Here at ESC all of our chocolate bars and tiles are Certified Gluten Free.  In order to be gluten certified our products went through an extensive three-month long certification process that included a plant inspection and product testing.  Once our chocolate passed the ‘test’ it received official gluten certification.  

Our quality department continues to work hard to make sure that our products stay gluten certified by assuring that all the ingredients in our chocolate are wheat free and that there is no wheat contamination present in our products.

People who have wheat allergies or celiac disease are always excited to know that they have a wide range of ESC chocolate they can choose from and they can rest assure that our chocolate is safe for them to enjoy as it is certified gluten free.

Every year ESC participates in the Indianapolis Winter Market and this year is no exception.  I always enjoy working the Winter Market because it gives me a chance to get face to face with our consumers and hear people’s feedback on our products.

This year’s market kicks off tomorrow and will be located downtown at the Chatham Center. It will feature over 50 local vendors who will be selling a variety of products. 

ESC will have an assortment of products available including both our organic and all-natural chocolate in a range of flavors and gift sets.  So if you happen to be in downtown Indianapolis tomorrow morning you should head on over to the market and take advantage of the wide range of local products available.

Today at ESC our production department is hard at work making our new organic chocolate. What’s new about it you ask? Well, we’ve changed the sourcing of our chocolate and we’re now using Ecuadorian chocolate for our organic line.

I’ve sampled some of this new Ecuadorian chocolate and I’m absolutely in love with it! It’s got a very smooth flavor profile that is similar to our all natural chocolate. I’m very excited about our giraffe bar as I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter and chocolate together and the sample I tasted with our new chocolate tasted like a premium peanut butter and chocolate cup.

We will also be introducing a new 1.4 oz milk chocolate (lion) bar, so keep your eyes open as this new sourced chocolate will be available soon!

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder here at ESC. As I truck on through November, I know that the holiday season is quickly coming upon us.

I’ve started getting my gift list put together and I know that their will definitely be some chocolate on it. I always love giving our chocolate as gifts but this year I’m even more excited because we have put together gift collections with one of our partners African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). Now I can get my family and friends a collection of chocolate and adopt an animal for one year.

The gift collections feature nine different animals and are available at three different prices. All of the collections include a stuffed animal based on the animal you’re adopting and an assortment of our natural chocolate.

I always feel that the holidays are a time when we should give back and now I can do so and give my loved ones some delectable chocolate to enjoy as well.

So you’re in the mood for some chocolate and you only have two quarters, well you’re in luck! Right now you can purchase all of our 1.4 oz bars for only $.49.

These bars will make great stocking stuffers or you can just stock-up on your favorite flavor and have enough chocolate for months.

This sale is helping us move all of our current horizontal 1.4 oz bars so that we can make room for our NEW vertical 1.4 oz bars, which will be available in the next few months.

So make sure you get your order in soon because this sale will only last as long as the bars do and you don’t want to miss-out on this great money saving organic deal.

It’s International Go Vegan Week and that’s great news here at ESC because we carry a wide range of vegan products. We have over 20 individual products that are Vegan Certified and several gift collections that feature vegan chocolate including a vegan gift collection.

As I was doing more research into what it means to be vegan I discovered something else that ESC shares with this choice of lifestyle. According to www.worldgoveganweek.org being vegan is about having love and compassion for all living beings. Well here at ESC believe in Reverence for Life which means that all life is precious and deserving of our respect, kindness and care. In all that we do at ESC we try to emulate this belief by giving back to people, animals and the planet as we also believe we’re all interconnected.

So if you’re feeling a little vegan you can enjoy one of our tasty bars and know that you’re supporting veganism in more than one way.

Pumpkins sitting in front of my local grocery store and the nippy weather mean one thing, fall is definitely here.  While I love the vibrant and colorful landscape that Mother Nature is sending us, I’m also excited because it means that Halloween is just around the corner.  Halloween always takes me back to the many years I spent trick or treating and then dumping my bag of treats as soon as I got home to pick-out my favorite candy. 

This year instead of buying bags of sugar filled, over-processed treats, I’m going to get some ESC Halloween treats for my little trick or treaters.  Available in milk and dark chocolate, these smooth, creamy treats are 100 percent all-natural and 110 percent delicious. 

ESC was also just named a top green chocolate company by Greenopia which is the leading online directory for green, sustainable and socially conscious products.

So follow my lead and give your little ghosts and goblins something delicious, healthy and green this Halloween and you won’t have to worry about any spooky treats showing up in their Halloween bags.

Here at ESC we’re committed to making the world a better place and one of the main things on our agenda is combating climate change.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the past three centuries human activities have significantly increased the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the future of climate change greatly depends on the increase or decrease of greenhouse these emissions.

An increase in greenhouse gas concentrations could raise the Earth’s average temperature which would influence precipitation and some storm patterns as well as raise sea levels. This would cause a great deal of harm to the Earth and our environment. 

To prove our commitment, we were just named one of the Top Green Candy Manufacturers by Greenopia and received a perfect 4 out of 4 leaf ranking.  Here are some small and big steps we’re taking to be green and combat climate change.

• As of October 1, 2009 ESC is using a 100 percent wind sourced power.
• Employees print only when necessary and use 100 percent recycled paper when they do.
• Company has implemented a carpool program and several employees drive hybrid vehicles.
• ESC is housed in a LEED registered building and is currently seeking LEED certification
• The implementation of an energy efficient mould washing machine has reduced water consumption by 500 gallons a day.
• Using recycled wrappers also made of 30 percent post consumer materials.
• Experienced a 40 percent decrease in energy reduction by efficiency improvements made through-out the building.

ESC hopes that other companies and individuals will follow their lead and answer the call to climate change!

www.blogactionday.org

 One of the question’s people always ask me is how I manage to work for ESC and not weigh 500 pounds since I’m constantly surrounded by delicious chocolate. Well besides not keeping chocolate too close to my desk, one of the benefits of working at ESC is that we have our own onsite gym.

All employees can work-out ON THE CLOCK and are encouraged to maintain an active lifestyle. To help keep employee’s motivated, ESC currently has a fitness program going called Fit for the Holiday’s. The program started after Labor Day and goes through the New Year. Employee’s have been split into two teams (mine is Cocoa Kapow) and have set a goal or goal’s they want to achieve by their final assessment in January.

When I was on my way home the other day after a grueling work-out I realized that not only is this program keeping us healthy, it’s also helping to keep the planet healthy. Instead of us all driving to the gym and wasting gas, we’re all conserving energy by exercising at work. The only challenge with that is not nibbling on some chocolate during our work-outs.

Oh, and all I have to say to my rival team is Cocoa Kapow!

Here at ESC we’re on a mission to reduce energy consumption. Beginning today we’re shifting our electrical energy source to 100 percent wind generated power!

 Teaming up with our local power company, we’re now purchasing energy sourced from wind farms in Indiana and Texas. This energy saving change isn’t the only one that we’re making, check-out these other ways that we’ve reduced our energy and material consumption over the past few months…

• Efficiency improvements to our HVAC and electrical systems have been made, in addition to a reduction in warehouse lighting causing a 40 percent decrease in energy consumption.

 • The installation of an efficient mould washing machine which has reduced water consumption by 500 gallons per day.

• Total material scrap reduction of less than two percent.

All of these cost saving measures sent our electrical company into confusion and they sent someone out to check our meter to make sure that it wasn’t broken, as our energy consumption decreased by nearly half which is apparently unheard of.  Well it looks like there is a first time for everything.