Oli's Products Newsletter: December 2009

Good Cheer to All
Man, is it almost 2010 already? Before the year comes to a close, we'd like to thank all of our customers for allowing us to still be here. Very likely, that means you. Thank you for your support.

News
We will be out of production until the Spring of 2010, at which point we'll pop in and say hi. For now, though, we have one last show this year on December 5th at the Pleasant Grove Harvest Dinner from 4-8pm. It's a small but social event that we have been a part of for the last years, and you'll find us inside one of the classrooms at the elementary school located at 3075 Howsley Road, Plesant Grove, CA 95668. We're thrilled to report that our sauce will be available as an item accompanied with the dinner this year.

Shows
If you can't make it out, there is some stock available at Gluten Free Specialty (2612 J St, Sacramento, CA)--as well as an assortment of other gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options. And for the holiday season, downtown Sacramento is offering free parking between I and L streets, as well as Front and 29th streets after 4:30pm on weekdays and all weekend long, so plan your trip accordingly and save a little dough.



End of the Year Blow Out
Planning on making your own gift baskets or looking for an easy, unique gift item?

Mix-N-Match any 6 jars for $25 - Order Now!

Due to overwhelming sales, we have sold out of multiple items and have only the following in stock:

• Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce: Original, Hot, Double Hot (while supplies last)
• Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa: Mild

We are still offering free local delivery, so order now to guarantee you won't be left out!

Happy Holidays
Again, thanks for all of your support, and be sure to check out GFree TV! You're sure to find great new foods and places to eat.

From our kitchen to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.

Oli, Debbie & Mike
twitter.com/olisproducts
twitter.com/gfreetv

My Weekend at Dave's Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we headed out to Dave's Pumpkin Patch in West Sacramento for their annual craft fair weekend. The third weekend of October every year not only does the patch have all their fun attractions of pumpkins and ponies, they invite crafters out as well. We've been vendors there for three years and got to see some of our regular customers. Saturday was warm and humid, and Sunday was windy and near the end of the day, sprinkling. In any case, we had a great time; we have one every year. And my husband found 2 pumpkins that called to him; I'm sure he'll be making a piece of art out of them.

I wandered through the patch to found myself attracted to the white/green pumpkins.

Just some of the nice, farm scenery.

Nov 15 Craft Fair

Up for some holiday shopping? St. Mary's will be putting on their annual fine arts craft fair again this year on November 14, 10am to 7pm. Come check out all the great vendors!

Dave's Pumpkin Patch

Now that's it's October it's time to start thinking about Pumpkins and Halloween. Since the first year my husband and I started dating, we've been carving pumpkins together, and over the years I've discovered Mike has a huge passion for making works of art out of a pumpkin. The last two years he's gotten really good, with multiple layers of light to dark, instead of the simple carve out. I love betty boop, so he made me this fabulous pumpkin:
And then he decided to take it one step further and actually carve our faces into a pumpkin. I think it looks quite realistic:
In addition to our pumpkin carving tradition, and it's more like he does the carving and I bake pumpkin seeds, we have been participating in Dave's Pumpkin Patch Halloween Fair for the last three years. They offer lots of fun for the whole family, from pumpkin picking, to corn mazes, pony rides, vendor booths, and some fabulous food. In fact, people start standing in line around 10:30am for their fabulous rib sandwiches, and you know what goes great with the sandwich? Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce. Yes, Oli's Products will once again be a vendor at Dave's. Two days of fall festivities; come on by the farm October 17th and 18th. Hope to see ya there.

You Can't Miss Us

This past weekend was our grand premiere of our new booth sign. You can't miss us now! Check out our fall show schedule and come on out for a sample. For the month of September we're offering our Fall Special: 1 Sweet 'n Spicy, 1 Salsa, 1 Pasta Sauce, and 1 squeezy bottle for just $13.

Are you gluten free or know someone who is gluten free? We've got pamhplets and information for you. Just come on by.

Gluten Free Fair was a Success

This past weekend was the first gluten free vendor fair in Sacramento, and in my opinion it was a success. Not only was I a vendor representing Oli's Products, but I was also involved with the setup of the event, as well as a Celiac interested in discovering products from other companies.

At 10 am there was a steady stream of people coming in, and while I am not aware of the actually number of attendees, it was quite busy throughout the day. So much so one minute it was 10:05 am, and the next time I looked at the clock it was lunch time, and then boom the event was over. I meet several people who said they had only came out to the event because they had seen Diane and myself on the news that morning. I also meet a couple of people who said they had read my blog and that a few of my posts had opened their eyes to new recipes or products, which is what I strive for.

