Unwrapped: A Cheryl and Company Tour

I stole some top secret recipes to shares with all of you. Shhhh! Don't tell...............just kidding! They handed them out in our goodie bags. I don't remember signing anything that I couldn't share this with other so click on the pic to make it bigger so you can read it/use it.
A gift for me? Oh, you shouldn't have....WHATISIT????

More gifts?? Oh you really shouldn't have...I'm spoiled enough as it is...I'm blushing...Heck, who am I fooling--IT WAS AWESOME!! Inside the gift bags were gift cards to 1-800 flowers, Cheryl's, a huge assorted box of cookies/brownies, a pound of chocolate from Fanny Mae, and a box from The Popcorn Factory. I also got a Cheryls and Company apron and I got to keep the hair net I had to sport in the factory. I think it was my first time wearing a hairnet and I must say that I rocked that look. I.ROCKED.IT.

Paws outta the bag, KiKi. I don't share well with others.

My friend, Jim, who is also known as the CMH Gourmand was kind enough to let me tag along with him on a behind-the-scenes factory tour of Cheryl and Company. Invites were issued to food bloggers like Jim and other food-press type folks. We were greeted at the door, signed our photo release waiver, given a name tag, and awaaaaaaay we went.

The gentleman who took us on our tour had been with the company for 22 years (I think). He started when the company was still pretty small (think using large convection ovens instead of mammoth machines to create those tasty little products). We were told about the entire process from the very beginning (ordering supplies on a daily basis the afternoon before you want to make the cookies-- giant bags of flour, sugar, baking soda, chocolate chips, etc--from a storage facility in Obetz, OH) to people using recipe sheets and weighing scales to combine ingredients in gigantic mixers to conveyor belts full of cookie dough to the ovens to the cooling station to the frosting station (where each of those delectable little cut outs are hand frosted) to packaging to storage. They used to employ people to hand shake on the sprinkles, too, but recently had a machine built to do this for them.

Something that struck me was that all the employees seemed to genuinely enjoy being there. They all looked happy (you'd have to try really hard to be unhappy when around all that sugar!!).

I even got to meet the prez of the company, Steve Druckman. What? You thought Cheryl still ran everything? Nope, I'm sorry to say that she retired a few years ago.

I feel like I owe them some free publicity in exchange for giving me bunches of their tasty wares. Here are a few fun facts:

1.) Cheryl's products do not contain preservatives. If you read the label, you can identify most if not all of the ingredients.

2.) Did you know that they merged with 1-800 flowers, Fanny Mae chocolates, and The Popcorn Factory?

3.) When you eat at a Golden Corral restaurant, the cookies on their dessert bar are Cheryl's. The factory makes the dough, freezes it, and ships them off to be baked at each restaurant. A similar process is used when they ship dough off to their Cheryl's stores.

Note to self: The next time I go to a factory, wear functional shoes. Your wedge shoe isn't as cute when you're almost falling on your keister.