stabilizers, and use compostable and biodegradable packaging, but we could also make a candy with a lower glycemic index that tastes DELICIOUS.

It is not too good to be true. Try it for yourself! We are confident you will walk away a believer.

In fact, we will have tons of samples available at our launch party!

When: December 7, 2010, 8:00 pm

Where: Sip Bar & Lounge, 787 Broadway in San Francisco

This company and our caramels are truly a labor of love for us and we're so excited to share that with all of you!

Hugs,

Sugar

Unbelievable.

Apparently, even my naps have to be "productive."  It's very tiring just being the Chief Adorable Officer; I need my naps!  Now on top of that I have to be an arm rest and lap warmer, too?!  I've gotta do everything around here....

Pooped and pissed,

Mr. Ziggers

Underground Market Debut - fingers crossed!!!

Barbary Brix is officially in the running to sell our delicious caramels at the San Francisco Underground Market! We drop off samples to the head market muckymucks on November 23 and we're hoping that, when they come out of their caramel-eating-pleasure-induced-comas, they will invite us to sell at the next market on December 18th.

3 reasons why the Underground Market is awesome:

1. Vendors are all small operations like ours that are just starting out (read: badasses)

2. We get to watch new people experience the candy-gasam that is Barbary Brix caramels

3. Perfect timing to take holiday gift orders

Keep your fingers crossed for us! If When we get in we want to see everyone there! Save the date - DECEMBER 18th!

Checkin' tasks off this list like whaaaat!

The BBx Team had a most productive day today and I must say that it feels all kindsa good inside! Oh, like what, you ask? Well I'm not trying to toot our own horn but, TOOOT:

1. Ordered compostable candy wrappers
2. Found Launch Party venue (12/7/10 at SIP Bar & Lounge, fools!)
   
3. Set-up business banking
4. Made initial capital contribution
5. Found CPA
6. Drank(ing) celebratory bourbon (see above)
   

We will say one thing, all o' this entrepreneurship jazz is not for the faint of heart, dollfaces! If you saw our set-up project management spreadsheet, you might have a small seizure. Liability protection, supply chain management, marketing strategy, accounting systems, business insurance, operating agreements, product development, legal legal legal, branding, tax matters partners, web design, myriad muni/Cali permits...OH MY!

I, for one, am working harder than I ever have before but it is some serious, helluv fun. The Captain would probably agree, on this most productive of days, since it was not spent meticulously digging through pages and pages of FDA requirements for food products. Yes, we do that sort of thing.

But now on to other tasks...more web content faster!! It's not going to write itself, after all... You can check it out at www.barbarybrix.com in a few weeks. (Have we mentioned that we have an AMAZING designer? More on that sassy lady to come.)

Sticky fives!
-Sugar

Too much work at BBx!

I had to be especially cute today to get any attention at all at BBx HQ. It's all work, work, work all the time around here!  What does a canine gotta do to get a little belly rub these days??  Sheeesh!

-Bowie