Lights, Camera, Green Screen

As the publicity chair for the Celiac Sprue Association, Chapter 24, I was asked to accompany the Chapter Organizer, Diane Craig, to the KCRA studio for a live interview on the Saturday morning news. I used to suck at public speaking and hated taking to strangers, really..it's true. However over the years I've been put into positions that have forced me to interact with the public on a larger and larger scale. Over the past five years I've become an advocate for healthy living and for the gluten free diet, not only for Celiac Disease but for other health-related issues as well.

It was an interesting experience being "behind the scenes" so-to-speak. I was given a mic and stood under some very bright lights listening to the banter of the newscast in-between stories, just waiting for my story to be next. I knew our story was coming up when the television prompter came my way, remotely controlled by the man behind the black curtain. Diane and I were given the opportunity to share some yummy gluten free products, and encourage people to come out to the first annual gluten free vendor fair held in Sacramento, CA. I've never been on the news before but for my first appearance I think I did a decent job. Currently you can check out the interview here.

After our 2 minutes on camera we dashed off to the fair location for morning step up. We both were hoping for a good turn out, and having a people in line at 9:45am for a 10:00am opening was encouraging.

Raindrops & Registries

Since I got back from my honeymoon life has been a whirl wind of up and down frenzied moments. This weekend however was almost perfect. On Saturday we had a booth at the Indie Sacramento May Market, and despite the fact that it was raining, downtown Sacramento has yet to let us down. We knew after the first hour of continuous sales that it was going to be a good day and the rain was not going to put a damper on our moods. We actually ended up having a record-breaking day and sold out of our newly introduced pasta sauce. We were quite busy in our booth and didn't even really get a chance to eat something until mid afternoon, which at that point we figured we'd just hold out and eat at Mikuni Sushi after the show.

I love Mikuni's and have never had a probably with ordering gluten free there. The Japanese Mafia is my all time favorite: shrimp, real crab, scallop, salmon, and cream cheese. Delicious!

Then Sunday brought a trip to Bed Bath Beyond to pick out all the items we wanted off our registry, since mostly everyone gave us cash. We had a good old time and we are now a simplehuman brand household: garbage cans, paper towel rack, toilet bowl brush, soap dispenser, oh my. And now the best part of the day, it's time to break in our new sheets, pillows, and down comforter.

Oli's Products @ May Market

Oli's Products will be a participating vendor at the May Market May 2. Come on out, enjoy the sun, and have a sample of our Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce, and be there for the introduction of our pasta sauce! If you get there early you may even get some coupons for our products in the swag bags. In addition we will be selling $1 tickets to the Gluten Free Vendor Fair that will be held on May 16. Hope you'll come and check us and all our fellow vendors out!

Gluten Free Extravaganza

Finally there is going to be an ALL gluten free event right here in Sacramento! The local CeliacSprue Association, chapter #24 , is sponsoring the first all GF vendor fair this May 16. Slowly the phrase "gluten free" is being heard more and more in the media and in random conversation. As someone with Celiac, and a partial owner of a gluten free business, I am super excited to be part of this event.

There will be 30+ vendors sampling their fabulous gluten free products, from local companies like Azna's Bakery and Oli's Products, to more commercialized names such as Kinnikinnick and Glutino. Moreover the 1st 50 people who request a voucher will be able to have a free antibody test thanks to local sponsors. If you're gluten free, know someone who's gluten free, or are just curious about what the big deal with being gluten free is, come on out. For only $1 admission and free parking, this event is worth atleast a pop in! You can buy tickets at Gluten Free Specialty in downtown Sacramento, from Oli's Products at the May Market Fair, or at the door the day of the event.

Another Saturday: Another Craft Faire

Let me preface that at the faires we do that allow both handmade and company reps, 90% of the time I find myself next to the one, the only, Cookie Lee Woman. By woman I mean a typically young, busty blond, covered in way too much makeup and way too much jewelry. And today I found myself sandwiched between two of them! The war was on, because of course there can not be and should not be two reps from the same company.

There was a heated debate but unfortunately there was no hair pulling as that would have been the highlight of my day. The one claimed her territory and the other eventually caved. I just do not get the attraction to Cookie Lee: it's the same kind of jewelry you can buy at any department store for the same price or more. Are we just so brainwashed into sporting "the label?". I guess there are two kinds of shoppers: the label whore, (trendy, mall dwellers), and the label reject, (bargain buyer, interested in finding something unique).

All the vendors were noticing a change in buyer behavior, however you are not going to have many sales when there are not any shoppers. We were fortunate with the sales we had. Although I have to say I was slightly annoyed since with all the hype associated with the event I felt it necessary to stay up quite late last night to finish up our holiday stocking stuffers, and then barely made any sales.

It was a long, exhausting day, especially since all I ate was gluten free pretzels with cream cheese, but finally this evening I find myself ending my day with a delicious cheeseburger with extra cheese from In & Out Burger.

