Organically Hip™

New Year, New Beginnings

2012-02-17T13:11:00.000-05:00

We are so excited to bring in the new year with many new beginnings over here at OHip! We hope that everyone had a relaxing and joyful holiday season, we can't wait to share with you what we have been working on.

First and foremost, we have a new and improved interactive website where you can find almost anything and everything you could possible wish for relating to OHip.

Here's a snip-it of what the new website has to offer:

Organically Hip mixes can be delivered to your front door! By simply clicking on the SHOP button you are brought to our online store which has all our mixes as well as giftsets which are not available in stores!

Curious where you can purchase our products? Our interactive map gives you a run down of all the stores that carry our products.
By signing up for our newsletter you will receive news, updates and special promotions, a must for all you OHip fans!
We are proud to be affiliated with some local organizations, be sure to check them out too!

Stay tuned for updates! In the mean time be sure to "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. There are links to these sites on the website!

Have fun exploring the new website, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Warehouse Sale

2011-12-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

We hope to see you Thursday!!

Buy Local Bash

2011-12-01T15:32:00.001-05:00

Last week I (Melissa..hi, mom!) had the pleasure of joining Maria at Syracuse's Second Annual Buy Local Bash. As an intern I am the director of social media, aka I am the person behind all those Facebook and Twitter messages you see! In the weeks before the Buy Local Bash I was an updating machine, and did a lot of research just as to what this event was and its goals.

Syracuse First is "a not for profit network of locally owned, independent businesses and organizations dedicated to building a sustainable community by encouraging citizens to "Think Local First"." They are the people behind the Buy Local Bash, and with the help of close to thirty vendors and various sponsors they threw an event showcasing all that the local community has to offer.

Their goal was to fill Benjamin's on Franklin in Armory Square with community members who could enjoy a night of music, food, beer, wine, coffee, chocolate, you name it. Throughout the night we rarely had a dull moment when there wasn't someone at our booth, and from the looks of it this was how all the vendors thought. There was a great turn out and we met a lot of great people; I really enjoyed being part of such an awesome event that has such a stimulating cause.

This was a kick off to Shop Syracuse Week, an initiative to do your holiday shopping locally, there are so many locally owned businesses in your back yard offering unique items you aren't going to find in large commercial stores. So remember, as you start to do your holiday shopping, look to your backyard, and bake up plenty of cookies. Every one loves cookies and our mixes make the perfect gift for anyone!

Buy Local Bash

2011-11-15T14:52:00.000-05:00

You're Invited to the 2nd annual Buy Local Bash!!

Who?

YOU!
Your neighbors and community members
Local Merchants

What?

This event will highlight local merchants and includes live music, tasting stations from hometown restaurants, farmers and producers, beer samples from local breweries and more!
A kickoff to Shop Syracuse Week

When?

Monday Novemeber 21st, 6pm

Where?

Benjamin's on Franklin
314 Franklin Street
Historic Armory Square
Syracuse, NY 13202

Why?

Bring local merchants and community members together
To raise awareness of the importance of buying locally

Click here to buy your tickets.

You don't want to miss out on this event!!

The Cardiff Giant

2011-10-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Let's start off with a little history lesson, shall we?

Back in 1869 (way before any of our times, thank goodness because then we'd be without cookies, and let's be real, who would want to live without cookies?) the United States was hit with one the biggest hoaxes of its time. Local farmers in Cooperstown, N.Y. uncovered a 10 foot tall petrified man, seemingly to be, the Cardiff Giant.This news quickly became national news, it seemed as though everyone wanted to cash in on the discovery of a real-life giant, including famous showman P.T. Barnum. The creator, George Hull, set up an exhibit and began charging the wagon loads of people who came to view this phenomenon until he finally came clean that this was in fact not a real giant, but a man made entirely of gypsum.

Fast forward to today, local artist Ty Marshal wanted to create a hoax of his own, and didn't have to look much further than his backyard for inspiration. Combining Central New York's History and sense of community in conjunction with the importance of art, Marshal took to recreating the giant, but this time instead of gypsum he used Hypertufa, a mix of Portland cement, peat moss, and perlit which is more likely to hold in harsh weather conditions, and you just never know what type of weather we'll get hit with here in CNY.

