Time for macarons to take the limelight in the cute dessert trend, I guess. Cupcakes are sooooo January 2010.
So when will the Georgetown Macaronary or something equally cutely named open up? Probably soon. When will I go in there? Not until they make cute desserts that taste like circus peanuts or a chocolate bar. What can I say? I am a traditionalist. “Macarons are not meant to be mainstream,” sniffs Laetitia Brock, a native of Paris who has been blogging about French culture from Washington for the past six years. When she got wind that Starbucks was offering macarons over the holidays, she ran out and purchased a boxed set. “Very mushy,” she concluded, after a few bites. |
“I saw them at the McCafé on the Champs-Élysées—just down the street from Ladurée! What is the world coming to?!?” commented Allison Lightwine, using the screen name La Mom. |
“It was so weird to see these delicate, very French pastries in something that’s so American. It’s kind of like if you showed up in a tuxedo to a baseball game, it was so out of place,” Ms. Lightwine, who writes a blog about being an American mom in Paris, said in an interview. Read more at online.wsj.com |
Interesting point here at the end. The cost of imposing this type of tax goes beyond the extra change spent at the register. What happens if the industry feels unwelcome in the state? How bad does the situation have to get before companies stop setting up shop there, and how badly does the governor want to find out? Applying the sales tax to candy and gum would raise $28 million, Gregoire’s office says, a fraction of the $605 million she wants to raise in total. |
Gregoire told reporters she picked items to tax that represent discretionary spending by consumers, from cigarettes to bottled water to candy. |
Candy’s not the only food that people can choose to skip, Brown & Haley CEO Pierson Clair pointed out. The Tacoma-based confectioner opposes the candy tax. |
“You don’t have to buy potato chips, do you?” Clair said today. “Do you have to buy peanuts? Do you have to buy cheese? I mean, it goes on and on.” |
| The Western Candy Conference (WCC) will feature several noted speakers during its annual event March 24 to 28, 2010. |
With sessions titled, What’s Up With Commodities, Snacking Across America, and Legislative Update and Candy Tax Review, attendees can expect to garner valuable insights for their businesses, according to the WCC committee. Keynote speaker Paul Brewbaker, of TZ Economics, is scheduled to deliver Challenges and Opportunities for the Economic Future on the final evening of the four-day event. |
The conference will be held at the Ihilani Resort and Spa on O’ahu in Hawaii. |
As we all know, our state is facing a serious budget deficit. We need a comprehensive solution to the budget shortfall, not a band-aid approach. Unfortunately, the proposal to tax Washington-made products like Aplets & Cotlets, Almond Roca and Fran’s Chocolates, just to name a few, doesn’t come close to solving the deficit, yet it will hurt an already struggling local confectionery industry. |
| Some legislators are singling out candy because they say candy is not a food. Tell that to the producers of dairy products, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cocoa, vanilla, apples, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries and the many other wonderful ingredients in our products that are absolutely foods |
| The candy definition would also exclude candies made with flour, so while a chocolate-covered cherry made by Chukar Cherries in Yakima (using cherries grown in Washington) or a Liberty Orchard Fruit and Nut Delight would be taxed, a chocolate-covered pretzel would not. Read more at www.spokesman.com |
Be sure to click through to the page, where there is a radio interview with Beth. | The National Confectioners Association expects an increase in Valentine’s Day candy sales this year. They say lovers and friends will spend nearly three quarters of a billion dollars on chocolate alone. That should be good news for Chicago, long ago dubbed the candy capital of the world. But, is it still true? That’s one of the many questions Alison Cuddy had for candy expert Beth Kimmerle. She says the era before the Great Chicago Fire gave the Windy City its foundation as a candy capital. |
| Around 100 journalists from all over the world selected the top innovations from the 93 items at the new product showcase at ISM. The Belgian company Rovacos won the price for the most innovative product with its ‘Sushi in the city’. |
| The sweet sushi treats combine the look of this Japanese speciality with the expertise of a Belgian chocolatier. The assortment is composed of eight collections and aligns a variety of exotic savours like ginger, coconut, mango, pineapple etc. The attractive packaging is also very diversified, and can be combined in an adapted display unit. Read more at www.confectioneryproduction.com |
These candy taxes are a bit crazy. See Rick Enstrom’s op-ed piece here. Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal to tax Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, as well as many other candies, is barreling through the Colorado legislature faster than a speeding bullet and well before Colorado consumers have an inkling that their favorite candy treats are about to cost them more. |
| the definition of candy is not straightforward. In the bills under consideration in Colorado, a chocolate-covered pretzel would not be taxed but a chocolate-covered strawberry would. |
| Candy is being singled out as an “OK” food to tax because it’s not a “necessary” food. Tell that to all the daughters, wives, girlfriends, friends, grandmothers, and co-workers in your life who smile with pleasure at the mere thought of chocolate. And tell that to the producers of butter, peanuts, almonds, cocoa, vanilla, blueberries, cranberries and the many other wonderful ingredients in our products. |
Another bit of creative packaging would put the sales tax on candy and gum, earmarking the money for public health. It doesn’t raise a lot of money – some $30 million a year – but it lets lawmakers congratulate themselves for combating cavities and obesity. It also confuses consumers and penalizes candy retailers and Washington manufacturers like Brown & Haley. Turns out it’s not easy to define candy. Association of Washington Business lobbyist Amber Carter pointed out that the proposed bill would tax Baby Ruths but not Twix bars. Read more at www.thenewstribune.com |
| Candy executives are speaking out today against HB 2388, the proposal to apply Washington state’s 6.5 percent sales tax to candy. |
Representatives from Seattle Chocolate Co. and Brown & Haley are urging the state’s House committees on finance and health care to oppose the bill, claiming the tax is discriminatory and will negatively impact jobs. |
Rising raw material costs coupled with the recession have already forced companies to cut back on spending, and this tax would place additional pressure on the situation, according to Jean Thompson, CEO and owner of Seattle Chocolate. Read more at www.candyandsnacktoday.com |
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Macarons are the New Cupcakes: New Trend in Cute Desserts
