Lesaffre North America’s Post

The Minnesota State Fair opened on Thursday with all its fanfare and glory. With all the attractions including concerts by Boyz II Men, Chaka Khan, Duran Duran and the Jonas Brothers, new foods at the Great Minnesota Get-Together tend to draw the greatest attention. This year there are 34 new foods to try! These include everything from a Bacon-wrapped waffle dog to a Cheese curd stuffed pizza pretzel. There are Crispy Lutefisk steam buns, Fried green tomato sandwiches and Walleye fritter pops. The list goes on and on, and I didn’t’ even mention the Wow Fudge, the Donut delights or the Cheesecake curds. Just thinking about all the food gets my stomach going. So, how do you prepare for such an outing? My advice: take deep breaths, wear clothes that are two sizes too large and get in three times as many steps by walking the fairgrounds end to end. Oh, and bring friends and family to help consume the items.  If you really want advice, check out the article in the Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal, (https://lnkd.in/gauCxQkV)  where three veteran writers and State Fair goers explain their strategies for consuming large quantities of fair food effectively. As leaders you are likely to come face-to-face with major shifts and changes that require you to digest information or confront challenges that you aren’t quite prepared for sometimes. So, take some deep breaths, dress for comfort, walk your workplace end to end and gather some trusted people to join the effort. 😊 And if you go to the State Fair, what NEW foods are you anxious to try? #Leadershippathways   #Enjoythejourney       #thegreatgettogether

🎅 Our best performing Christmas event might surprise you... Every year the Laylo team takes part in a bunch of Christmas markets. Shoppers can try our wines and place orders for home delivery. It's a no-brainer. This year we've attended a small handful of brilliant events at Soho Farmhouse, Fulham Palace etc. They've all been great - and a lot of fun. But the most lucrative on a £ per hour basis? The low key "warm up" at a fancy private school in Surrey... A simple trestle table at their Christmas fair. Just me solo, partly to see an old friend and to get my head back into face-to-face selling. There's a learning in there... Something to mull over in the new year. Pun intended. But in the meantime, remember to pick up a box of Laylo to take home to the parents. Or a stocking filler for your Uncle Fred. The sooner we smash through our December target, the sooner I can put my feet up with a Primitivo and a mincey. Laura x Daisy V., Alice Warr, Amy Meekings #founderstories #startupmarketing

If you are in a leadership role and have the great pleasure of mentoring people, you never know what words will resonate in your conversations. You tend to think it's the longer suggestions you give them after listening to their challenge(s). But a lot of the time it's the seemingly small things said that resonate the most. #beaforcedontforce #sales #consultiveselling

Tropical storm Hilary is not the only thing dampening the spirit of the Western Idaho Fair. The Western Idaho Fair announced that Monday's opening will be delayed by 2 hours, so instead of opening at 12pm they will open at 2pm. But that is not the only thing affecting the attendance of the fair. One trip through the fair grounds and it is obvious that there are far less vendors and far less attendees at the fair this year. Many food vendors like the big BBQ near the west entrance are not there this year. Delsa's Ice Cream is missing, and many more. Commercial vendors are waning as well. Where are the staples like Snake River Pool & Spa? Has fair manager Bob Batista chased them off by excessive fees? I don't know. I only know that there are a lot of empty spaces at the fair this year. And what about the bands? The line up this year is far less impressive than the line up they have had in years past., And even with Channel 2 giving free admission for a donation of food, the attendance is way down this year. It's almost like a ghost town. In all fairness, it could be that school started a week earlier this year. But even with that I still see troubled waters on the horizon. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the Western Idaho Fair and all that it has to offer. It just seems that it has less and less to offer the attendees this year. And less and less appealing to the vendors this year.

Each year the Fair comes to visit our town. One road is closed so that stall owners can sell their wares to us all. 🛍️ This year, THIS 👇🏻👇🏻 was the most popular stall by FAR. A load of wrapped-up parcels being sold for £5 each. No one had a clue what was in ANY of them… and you weren’t allowed to touch too much 😬 The owners of the stands either side of this guy, with their beautifully presented, hand crafted goodies that probably took them HOURS to produce, stood watching, twiddling their thumbs, whilst this man with his haphazard GRAB TABLE raked it in. 💰 What funny human beings we are when we want to spend money on something WE CAN’T see and don’t even know that we want! 🥸 I’m sharing this with you mainly because I found it a fascinating observation… although I’m sure we could all learn a lot of sales tips here about human behaviours, about scarcity, mystery and suspense etc etc… Would YOU have been intrigued enough to buy one? PS. I went all 007 on one buyer and followed him down the road to discover he had ‘won’ a lightbulb for a fitting he doesn’t have… #Awks 😳 PPS. I’m thinking of adding “surprise sessions” into my packages. Book an hour with me and you may get a Strategy session, you may get an Accountability session, you may get me dancing and playing the saxophone for you for 60 minutes… who knows?! Reckon it will take off? 🧐 #MysteryMarketing #LessonsEverywhereYouLookInLife 🕵🏻♀️

Top 15 Things to Do for Kids in Houston This Week: October 2 to 8, 2023 #PGGaskets #refrigerationgaskets #commercialkitchensolutions #foodserviceequipment #kitchenmaintenance #restaurantrepair #grocerystoremaintenance #onsitewelding #cuttingboardresurfacing #restaurant #houstontexas

Know what to add to your whisky

St Patricks Day - 17th March In need of promotional St Patrick’s day signs, stickers, display boards or merchandise to boost your sales or seek new customers. We can help! If your hoping you can channel some good luck to boost St. Patrick’s Day sales this year? This is a perfect time to attract more business. With people looking for fun ways to celebrate, this is the perfect time to grab attention. St. Patrick’s Day will be over before you know it, so don’t leave the success of your promotions to chance. You could also use this time to go Eco, so instead of the usual wearing, eating and drinking green items why not focus on going “green” or eco-friendly throughout whole of March. We can offer many eco-friendly merchandise ideas

This is a great sit down discussion with Amanda on how we are growing, listening and adapting to best serve a growing, diverse and ambitious group of stakeholders. Working together, united, we can accomplish way more than any individual company or growing region. Even the biggest companies… This was certainly a takeaway from our convention in Tucson. I love that U.S.H.B.C starts with, “US.” It is that “us,” approach that will help grow the category, drive profitable demand for our growers and ensure the value of blues remains high. With how much runway still lies ahead for blueberries (60% of today’s purchases, dollars, are made by 20% of blueberry buyers and we are under 49% of households 🤯), the focus and opportunity must remain on growing the (blueberry) pie, not just fighting for the slice. Meeting together as an industry is key to helping remain focused and realizing these many opportunities still ahead for our growers. Join us in Denver! https://lnkd.in/g3dzMPPP Go blueberries! 🫐👊🏼🫐