Marshal's Cardiff Giant now rests in Lipe Art Park on West Fayette Street. The event, "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" began on October 16th and features special events such as film screenings and readings of stories. Daily you can visit the exhibit from 10am-6pm until October 23rd, for just .50 cents!

Now, how does this all relate back to us?! Besides supporting the local community and other local entrepreneurs, we have created a special edition cookie mix for this event!! Not only did we create a special edition mix for the event, but we are donating 25% of the proceeds back to the event. So, come check out the recreation of a giant, and of course, pick up your favorite cookie mix!

When it rains..it pours!! Let’s keep this blog rolling…..

2011-10-05T14:09:00.000-04:00

Angela did a good job on bringing this blog up to date. However, our crazy & stressful past 8 months summed up into a few paragraphs just doesn’t seem do us justice.

Getting on board with TOPS supermarkets sure put the icing on our 3 year anniversary cake. That doesn’t mean that we have stopped for even a moment to continue increasing our store list with all of the smaller independent Natural Food Stores. In fact, next week we are packing our bags and heading to NYC! We will be doing our first demo in Brooklyn at Perelandra Natural Foods. Perelandra Natural Foods
What’s more important than what boots to wear & what clothes to bring? Well…how to maximize the potential of 2 nights & 3 days in the city that never sleeps! (think that’s actually Las Vegas, but you know what I mean!)

After that, back to Syracuse & back to the daily grind of figuring out what to do next. Baking season is in full force and the orders are coming in. That leads me to introducing another one of our interns…Ali! She started work yesterday in our facility making mixes for a project we were working on with a local artist, Ty Marshal. Ty is working on the Cardiff Giant project. More info coming soon.... Be sure to check it out. Cardiff Giant
We kept Ali busy showing her the ropes of food production. Any help we get is so appreciated as Angela & I have been wearing too many hats for too long. Ali picked up things quickly & we are excited to have her on board.

We are ending this week with a roadtrip on Friday to Rochester for a store demo at Loris Natural Foods & Abundance Cooperative Market. I will leave the details to follow and pass the torch to our new guest blogger, Melissa. She will be filling in all the blanks & promises to not leave you hanging for another 8 months!

Where did the time go?

2011-10-02T22:27:00.003-04:00

Well it's about time! Where HAVE you been?
What?
Where have WE been? Alright, jig's up, I guess. We can't hide from technology...

We've been here, but there has been just SO much to do that we have, sob, neglected our blog. BUT we are back to redeem ourselves, after (gasp!) ten months of no blogging and we have TONS of stuff to tell you! Tons I say! So where to start...ok January 29th...ok I'm just kidding. I will give you the Cliffs Notes version.

Let's start with the biggest news...we are thrilled to announce that after six months of hard, laborious work, miles of driving, countless emails and hundreds of phonecalls that we got a new couch for the office.... no, no...ok seriously our products are now available in over 50 (soon to be 130) Tops Supermarkets!

Our full product line is available at most stores that have a natural/organic food section and the gluten free products will be available in all stores in late Fall.

Here are a couple of pictures of what our warehouse looked like when they picked up the order.

Here is a picture of the nice man who picked up our order

Well, after that big news nothing really compares. Plus I forget what else we did.

Oh, here is one more piece of great news. We are now the proud owners of four SU interns. I think we should blog about each one individually to introduce them because they really are so special to us, especially that they are providing us with free labor. However, in return we are providing them with a valuable labor intensive educational experience that they will never forget.

I must, however, quickly introduce you to Melissa, our new marketing intern. She is Italian but don't let that fool you. She's exceptionally lovely and funny and we really like her. She is already working hard and I see she has made the text on the blog so small I can barely see it. But it is out of my control now and I have no choice but to let her spread her creative wings.

Cookies & Coffee Go Hand in Hand!

2011-01-28T14:51:00.000-05:00

No, we have not been buried under a pile of construction materials and Angela did return home safely with task in hand! We are excited to say that we have finished production on our new home-away-from-home and now are working on how we intend to fund our new stage of this business adventure!

