What a better reason to post than an update on our blogger “project”.  I’ve been in touch with a wonderful blogger who understands what we’re looking to accomplish and I’m looking forward to some GREAT ideas from her.

She’ll be using our product in some of her existing recipes, hopefully coming up with some new ones and writing a bit about the ease of use, taste, etc.  It looks like she’ll be doing some giveaways of our product as well, and of course I’ll keep everyone updated for that…everyone loves a giveaway!

So, now that everything is back on track, I’ll be posting more often and there’s some really exciting news both company & personally related.

It’s definitely livened up my grocery shopping experience.  I find myself perusing the different products in each aisle and wondering what could potentially be a new item.

The process itself is proving to be really interesting as well.  There’s so many different pieces that go into putting a product together.  From sourcing items, to testing & tasting all the various samples.

Today we took another step forward in the development process and I can’t wait to see what the food technologists come up with and where we go from here.

I wondered which of our products would even work for this little experiment.  I’ve narrowed down the products and I have an outline of what the project is, so now it’s just a matter of finding & contacting the right people.

And that’s where the real fun comes in.

It’s no secret that I’m heavily involved in (and LOVE) social media.  It’s enabled me to make connections with business & personal contacts.  It’s actually allowed me to blur the lines between the two.

So, in starting my search for bloggers, I wanted to get the best advice I could.  I turned, of course, to the blogosphere.

I came upon this amazing post written for Social Media Today about finding the top bloggers.  This post has been incredibly helpful in focusing my attention and where to look for the really great talent.

So, now what?  Once I’d found whom I’d like to participate, how do I go about pitching them?  Was pitching a blogger different than pitching a non-blogger?  Well, thank goodness for Stephanie Schwab and Social Media Explorer!  With this thorough post in my proverbial hot little hands, I had some great tools to move forward, research and pitch my target food bloggers.

Next up?  Getting my pitches out there and hopefully getting some great bloggers for our little project.  Can’t wait to see what happens!

The pouches are ready to serve in 90 seconds, but say you were looking to spice things up? Long grain white rice would pair really nicely with currants and you have a Persian rice dish.  Combine long grain brown rice with some scallions and you’ve got the perfect base for a Teriyaki chicken dinner.

I think we should have a little recipe contest.  Maybe we should have some food bloggers create a few tasty recipes for the 90 second rice pouches?

What does that mean for producers and manufacturers?  It means a focus on creating healthier items.  The consumer looking for easy ways to get healthy food.  One of the great newer items I’ve seen are whole grains being used like instant rice side dishes.  These mixed grains are available in pouches and afford the customer the opportunity to get the health benefits along with super fast preparation.

I know I personally love these items.  I’m sure I’m not alone in always looking to eat healthier and having simple, quick ways to prepare healthy options is a boon.  I’m also really looking forward to what the focus on eating healthier and having the Nutrition Keys bring to the private label food arena.

In my “research” it became clear that there were two market segments that I could really take the time to build a solid foundation, one which would hopefully lead to increased business.

This left me with a challenge.  How to “get in front” of these prospects.  I was really interested in utilizing social media, in order to demonstrate its inherent “connection” skills.

Fortunately, I am so lucky to have some REALLY smart friends and through chatting with a few, I think I’ve got a pretty great plan/set of goals.

I’m thinking a little outreach through mutual connections, a bit of event planning with a bit more focus on search engine optimization.

What kind of strategy do you employ when searching and “wooing” new business?

Imagine how surprised and intrigued I was to read that macaroni & cheese sales were up 25%, up to $802 million!!

The article discussed different families and how they customized how they eat mac & cheese.

How do you eat your Chef Karlin mac & cheese?

One of the upsides to making the video card?  An outtakes video of course!  We hope you like this one as much as the first. It’s definitely given me a chuckle or two.

Enjoy your holidays and have a very Happy New Year!

This slideshow generated with Smilebox

The whole team wishes everyone a safe and happy holidays!

Free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

The office is very busy around this time of year and almost everyone can’t wait until New Years, if only to get a bit of breathing room on their calendars.

While this time can be very hectic, it’s also a really nice time to all gather together.

And on Saturday, that’s what we did.

There were some great speeches and no Karlin Foods party would be complete without lots of laughing and fun.

Some of us clearly had more fun than others.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next post.  Our best wishes to you!