Fall Festivities

Corn Mazes, Pony Rides, and Pumpkins, Oh my. Dave's Pumpkin Patch is the place to go for a day full of farm fun. This past weekend Mike and I were vendors at the Patch for the one weekend out of the fall season that they invite craft vendors to set up on their farm. The people truly begin to flock in at 10am and things are still booming at 5pm. We were given a prime spot by the snack shack, which I must say, serves the best trip tip sandwich I've ever had, which was topped with Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy, of course.

It was one of the longest and most exhausting weekends I've experienced in a long time, but at the same time it was fun and exciting. My grab bags were so popular with the kids that for a brief second I actually considered having a business that just sells grab bags. We had a record number of tasters and actually had a record breaking weekend, selling out of a couple different varieties of sauce and salsa.

There were a few obvious things to us, the vendors, that did not seem apparent to our customers however. Missing our sign that we accept credit cards, that's one I can let slide, and then there's adults asking what's in the grab bags, even though my neon green sign says it in detail, but the one that really became quite annoying by the end of the first day was the garbage can. We give the customer a spoon for tasting and they stand there holding it as if they don't know what to do with it. As if we were playing a cruel test on them to see what they would do with their tiny spoon if we didn't provide a trash can- oh wait, but we do. The funny thing is that other people will come to throw away their cups and what not in our cute, small garbage can. I guess we're just going to have to come up with a better solution.

As a true people watcher I also find parental techniques quite fascinating. There seems to be the parent who won't let go of their child's' hand, and then there are those who insist on giving their toddler the freedom that only a much older child earns. In fact one woman didn't even bother looking at her child when she told him to look with his eyes not his hands, and he continued to tug on my hat display and nearly broke apart of it.

Being exposed to continuous crowds of people I find human behavior quite fascinating, and sometimes wonder where peoples' morals and manners have gone.

Weather Whimsicality

As an Oli's Products founder I participated in Craftoberfest this past Saturday and despite the strong gusts we experienced throughout the day, we had a prime spot right along J street downtown, and in the end Craftoberfest was a success! Both our food lines and our craft items were big hits, and there were no causalities from the weather war.

After being really cold for the majority of the day we packed things up and headed over to one of our favorite spots, Mikuni's, for some sushi afterward, as we had been working so hard that we barely had time to run across the street to the restroom, or to even eat lunch.

We continued to expose ourselves to the weather on Sunday and headed up to Apple Hill, to buy some apple cider, check out some vendors, and of course no trip is complete without a stop at the Fudge Factory, (with flavors like pumpkin pie, apple cider, raspberry swirl, I mean who can resist?) There was a high of 60 degrees today up there but you wouldn't really know as all the walking up and down hills kept the blood pumping. By far High Hill and Boa Vista were the hop. If you're looking for a nice drive and trip into the country you should try and go up to the Apple Hill area between now and Christmas. I know we'll be going back in December to cut down our Xmas tree and of course, buy more fudge.

And now I have a slight tickle in my throat...oh dear.

Craftoberfest!: A Gluten Free Tasting

Fall is a great time for caramel apples, pumpkins, and craft fairs! Take a nice Saturday stroll in downtown Sacramento and check out a small craft faire this coming weekend October 11 between 10am-4pm.

Come on out and visit Oli's Products' booth. Have a taste of our award winning Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce and Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, both of which are gluten free. So come on by, have a taste, and maybe take some home with you. After all a specialty food product makes a great unique holiday gift. Hope to see you there!

The Game of Life

After two weeks of being out of town on business my fiance came home and we had a very nice weekend together. I had flown down to see him last weekend and we were able to video chat with the magic of technology, so it was like he was still sitting next to me at the computer desk in the evenings. We scoped out a few wedding locations, and got to sit and chill on the beach. Although he did have a mishap with the ocean and his iPhone.

Now we're back in Sacramento together and got to have some quality snuggle time while we watched Player 5150 and Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire. I just started the last book in the Harry Potter series and while I was originally quite against the whole exciting cult-like vibe of the Harry Potter followers, I have come to really enjoy their fantasy aspect. After a rough day of dealing with issues at work or with rude customers and fellow vendors Harry Potter is the perfect solution before bed.

We set up a booth at the Rocklin Chill Cook off and Craft Fair on Saturday and last year the show had been quite profitable, however this year there were more companies with booths rather than an equal mix of companies and handmade vendors, thus people were more in the mood to acquire as many free gifts as they could, like magnets and toothbrushes, rather than making a purchase. And it became increasingly difficult to make a sale when the people in the booth next to us insisted on not only using our booth as a walkway but stood in front of my hat rack for at least a solid hour throughout the day. Oh and did I mention they had they kids there and they were running and screaming around the entire day in and out of my booth, bumping into my tables, etc. During one of my sales, even one of the customers looked at me as though I should ask "my son" who was sitting right next to my chair, in my 10 x 10 space, to stop screaming.