We have been lucky to engage the help of some wonderful gentlemen through the SCORE program. This is a group consisting of retired professionals of various expertise who volunteer their time to offer free and knowledgeable advice to small businesses! Who can pass that up?! We recently had the opportunity to sit with Paul of Paul deLima Coffee. Thus began a brainstorming session that would last over 2 hours! When all was said and done, we had acquired a new sense of confidence and our blood pressures have now returned to an acceptable level. We now have the strategy we need to move ahead that will in fact fund our new investment!

We have a full plate of new ideas including downsizing mixes, "bulk"sizing and much, much more...

The Show Must Go On...This one's for you A!

2011-01-11T20:14:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you need to just get away!

It seems that all of this renovating has taken a toll on us and Angela seemed a bit stiff today. We thought it best to send her on a well deserved trip to visit her sister, but not without task in hand… to bring back our office furniture!

Her three day escape would end with a trip to IKEA. For those of you unfamiliar with these four beautiful letters, it’s pretty much a candy store for grownups, who LOVE decorating. With credit card in hand, a detailed list and a budget with little room for freedom to spend uncontrollably, I bid her farewell with hopes she’ll return…..

Label rod in place

That leaves me in the facility, alone with my thoughts..no iPod.. and an echo that could drive someone insane! As acting president for the day I had my work cut out for me dodging lease questions from our new landlord, but it all worked out in the end. I made good use of my time, however, working diligently and checking off one item at a time from my list of to-do’s. Most of my day included painting, cleaning out cabinets and hanging the label rod.

The excitement was short-lived after discovering that oil paint is not easily removed from your hands with just soap & water! Washing my paintbrush with my hands…NOT such a great idea. I’ll place blame on the paint fumes. The day seemed to pass quickly, only stopping a few times for a coffee break. Our sink handyman (my husband) arrived today to get a peak at the install he had ahead of him…it looks good….so far! All and all, another day completed and survived. One day closer to our inspection!

Future Processing Center!

Day 654...

2011-01-09T22:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was painting day, and after begging and pleading, I was finally permitted to paint something green - ladies, that color is avocado green in case you are just dying to paint your living room.

Maria's family stopped by to see what has been keeping her from cooking dinner the past few days. Kids and hubby were impressed and immediately began pitching in. The kids tried out our new bucket rollers, which is essentially a square skateboard, and had lots of fun shooting themselves across the room, sitting down of course, as advised by our insurance agent. After that they proceeded to hone their hammering skills with scrap wood and what I thought were leftover finishing nails, stopping only momentarily to ask whether a screw can be hammered. I won't bore those of you who have been reading diligently with the answer to THAT question.

The day ended with us painting the rest of the floor with our shiny epoxy paint. Glancing over the myriad of warnings on the label it is apparently bad stuff to inhale and can cause birth defects. Good thing we are already born - although I'm sure we killed some brain cells along the way. If we don't answer the phone next week it's because we forgot how to.

We took a day off today, as the little elves we hired to do our housework for us didn't quite work out and things needed to be tidied up at home. Tomorrow it's back to work!

Look Ma - we Still got all our fingers!

2011-01-07T21:39:00.001-05:00

I'm sure all of you have been sitting on pins and needles, anxiously awaiting news about the next phase of our build-out of the new Organically Hip facility! Yesterday was so busy we both actually fell asleep ON the job...no but seriously we were tired after working for ten hours and didn't have much energy left to write.

So Day 2 we got all the countertops in which basically entailed anchoring a bracket with a bolt into concrete block. If anyone ever said that concrete is hard, they sure were right! We had to borrow a little extra muscle power from our landlord who was more than happy to help so we didn't completely ruin his walls. By the end of the fourth bracket we were able to get the hang of it and had no problems hanging the last two. Those screws don't need to go all the way in anyway. It's fine.

Maria - I am bowing down to you for your saw abilities!

