Setting Up at a Show

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Our Business Is Ready for Your Business!!!!


I am proud to say that our web business is open. With a tremendous amount of work from Mary Lynn’s daughter we are now ready for business at www.austinhouse.biz .
We are Austin House – Homemade Goodness
Our new label will look like this:

What we are going to be selling will be slightly different than what we sold thru our old business, The Austin House Jams & Jellies. We will no longer have over 700 items to pick from. We had to close the business after many years of success. During that time we made an uncountable amount of friends and customers.

We’rrrrrrrrreee back!
                                         

We traveled from Miami to Washington D.C. and from Jacksonville all the way to New Orléans. We set up at craft shows and events like that. We did outdoor shows and indoor shows. We set up in large fields, surrounded by other tents. We also setup in large arenas like the South Florida Fairgrounds, in West Palm Beach Florida with over 1,000 other vendors.

One of our biggest and best shows was always the Stone Mountain Yellow Daisy Festival, just outside Atlanta, Georgia. It was our Superbowl of shows. At this four-day event we had well over 250,000 people pass by our booth that had a chance to sample our products. I sat out front surrounded by over 100 different varieties of Jams, Jellies, Sauces, Mustards, Salsa, Vinegars and Butters. And we changed many of our samples from day-to-day. Our friends stopped everyday to see just what was out there to try. We had our biggest following from that show because people always showed up to see who and what was displayed. The show was limited to 425 vendors and that made a space valuable. We had to qualify every year to compete for our space.


Our booth at Yellow Daisy looked like this with the canopy’s set up to protect us and to offer shade from the heat and sun. The section in the front was covered with samples and people talking and eating. Mary Lynn held down the fort in the back area of the booth, answering questions, talking about recipes, and helping people pick the items that best fit their needs.



Our indoor customers will reccognize our booth looking like this. Indoors we did not have to worry about rain or trees or birds! You can see the samples set up on the tables.

As you can see, we like flags.

We were doing great everywhere we set up.

What happened?

About 7 years ago we ran into some difficulties. Mary Lynn, a breast cancer survivor, developed problems and had to have seven chest surgeries in 8 months. We had to close our business, because she and I were the whole business. We made everything we sold. With one of us down the choice was hard but had to be made. We had a huge going out of business sale that was covered by the local newspapers and even some TV and Radio stations. Ever since we have been asked when we were going to start back. My back took a bad turn almost 4 years ago so writing a blog was the closest I could get to having our store back. I started writing about the things we made and why some of them were made as well as how to make them; even little tips to make things easier.

Now you see why having a web-based business again is so very important to us. It is a chance to meet new friends and hopefully renew old friendships. We are going to be making our products the same way your are, on the kitchen stove. No big commercial stoves or coolers or anything. When you purchase something from us, it will be made the very same way as I have written about in my blogs.

What I hope some of you will do is make something, or a few things, and purchase a jar from us to compare. Maybe yours will be as good, or even better than ours. But if you don’t want to make all the different things I write about, just buy ours. Our product list is a limited menu to pick from. Just the main things we sold over the years. Please go to our site and look around. 

So are you ready to check us out???? How about just hungry for something I wrote about that sounded good.

I am adding something to my blog for this month. I have added a Poll on the upper right side. I am interested in what you think. If you like something not listed just drop me a note at jellymanga@gmail.com . I will post the results in a upcoming blog.
I have to tell some of our older customers that some things will never be available. They took too much time and space and energy to produce; so I hope our list will satisfy your needs. As time goes by, things will be added and somethings removed.

The main reason for dropping something will be availability of fruit. As things come into season we will expand our list. If you don’t see your favorite, please ask for availability.

Here is the list of products available:

Apple Butter, Apple Jelly, Candied Apple Jelly, Blueberry Jelly & Jam, Blackberry Jelly & Jam, Muscadine Jelly, Mixed Fruit Jelly, Peach Preserves, Jelly, Jam & Butter, Pumpkin Butter, Sweet Pepper Relish, Hot Pepper Relish, Raspberry-Habanero Jam & Jelly, Pepper Jelly (Red or Green), Jalapeno Pepper Jelly (Red or Green), Habanero Pepper Jelly. NSA Apple Butter (NSA means no added sugar. It is sweetened with fruit juice and a small amount of Splenda).

Your orders will be shipped as fast as we can, some things will be made specially just for you so those orders might take a week longer.
www.austinhouse.biz

I will have a new blog in a few days, but this could not wait. But don’t forget….Please let me know what you would like to make or any ideas you have for the next blog. Just drop me a note at jellymanga@gmail.com

Don’t keep my blogs a secret, and pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you. Please feel free to share my blog on FaceBook or Twitter or even MySpace.com.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you can you can it.

Say Yes I Can, Can It!

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