Posts Tagged ‘Custom Gift Baskets’

World Central Kitchen: Feeding the World

How We Can Help Easily

I knew I loved José Andreés when I first ate one of his San Nicasio Potato Chips.  The lightest most delicate potato chip I had ever had. It transformed how I saw chips.  I had never put potato chips in our gift baskets before, but knew my clients and their recipients needed these. 

Then there was the Foie Gras S’more at his Las Vegas Restaurant. Bazaar.  Surely it was a joke. We queried the waiter who patiently, and a bit condescending, told us it was the real deal,    We ordered it because we had to see for ourselves. On  the first bite I began to laugh out loud. Yes, he made food that made me laugh out loud because it was ridiculous.  Foie Gras with a barely sweet soft marshmallow and bitter chocolate on a homemade graham cracker….it was a sensory sensation I will never forget, the flavors and textures all interacting perfectly to deliver a dish I had never experienced before.  My husband took a bite later in the meal and had the exact same experience – he laughed out loud.  It was that extraordinary.

I was impressed by this guy. Then I saw him popping up to help those affected by Natural Disasters.  The Earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane in New Orleans, Feeding Federal Employees when the government closed. At first he did it as an individual. He began World Central Kitchen in 2010 as an organization that would bring food to those affected by natural and man-made disasters.  

A recent interview with him and director Ron Howard on Stephen Colbert, they were promoting the documentary We Feed People about the World Central Kitchen (WCK), made me realize we need to help. 

When disaster hits people need to know they will eat. It is essential. WCK dispenses thousands of meals a day. They get in there, set up and feed people.  Andrés explained he got frustrated watching people waiting for the government to help.  He knew he could do something. This is what chefs do. They feed people.  No matter what they get food out. 

At Fancifull we are all about food and we love to find ways to make this world a better place, it is part of our DNA. This seemed like a perfect way to do that. WCK has the track record, it gets meals out and does it quickly

 By portioning part of our sales to WCK it allows you to send beautiful gifts and each gift will feed people around the world.  The gift that keeps giving, right?

My birthday is June 16th so I targeted that day as the end day for the fundraiser.  I want to send WCK a big donation as a birthday gift to me. A gift to all who will benefit from it. I love to feed people.  I want people with full bellies and happy faces.  I also want people I don’t know, people who are in some far off place, who are worried about their life ahead to know they won’t starve, that someone is looking out for them.  

There are graduations, Father’s Day and all sorts of occasions coming up. Let’s send gifts, tell people we are thinking of them and let people around the world know we care too. 

I share Andrés love of  John Steinbeck and he quotes him here

“Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, we will be there. We must be there.”

Diet Terms Made Simple

Here are some very short and sweet definitions to help understand some of the diet terms used these days.

Vegan/Vegetarian

The difference is Vegetarians don’t eat meat, fish, or any animal. Vegans go a bit further and eat no animal products such as eggs, dairy or honey.

Gluten Free

Gluten is a mixture of proteins that occur naturally in wheat, rye, barley and crossbreeds of these grains.  The FDA defines gluten free  as having a gluten limit of less than 20 parts per million of gluten in foods carrying that label. We are careful with the products we put in our gluten free gift baskets.  Luckily there is a world of good food to use: Nuts, Cheese, Fruit, Tea and Coffee, Chocolates, Chips and so much more.

Kosher

Kosher is an adaptation of the Hebrew word meaning “fit” or “proper.” Kosher foods are those that conform to the regulations of kashrut.  These will carry the symbol of the rabbinical council that approved the item. Fruit is naturally kosher. The best known rules are:  no pork, no mixing of dairy and meat, and the term pareve which means it is a neutral food that can be eaten with meat or dairy.  This is a very short abridged definition.  There is much more to be found in research and among those who keep kosher (many who have been very helpful with advice).  We have an array of kosher products in our shop including wine, cheese, chocolates, cookies and more.  We also carry Kosher for Passover during that holiday. You can call and check the symbols on the foods we have if you have any questions.