Day 3 began with a trip to Lowe's for sheetrock and plywood which was all picked up and delivered by our handy dandy landlord in his van. Then I needed a break and Maria took over. By the time I returned, Maria had built two walls of our "shelf" wall (this is basically something we made up), BUT we know it will work for us and that is what counts! I would like to take a moment and say how deeply impressed I am by my partner's ability to use power saws. Personally, I am scared to death of them and really said that right up front so there were no surprises. So kudos to Maria - because if it had been up to me everything would have been 8 x 8 x 8.

So up went the shelf wall and after it was all trussed together we sheetrocked it from one side. I was able to assist here for a bit - and let me tell you holding a 4 x 8 piece of sheetrock in the air while Maria put a screw in was no easy feat. That should definitely make up for not using the saw. After that, we decided to put up our knee wall. We did make a few discoveries with this endeavour, one being that you CAN hammer a screw if need be, and two, even if your wallframe is a little crooked, as long as you make everything else look crooked, nobody will notice.

Maria using me as a stool - at least I was good for something!

Seriously, though when we were through it was straight as a pin and will be plenty strong enough to hold some plants.

So in the end, yes we did break a bunch of basic building rules, but we got the job done and hopefully it will all still be standing when we go back tomorrow! Stay tuned...

Movin' on up... to the East side!!

2011-01-05T20:54:00.020-05:00

Our warehouse area, with overhead garage door (and our shiny new floor!)

So where have we been the last two months? Well, there are big doings at Organically Hip! We have gotten too big for our britches and are moving to a larger processing facility located at 2015 Teall Avenue in Syracuse. This is a big move for us and we are currently taking collections for rent... naw just kidding, no really....

Look what Maria did to me! All I did was take a little teeny break...

So this is construction/renovation week for us - painting, putting up shelves, walls, etc. We have our drills, our paintbrushes and hammers at the ready...and as soon as we read those how-to books, we'll be all set!

Maria and her evil paint roller

Two Eyebrows Up!

2010-11-08T23:27:00.003-05:00

Organically Hip at the Pride of NY Harvest Fest in Syracuse, NY

Over 4,000 people attended this year's Pride of NY Harvest Fest at the NYS Fairgrounds this past weekend. After handing out cookies hour after hour we noticed a curious thing...

Feedback from customers is so important! Some people tell you right away that it's a great or very good cookie, other people just grab and run lest you throw your spiel at them. One woman even took a bite of a cookie and then threw it under the table - maybe she didn't like it, or maybe she was on a diet and was so desperate for an Organically Hip cookie that she figured as long as she took a quick bite and then hid the evidence it was like it didn't happen. After watching hundreds of people sample our cookies, we began noticing the initial reactions of the people who decided it was in fact a good cookie...ready? ...they would lift their eyebrows for a second. Take a bite, lift the eyebrows...take a bite, lift the eyebrows. It was absolutely fascinating!

So if you didn't get enough of the endless samples at the Syracuse Pride of NY Harvest Fest, then come and visit us again at the Albany Harvest Fest this coming weekend to be held at the Empire State Plaza! If you're on a diet and you MUST eat a cookie, eat our cookies!

A riddle...

2010-11-05T22:51:00.006-04:00

What does seven dozen eggs, 16 lbs of butter and 58 cookie mixes make?

...no, you don't win anything...

2,868 cookies, plus a few duds that we had to force ourselves to eat.

Come visit Organically Hip™ and over 100 other local food and wine producers tomorrow and Sunday at the Harvest Fest!

A milestone...

2010-10-24T08:59:00.000-04:00

Just over two years ago Organically Hip™ began baking and selling cookies at the Syracuse Regional Market in stall #A43 on very, very cold and early snowy mornings. After two years of constant change and hard work, we are proud to report that 20 stores in three states are now carrying a variety of our products!

In the news: Organically Hip was recently featured in an article in the CNY Business Journal. In future news: we will be featured in an article in the CNY Food section of the Syracuse Post Standard (Nov. 3) in conjunction with the Pride of NY Harvest Fest on November 6-7 at the NYS Fairgrounds and November 13-14 at the Empire State Plaza in Albany . Check out the link for more information on this great event! http://www.prideofnyharvestfest.com/ . Or even better, come and visit us and sample some cookies/brownies and other great products from all across NY State!

