The Chatty Gourmet

Susan's Healthy Gourmet, LifeSpring Nutrition and Xan Confections received the 2011 Family Owned Business Award from the Orange County Business Journal on Wednesday, Nov. 30!

Susan was "stunned" to receive the honor, but she, along with Kerry, John and Mike, were proud to accept the award on behalf of their three companies and join the OCBJ and CSUF Family Business Council in celebrating family owned businesses in Orange County. 

To watch an excerpt from the awards presentation and hear a touching tribute from Susan about Kerry's journey to success in the business world, please visit  visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/susanshealthygourmet to check out the latest addition to the Susan's Healthy Gourmet video blog.

What does Susan’s Healthy Gourmet have in common with the color pink, bras and Dr. Oz? The 2011 Susan G. Komen Orange County Race for the Cure!

Susan’s Healthy Gourmet has been donating to Susan G. Komen for the cure for several years, providing delicious food for the VIP sponsor and fundraiser tent. This year Carlee and Alysse volunteered in the VIP area at the 20^th annual race last Sunday. It was Alysse's third time volunteering at an event she looks forward to every September.  

We arrived at the event early Sunday morning, abundant with goodies and treats to distribute. After our booth was set up, we had a chance to say hello to the other volunteers who we hadn’t seen since last year.

Carlee and Alysse both wore their pink wigs and felt like celebrities whenever people asked to take their picture. Two of the other Komen volunteers wore head bands made out of bras – a great sight to see. Everyone was so friendly and in the mood to have a good time.

Dr. Oz showed up around 8 a.m. and was kind enough to take pictures with sponsors and fans, including Alysse and Carlee in their pink wigs. The event was a huge success and has raised more than $2.5 million dollars so far.

Komen will be collecting donations through October, which is breast cancer awareness month. The overall goal is to reach the $3.1 million mark. We were excited to be a part of such a fun and important event and are already counting down the days until next year.

"Jack had his appointment today for his monthly IV Chemo and for the first time he got a Batman Band-Aid after they took the IV out! That made his day; he was very proud of it and had to show EVERYONE! The hospital always has regular Band-Aids, but the kids really light up when they get a special kid Band-Aid."

Jack is one of our new friends at CHOC. Jack’s mom sent us the note above along with the great idea to take up a collection of Band-Aids for the kids at CHOC who have to go through the arduous task that is Chemo. When we heard about this great cause, it was a no-brainer for us to run out to the local drug store and buy out the Band-Aid section. These brave little kids need all the fun and happiness that they can get. It is amazing what we take for granted and impossible to think that a Thomas the Train Band-Aid can make all the difference in the world.

For those of you who don't know....our Customer Service Reps here at Susan's Healthy Gourmet have possibly the hardest job. 

They correlate with the drivers and kitchen. They take orders, compliments and complaints(from you and from us!), answer phone's, work Saturdays and have to do crazy mathematical equations to predict the amount of meals the kitchen has to make.     

So how do we make them feel valued while also adding some fun? 

Contests...Contests...Contests with fun rewards. So here are just a few contests, team building excercises and rewards we do at SHG.

The Value Board = Each member picks their 5 top values and then we put down the most popular and vote for which one's we should be doing for our customers. Then we make a big poster of it. Here is our most recent one. Our service words are: Dedication, Laughter, Freedom, Family and Integrity.      

How Many orders will we get?  = We all pick the number of orders we think we will get for that date and whomever wins get to pick from the goody basket. The goody basket has make-up, colorful notebooks or folders, starbucks gift cards and other fun things we know the girls would like.

Turning the Most New Customers = Occassionally throughout the year we have a "How many info calls can you turn into new Custumers" contest. We do it for say a month and half. Then whomever wins this one gets to pick either a) a potluck day where they can tell you what to make out of your "specialty dish closet" or b)they can pick a theme day.

This was our 80's theme day for the last one. Tara, Erin, Casey, Jenn (Top Row) Carissa and Kerry (Middle and Bottom)

   We have plenty of other fun things we do for our girls as well but if you feel like being a better part of their work environment and they've done a great job for you...let us know! Anyone who gets a compliment "randomnly" from a customer gets a quick $20.