I, of course, grinned and just mumbled under my breath for the most part, but finally I just could not take it anymore, and politely asked someone to stop not only standing directly in front of my product but to stop leaning and pulling on my tent, and in response I got the oh, this chic is crazy/territorial look. And the booth next to us was not a handmade vendor but a business. And after how they behaved throughout the day I would never go to there office for service. The one thing as a craft vendor that absolutely gets under my skin is when someone hangs or leans on my tent. To me that's as if you invite me over to your house and I jump on your couch or bed with my shoes on in front of you, or I come to your office and start rearranging the furniture in the waiting room and then put my business card in all your magazines.

In any regard, the day passed by and I got to hang out with Mike. And then of course no weekend is complete without a trip to Farmers Market. And today especially I had to get my handy a little dirty, and just jump in, as if there was only one pair of Jimmy Choo's left in your size (or insert your favorite product here), only we were fighting for the last of the nectarines, at .25 a pound! I managed to get my hands on six, which only came to $1.

Labor Day Fun

Nicolaus, CA knows how to have a good time! Oli's Products went out to their Labor Day parade and festival and we had a prime space right next to the main stage and the picnic area. There were some extremely gusty winds today but lucky no one's tents went flying, although a few good damaged. The morning was a little slow but by lunch time the drinks were flowing, (and I do mean flowing, as there was already a long line in front of the Coors Light booth at 10:30am), the music was blaring, and the people were shopping. As the afternoon continued, and the drinking continued people were dancing, and just having a jolly good time. The primary band Eclipse was really entertaining; finally an event where I didn't mind being close to the live entertainment.
I sold out of my $1.00 grab bags and my $1 kid bracelets before noon ever hit, which was nice because I've really been trying to off load some of my jewelry inventory. There was one other handmade jewelry vendor there, but I guess there spot just wasn't as good as ours, since they said things had been slow. With the crowds that were there the last two years in a row, whether you're going to have a good time, or going as a vendor, this show is a keeper. Just be aware that if you're coming for the parade, be super early, as the street was already lined with chairs at 7 am and that it's extremely dusty.
Hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend too!

Placerville Craft Fair

For the past three years I have been a craft vendor at the Placerville Craft Fair. The first year it was over 105 degrees outside, and I find it extremely interesting how much business the booth across the way had; they were selling strange hats for animals, but it turned out it was the small selection of cool-ties that they had that was actually attracting all the shoppers. And next to me were the ceiling fan pulley people; who knew fan pulleys would be such a high demand item, but I've been next to them every year since. They are the one vendor thus far that I haven't minded being next to; they're not noisy or annoying, like the vendors who had rubberband guns, or the vendor with the wheel of prices that made noise when it spun. Those were both very long days.

This year I was in between the ceiling fan pulley people and a hair accessory vendor. Even as a juried show there were many more jewelry vendors this year, and a few empty spaces. I was really hoping to push the jewelry as I'm trying to reduce my stock in that department, but customers just were not interested since the market was over saturated. However, I was the only knitted hat vendor, and thus had a monopoly on that market.

In previous years as soon as 8 o'clock hit the street was filled with people, alot of which who were walking their dogs, but this year most vendors agreed that the traffic level was down, thus sales were down. In fact a few vendors who said they have been in the business for 10+ years are looking to get out as people have less discretionary income to play with. Yet parents still need to keep their babies' heads warm right, thus why not buy a cute novelty hat. And that's exactly what people did.

Despite the changes in the fair, I still made a pretty good profit, mainly from my knitted baby hats. I heard "oh that strawberry is adorable, and look the bumble bee...isn't that precious" all day long. Plus a few people complimented the quality of the work. Oddly enough, I did not sell any of my strawberry hats, which were the first to go last year, although it was the customers who bought the strawberries who grabbed up my watermelon hats within the first hour. The hat that made the biggest impression was a felted creation that I've had around for about a year now. I had had interested customers before but felting is very involved and only a few appreciate that that sort of hat does not sell for $20. I knew that it would sell in Placerville for a respectable price and it did; it went home with a fellow jewelry vendor.

I also had introduced my new hat rack, as my rope ladder display that I had made was hard to store and had a bit of a fall at my last show. The new display holds more stock and can handle the wind a little bit better. Although, a strong gust still knocked it over, so there will be some revamping done to the weighted base for my show next weekend. Despite the tumble the display was a success as I was utilizing my vertical space and attracted people from a distance. Despite the negatives of being a craft vendor, like waking up at 4am, dealing with the hot and the cold temperatures, and having to constantly load and unload the car (unless you're luckily enough to have a dedicated storage trailer), the life of a craft vendor can be fun and interesting.