So what's next for us? We hope to continue to take over the cookie world one store at a time with help from our new distributor, Regional Access out of Ithaca, NY...and that's no small potatoes!

Lavish Ludgate Farms!

2010-10-18T17:25:00.001-04:00

Aha! So this time I DIDN'T forget to take pictures of the store! You can see why I was so upset last time...yes, Organically Hip baking mixes are now available at lovely LUDGATE FARMS, just in time for the holidays and baking season. Cowboy and Chocolate Chip Cookies mixes, Fairytale Brownie, Pecan Waffle, and our two gluten-free mixes. And oh yes he has our handmade vanilla extract too!

Ludgate Farms is a family owned and operated farm market and natural food store that's been in business for over 37 years, located just a few miles outside Ithaca.

The store is replete with everything a foodie could dream of...fresh-from-the-farm produce, local baked goods, teas, grass fed meats, handcrafted soaps, herbal products and chocolate galore! And I must point out an epicure's dream selection of mustards, dips and olive oils!

The other little tidbit of information you should know about Ludgate Farms is that the owner, Michael Ludgate is an avid player of both the mandolin AND the banjo and is a member of a band called O'Shanigans, a contra-dance group. Find Ludgate Farms on facebook!

Welcome to "Café at 407"...a place of respite

2010-10-01T10:07:00.002-04:00

Organically Hip™ would like to welcome our newest customer, Cafe at 407 located at 407 Tulip Street in the quaint village of Liverpool. This lovely coffee shop has a comfortable ambiance and a delicious lunch and coffee menu. Cafe at 407 is used to fund Ophelia's Place, which is a non-profit organization that provides advocacy and educational services to those impacted by eating disorders, disordered eating and body dissatisfaction.

The cafe offers a resource area for those seeking information about eating disorders and provides a community space for redefining beauty and health. A community room is available for groups or businesses to use throughout the day.

Visit this little gem, come and buy a cookie mix and help support Mary Ellen and Sarah in this wonderful endeavor for the community!

FREE COOKIES!

2010-08-14T08:37:00.011-04:00

Well, not really, but I didn't want you to leave before you could read about all the juicy advice I'm going to give you about creating a marketing plan for a small business. You're probably asking yourself, "can advice be juicy?"...I don't know, but if it could be, this advice would DEFINTELY be juicy.

We recently decided to write a marketing plan for our business...well, actually it was decided FOR us, but that's information for later. So, having absolutely no experience in writing a marketing plan, my first step was to head to the library for some free advice. I stood in front of the business section staring at all the books, certain that I could find the one book that would contain the piece of crucial information I needed. Many, many books later, and, after searching for a shopping cart and finding none, I staggered to my car and headed home for a night of reading. I won't tell you what happened next because it's embarassing, but three days later I woke up, disoriented and gasping for air. After getting out from under the pile of books that was smothering me, I sat myself down in front of my computer, armed with information that was just bursting to get out.

A marketing plan is basically a list of things that your company will do in the near future (usually 1 to 2 years) to help get the word out about your product or service so you can get people to BUY it. All this information, of course should be presented in a nice little package, complete with cover pages, lots of pictures and maybe a little graph here and there if you can swing it.

A marketing plan contains 10 essential elements:

Vision Statement
Company Description
Product Description
Target Customer
Brand Positioning Statement
Brand Positioning Strategy
Market Competition
Marketing Strategy
Pricing and Distribution Strategy
Executive Summary

