Holiday chocolate gift baskets have been a staple of corporate giving for a long time.
Holiday gifts to employees, customers, vendors or VIP contacts are a tradition for many American businesses. For many, the first rule of corporate holiday gifts is to, “Give something memorable, stand out from the crowd.” You want your gift to come across as thoughtful and make the recipient feel appreciated and special. The more unique your gift, the more impact it has and the more likely the recipient will remember your company.
But why is that? Why is giving a unique holiday gift, and a holiday chocolate gift basket in particular, so important?
The reason is simple – we remember most things that link our senses and emotions into an experience that triggers a response or reaction from us. Put simply, the more buttons we can push in our brain, the more likely we will retain the experience. Every moment of our life our brains store information about our experiences, interactions, assessments and preferences. It prioritizes those memories into short-term and long-term storage.
Interestingly, research has shown that short-term memory is just a flash in the mental pan, as at any given moment, we retain no more than about 7 things for 20-30 seconds before discarding that memory. If we didn’t, our brain would overload from the volume of information we take in constantly. It discards the unimpressive, ordinary, irrelevant or unnecessary. But not everything. If it is important enough, our brain moves that memory to the virtually unlimited capacity found in our brain’s long-term storage where it can be recalled even years later.
One of the chief drivers of that decision-metric is the impact that experience has on our senses. According to the learning website, Wonderopolis.com, “Memories are mental records of past events. As such, they consist of recollections of our personal experiences. Memory begins with the senses, since that’s how we experience the world. If you think about it, your memories consist of remembrances of things you’ve sensed in the form of touches, tastes, sounds, sights, and smells.”
The lesson here for giving business gifts is choose a gift that excites the senses. Holiday chocolate gift baskets are one of the most popular seasonal choices for businesses because the appeal is widespread and it is perceived to be a premium, high-end product.
The answer for many companies both large and small is, Chocolate Pizza Company, and their extensive selection of holiday chocolate gift baskets. According to owner, Ryan Novak, “Our holiday chocolate gift baskets are so popular because they offer such a wide variety of our unique gourmet chocolates.” Each year, Chocolate Pizza Company ships thousands of chocolate gift baskets nationwide for industry giants in entertainment, banking and retail and for hundreds of small-to-mid size companies who may need just a couple dozen gifts. Each one is packed with handcrafted chocolates made in America at Chocolate Pizza Company’s brand new 10,000 square foot production facility in Central New York.
The assortment and price points of holiday chocolate gift baskets from Chocolate Pizza Company means there is one for every budget. In terms of making an impression, these baskets inundate the recipient’s senses – especially sight, smell and taste. Starting with sight, the visual impact is immediate and stunning. It starts with a premium basket, no flimsy, cheap paperboard here. Inside, on a cushion of crush or tissue, sits a collection of delicious chocolate specialties. The entire loaded basket is over-wrapped in seasonal cellophane and finished with a quality bow that demands attention and looks professional. Through the over-wrap, the individual chocolate treats are visible, inviting the recipient to explore what is obviously a treasure trove of chocolate wonders.
Then, there is the aroma of gourmet chocolate. Open any of the gourmet chocolate treats inside holiday chocolate gift baskets and the first impression is that wonderful smell. It’s the first thing visitors to the company’s store in Marcellus, New York notice when they walk through the door – the place is engulfed in the aroma of chocolate. The sense of smell is the most powerful of the five senses and that elevates its importance in linking an experience to long-term memory. Unlike the other senses, smell has a direct line to the part of the part of the brain in charge of memory – smell and memory are linked. According to new research, our nose can detect over 1 trillion – trillion with a “t” – different scent molecules which is 150,000 times more sensitive than your eyes which can only distinguish up to about 7 million different hues and 2.8 million times more sensitive than your ears. So giving a holiday gift that has an aromatic aspect to it means that your chances of being remembered as unique and enjoyable go up substantially.
You eat first with your eyes, taking in the presentation of the food, then with your nose, discerning the myriad of aromas that portend an invitation to enjoy, but in the end, taste seals the deal. Or, more accurately, flavor seals the deal. You see taste is the specific chemical sense perceived by your taste buds who in general specialize in one of four main areas – sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Flavor on the other hand is the brain’s collective experience in assimilating those taste signals with input from our nose, tactile and even thermal responses. The fusion of many inputs blended with past experience of a particular food creates a flavor experience. Here’s a hint on why gourmet chocolate gifts are so popular – the flavor response for nearly everyone is enjoyable. We love good chocolate.
Chocolate Pizza is a perfect example. We take the highest quality milk or dark chocolate and blend it with homemade English toffee that we make on-site in small batches so it is fresh and delicious. The mixture then is poured into actual pizza pans and topped with nuts, candies or a customized greeting. We serve it as a whole Chocolate Pizza, a slice or even a mini Chocolate Pizza. For holiday gifts, many companies will order holiday chocolate gift baskets and add a whole Chocolate Pizza as the base. We wrap the pizza box in seasonal paper and attach the over-wrapped gift basket with ribbon so the final presentation is stunning.
Peanut Butter Wings® are featured in many of the chocolate gift baskets and are Chocolate Pizza Company’s most popular specialty. Crisp, rippled potato chips covered in creamy peanut butter and dipped in rich chocolate make them a one-of-a-kind taste masterpiece.
But Chocolate Pizza Company also creates dozens of other gourmet treats that make every chocolate gift basket special. There are the classics like chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered potato chips and almond bark and then there are fancy chocolate selections like raspberry almond rush, and nut crunch with its homemade English toffee from a local recipe dating back to 1919. Drumsticks are another fancy chocolate favorite – 4 inch salted pretzel rod dipped in smooth caramel, rolled in pecans and walnuts and wrapped in gourmet milk or dark chocolate. A dash of sea salt finishes some of the drumsticks.
Finally, a tip about timing for corporate gifts. Experts suggest that companies should aim to have holiday gifts all delivered by the end of the first week in December. After that first week, you risk having your message lost in the hustle and bustle leading up to the holidays. According to Novak, “Companies place their holiday gift orders with us usually months in advance and schedule when they want the packages shipped. Shipping early also leaves time for last-minute additions.” Chocolate Pizza Company offers quantity discounts for corporate gifts and can customize a program to fit every business need.
