The Oddest Request – A True Story

I have received some pretty odd requests for baskets in the last 24 years. We have had to buy live doves for several custom gift baskets, goldfish, even a blow up doll (they said it was a joke…), but I think the one I received this week was the weirdest. We were putting together a custom Get Well Gift Basket for a celebrity client. I sent an email with some details of the contents and I got this back:
“Please nothing stale, nothing old, the freshest cookies you have, that’s a priority.”

What? I thought to myself. Did she seriously think she had to tell me that?
Then, another email:
“reiterating – please nothing stale. Often she’s received a basket and the food hasn’t been fresh. The newest batch of everything :)”

Oh my gosh, what is going on with this industry? It is a pretty sad state of affairs if customers feel they have to make a point to ask for fresh food – twice! – in their gift baskets , as if stale food is the standard. Yikes. That goes against everything we stand for at Fancifull. Here is my reply. I tried not to come on too strong, but my passion for the freshest and bestest may have gotten the best of me.

“Please be assured that we never have stale products in our shop. Most gift basket companies use products all from one distributor and they are frankly, mediocre to begin with.
The majority have baskets made up months in advance, often made in Mexico and shipped up here. The bottom line is the most important thing for those companies, so they go for the cheapest products they can find and put them in a pretty package. They sell the whole basket or “basket components” to basket web sites throughout the country.
We once did 9000 baskets for a high end grocery store in Southern California, and their penny pinching, cost-over-quality attitude woke me up to the reality of what most mass produced gift baskets are. Our viewpoint is radically different.

We get fresh deliveries of artisan product weekly. We are busy, so go through products quickly, especially what I have listed in your gift. The majority of our baskets are made up fresh to order so things aren’t sitting around on the shelf.
Occasionally we make up some baskets to have them available for people walking in or those clients who need something immediately. Those baskets are our most popular and are never around more than a few days.

We started this company 24 years ago to be an alternative to the stale tasting, lacking in inspiration baskets that proliferate the shelves of big box stores, catalogs and websites.
Fancifull in itself means out of the ordinary, not run of the mill and we strive to live up to our name.

Sorry for the lecture, it is just that we are passionate about our product here and take great pride in finding the best artisan food and gifts out there so our reputation is on the line with every gift that goes out. We want both the customer and the recipient to be delighted.

We will make sure that happens with your gift basket.

Best,
Terry August
Fancifull”