Vision Statement - One or two sentences that encompass all that your company is or wants to be. Here is a site of examples of famous vision statements: http://www.samples-help.org.uk/
Company Description - A paragraph or two, describing your company and what it's all about.
Product Description - A paragraph or two describing the product(s) and/or service(s) you sell and why they're so great.
Target Customer - This section should be about a page, can contain graphs or pictures and should state WHO your customer is - what type of person/business buys your product. You may want to include age groups, business types, etc.
Brand Positioning Statement - This section should contain a short statement or two that says it all. Not easy to put into few words! Here's a helpful site to get you started: http://www.smbmarketingguide.com/brand-strategy/branding-101-how-to-write-a-positioning-statement/
Brand Positioning Strategy - This section should contain three essential elements: market, brand and competitors. It answers the question, how will you position your brand in the marketplace? This should contain a more in-depth description of your target market, maybe throw in a few statistics here and there, what your brand is and who your competitors are. A good site to have a look at: http://www.how-to-branding.com/
Market Competition - This section should directly list any local or national competition for your product(s). Name dropping and direct comparison of your product(s) to your competitor's product(s) is a necessary component here.
Marketing Strategy - This is the CRUX of your whole marketing plan and should be at least two or three pages. It should be a strategic list of everything your company will do to directly or indirectly market your product(s) so you can get the word out and get people to BUY it. This can include such things as radio/television ads, social media, public relations, community/local events, partnerships, etc. List everything you can possibly think of.
Pricing and Distribution - This is a few paragraphs of how much your product costs and how you plan on distributing it to your current/future customers.
Executive Summary - This can be a couple of paragraphs with statements that summarize the most important elements of your marketing plan.

Also, if your marketing plan is for internal use only, you may want to add a section on Company Strengths and Weaknesses for your own benefit. Otherwise, company strengths can be incorporated into the 'Company' section at the beginning of the plan. Nobody likes weaknesses, so leave it out...you're not weak, you're strong...never let them see you sweat (can you guess who's ad slogan?)

So I hope all this juicy advice will serve you well, but if you need help, get thyself to the library.

Welcome to Green Planet!

2010-08-13T23:43:00.001-04:00

Organically Hip would like to welcome Green Planet Grocery as one of the retail outlets that carry our products! As you embark on your shopping expedition, try to maintain your composure and refrain from eating out of the bulk food bins...because everything in this store looks so yummy!

Aisles and aisles of natural, organic and local foods await the discerning shopper at this new independent grocery store located on West Genesee Street in Fairmount. This grocery store carries everything from local produce to frozen foods and has a huuuuuuuugggge selection of bulk foods. All this in a cute little package, complete with chalkboard signs and a smoothie bar...oh, and a vegan raw food cafe (wow, that's a mouthful!)

Don't worry if you forgot your reusable grocery bags - they sell those too. Come and visit...or better yet, buy some cookie mixes!

Organically Hip at Natur-Tyme

2010-07-24T23:10:00.003-04:00

For those of you who are new to the area or those of you who have passed by on your way to the paint store and have always wanted to know - Natur-Tyme is THE store to get all of your au-naturel products like vitamins, herbs, natural grocery products, environmentally-friendly cleaning products, organic clothing, gluten free foods, etc.

Some of you may have purchased our gluten free products at Natur-Tyme, and may even have sampled them on the gluten free demo day which happens every second Tuesday of the month. Well, hang onto your hats girls and boys because Natur-Tyme is now carrying another FIVE of our products! Come and get your FairyTale Brownie, Cowboy Cookie, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and Chocolate Chip cookie mixes! ..and for the people who like to make special breakfasts for their loved ones - they also carry our gourmet Pecan Waffle mix.

Come and visit us for Customer Appreciation Day!

Where:Natur-Tyme

When: Saturday, August 21 from 10-5

Why? Because local farmers and producers will be sampling and selling their fine foods! Get to know some of the producers of the foods you buy - on hand will be Chef Paul Midgley who will be preparing a fabulous menu of local foods to sample!

Oh, and we'll be sampling a variety of our products too, including our famous FairyTale Brownies and Cowboy Cookies! And for all you classic cookie-loving people out there, we'll also have Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip cookies...don't forget the milk!

A la Thelma and Louise

2010-07-13T22:14:00.004-04:00

Our nine-hour road trip began with a quick breakfast stop at Mcdonald's (shhhhh don't tell anyone) - pure fat, sugar and hot coffee! Shame on us! Then, loaded with calories, we arrived at our destination - Greenstar Oasis in Ithaca, which is the sister store to that of the larger Greenstar Market Coop just around the corner. This little natural food store packs quite a punch with organic produce, daily grocery items, a seating area, hot food bar, a made-to-order sandwich counter and of course our very own Organically Hip baking mixes!