Note:  These definitions above are by no means complete as each diet has complexities that we don’t have the space to go into here; and it varies by individual. For more data please research or ask the people you know who adhere to one of these diets to find out how they adapt it for themselves.

Connections

As I reflect on my 29 years building baskets and Fancifull I can’t help but think: “What is it all about? Why have I done this for so long? Why?”

Connections. Connecting people via a basket and a message, connecting our clients to the producers we’ve found over the years, connecting people to the truth of good food and why it is important.

It is a huge invisible but existent freeway system of lines going out – vectors arching across the U.S. with info, food, and warm messages. Our whole job is to send a message, to make people smile, to let them know someone is thinking of them.

When I started Fancifull back in 1987, I said to my friend, as we sat in the booth in my kitchen, drinking coffee and savoring the possibilities, that I didn’t want to just send stuff. The world was full of stuff: things that people didn’t want or wanted at some point but didn’t know what to do with now. I wanted my gifts to be joy bombs going out, making people happy, taking care of a need, sending a message.
I wanted to create delight in each person’s space upon receipt.

So I started the journey that is Fancifull. As that journey progressed there were detours, learning curves and terrific “ah-ha” moments. We evolved.

I threw myself into learning about cheese, wine, chocolate and how food is made. It became apparent to me that how we grow our food creates a huge impact on our planet. This wasn’t news to me, but the truth became more real, became something I couldn’t ignore.

I met many small artisans along the way and came to realize that by putting their products in my baskets I could help them find an audience. We began to do more tasting in our shop so we could indulge our passion for great food and finds and share them with anyone who was interested. This business of baskets got more and more interesting.

Our studio on Melrose near Gower in Hollywood has become a bona fide wine and cheese shop with all our offerings. We kept listening to our clients and created different packaging, some more sustainable some in a manner that would make shipping easier and more cost effective. Fresh flowers became a big part of Fancifull and making the baskets with fresh flowers along with gourmet food, became a signature design. They look like a still life.

Evolution and Connections. It keeps us expanding and growing. It allows us to daily create products that make us proud. We get to contribute back by buying from sustainable producers, encouraging the start ups, offering lots of advice (sorry to all whose ears we have bent), speaking to other retailers across the nation about how to succeed, holding fundraisers in our shop and sampling lots and lots of cheese, chocolate, salami and wine (those seem to be the favorite 4 food groups).

It keeps our love of Fancifull alive and burning. There is a vitality to sending out messages for people daily; knowing the gift is going to land on a desk and someone will smile, someone will feel acknowledged. Our clients’ business and personal lives will get stronger because their connections are stronger. We make life personal. We do it on many levels. We love doing it for you.

Fancifull Unwrapped

When I first set foot in Fancifull Fine Foods and Baskets in November 2010, I didn’t know what to expect. I only knew they made amazing wine gift baskets, fruit baskets and many other wonderful gifts that I’d feel privileged to receive. I had received a call from my Mom saying that her friends needed help in their production line for the Christmas season. So off I went…into the world of gift baskets!

The teamwork that goes into every facet of the business was astounding. Working in the production area proved to be a delightful mix of controlled chaos and constant motion. All the baskets/bows are handmade to order, artisan foods are carefully selected to create a delicate blend of flavors and the finishing touches are never overlooked with any order. From the small individual orders for holiday gift baskets to the large and extravagant custom baskets, everything looked like it was fit for royalty (and sometimes it was!). The amount of dedication that was poured into every design made me feel proud to be a part of it all. It was a wonderful way to start my career at Fancifull, as it let me see the end product of all the hard, time-consuming work that goes into designing every gift that leaves the building. I knew that I had to learn more about this business, about what it takes to run every aspect of it all. It was only 1 month after the Christmas season had ended when I returned to Fancifull, only this time, as a permanent employee… an Assistant Buyer.

Fancifull Gift Baskets and the 2011 Oscars

Baby Gift Baskets for a Lasting Memory

Yesterday we put a personalized license plate on this sporty pink peddle car to bid welcome to a newborn girl whose name is Sage.
I can just imagine her in a couple of years riding around her house in her own car with her name on it.
Will her parents get her some pink framed sunglasses, too?
Maybe the teddy bear will sit on the seat beside her.

Something I like about my job is that we get to make people happy. We get to let them know that they are important or that someone holds them dear. The baby gift baskets are especially fun.
I doubt that they will ever remember that the gift came from Fancifull. But I’ll bet the parents will remember who sent the gift to them. Even more so when, years from now, they see their child playing with the wagon, car or some other element that came from one of our gift baskets.

“Good place to work,” I thought as I popped in the last rivet on the license plate. We send messages of joy.

Fancifull Gift Baskets and The Oscars, 2011

Here at Fancifull we have a lot of history with the movies, TV and Hollywood in general. Wow, it was way back in 1999 that we were first asked to design the Emmy Baskets for the presenters at the Emmy Awards Show. The Emmy Gift Basket for the year 2000 is shown here. For about six years or so the gift baskets were really the “hot” thing, and we did them for all the shows.

We’re still very busy every year preparing all kinds of Congratulations and/or Good Luck gift baskets for the nominees for all the awards shows, but especially for the Oscars. We also do a lot of Welcome Gifts for VIPs arriving in town for the ceremonies. This year was no exception.

The bags pictured here from E! Entertainment were sent to members of the foreign press on their arrival. What a fun thing to find in your hotel room! Welcome Gift Baskets (or gift bags) are something we do a lot of – for events like this, meetings, conventions and weddings. Bags or trays, as opposed to baskets, are especially good for hotels because the recipient is traveling and a basket is something they’re probably not going to take with them.

Gift Baskets for Specialized Diets

There is an growing emphasis in this country on “special” diets:
Gluten Free, Vegan, Kosher, Low Fat, Eastern, Western and so on and so on. It can get crazy sometimes trying to sort it all out. Because we are in the business of giving food as a gift, sort it out we must.
But first it has to be really good food, something that anyone would like no matter what diet they follow. We wouldn’t be interested in anything less for our gift baskets. If it’s not wholesome and delicious, why bother? It wouldn’t be a Fancifull basket.

Fortunately we are finding many fine things that also will fit into a specialized basket when necessary. For example, we have had terrific Kosher foods at Fancifull since our inception. We carried these foods because they were great and would work with all our gourmet gift baskets, not just the Kosher ones. Then again, one of our best selling baskets, Fine Food and Fresh Fruit, just happens to be a Kosher gift basket as well.
Same with Gluten Free and Vegan Baskets: our White Bean Spread matched with the Organic Hummus Chips in our Healthy Gourmet Gift Basket is a delicious snack whatever your regimen. Eating well prepared, good food is the key to good nutrition for everyone. And if some has special requirements we can make a Fancifull basket for them that meets their needs.

Dia De Los Muertos

A client called us on Thursday and needed a custom gift basket for a very special client. They needed it that same day! And they needed it to be for the Mexican Day of the Dead – Dia De Los Muertos. They didn’t tell us who it was for, but we’re thinking maybe Danny Elfman. (I’ve heard it said that this is his favorite holiday.)

The first thing was to find a coffin-like wood trunk to hold everything. If you’re going to celebrate the day of the dead, you’d better do it right!
Our client sent us a special skull shaped bottle of tequila which paired perfectly with a black skull that we found. There are some other very unique items in there too, along with some pretty cool things to eat, as always.

Getting a gift basket like this turned around in less than a day really takes some doing! Every year we create a lot of holiday gift baskets, but this is the first one ever for Dia de los Muertos!

Celebrity Custom Gift Baskets

Being located in Hollywood we are often called upon to create special gift baskets for celebrities.
Today, for instance, we were asked to create a unique custom gift basket for fitness expert Richard Simmons. We wanted something elegant, but flamboyant. Classy, but fun.
We started with one of our heavy cast serving trays and a bottle of sparkling Moscato and went on from there.

Gift baskets such are these are one of the things that have made us famous. Perhaps you should have us create some memorable Holiday Gift Baskets for you? 😉