We met all kinds of people from all different walks of life...two girls from Austria backpacking through the US for the Summer, a farmer from the Farmer Ground Flour program that specializes in grinding grains grown by Cayuga Pure Organics and distributed through Regional Access and Garden Gate Delivery...a French Canadian (she even did a great Celine Dion impression!) that went to the same college I did and skiied in the same town I lived in when I was a child..what a small world it is! A world that increasingly cares about what they eat and where their food comes from.

Our next stop was Ludgate Farms, a family owned and operated farm market and natural food store that's been in business for over 37 years, located just a few miles outside Ithaca. Looking from the outside in, it looked like any other farm stand shed. Once inside, (ok, here comes a cliche!), I felt like I had stepped into another world. My partner coined it when she said "I feel like I'm on vacation!" Indeed it did...the light coming through the roof cast a sunny glow throughout the store and the many ceiling fans threw a nice breeze on us! It certainly gave "natural food" a new meaning, right down to the stones under our feet. The store was replete with everything a foodie could dream of...fresh-from-the-farm produce, local baked goods, teas, grass fed meats, handcrafted soaps, herbal products and chocolate galore! And I must point out an epicure's dream selection of olive oils! Did I mention a great baking section that will soon include Organically Hip baking mixes (watch for us in September!) The only unhappy feeling I had after leaving the store was with myself for not taking a picture of the inside of this wonderful little place.

Our last, but certainly not least stop will have to remain a secret for a couple more weeks! Stay tuned...

Cookie Mixes at the Fish Market

2010-07-09T21:20:00.002-04:00

Today's heat wave took us to the Brewster Inn, our newest customer. The Brewster Inn is both an inn and a restaurant located in the beautiful lake town of Cazenovia and is known state-wide for its exceptional cuisine. We were there to give their friday-night patrons a taste of our Fairytale Brownie and Cowboy Cookie mixes. Inside the lavishly appointed inn you will find the Brewster Inn Seafood Market where you can purchase fish, lobster, clams, shrimp, you name it, they will get it for you. I even saw one guy walk out with a filet steak.

So where do we fit in with the fish, you ask? Well, just off the reception area is an alcove that serves as a store where townies and out-of-townies can purchase ready-made salads, cheeses, yogurts and other carry-out items. They've recently adopted more local fare for the store and now carry eight of our products. Our samples were well-received, and especially enjoyed by the kitchen staff, who were very friendly and went out of their way to take at least two samples to make sure I understood how MUCH they enjoyed them!

Oh great...ANOTHER blog site!

2010-07-07T18:53:00.003-04:00

But wait, we are not just another blog site. Here you will find (in the near future, not right now) loads of information not just on our company and the many wonderful things we do, but on the myriad of things that life throws at small businesses.

Allow me to introduce ourselves, Organically Hip™...we are a small company based near Syracuse, NY and we make a variety of organic baking and cookie mixes. We are Angela and Maria, best friends for the last 10 years and Moms with families and five children between us. After two whole years of working and slaving we have managed to garner a fair following and have over ten stores that carry our products.

So you may be asking yourself (or maybe not, if you've already left...but if you haven't, stick around, there's more!) what is Organically Hip™ all about? What is so special about our products? Have you ever gone to the store and bought a cookie mix because you didn't have time to make them from scratch? I'm sure you have. Poured it in a bowl, only to see nothing but white stuff and maybe a few sprinkles? Were you just a little disappointed? Your Grandma would have looked in the bowl and shaken her head back and forth, pursing her lips. Enter our mixes...from before you buy them (yes, before), you will see all the ingredients through our special windowed bags...all the oats, raisins, chocolate chips, pecans, coconut flakes. You can gaurantee your Grandma would grab these right off the shelf. Then here comes the good part - you add eggs and butter and pour in the contents of the bag and mix. Voila! You are ready to make cookies and it only took five minutes. Each mix makes at the very least three dozen cookies.

And for all you wheat-intolerant people out there - we also have two gluten-free mixes. Oh and that vanilla extract the mixes call for, yeah, we make that too (in small batches). So check out our products at one of the stores on the right and give us a try - you won't be disappointed this time...and even if you don't do it for yourself - do it for Grandma.