FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Diana Calderón, Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: 707-586-2266, 1-800-987-8333
A SWEET SOLUTION TO A STICKY DILEMMA:
HEART’S DESIRE UNVEILS THE “CALIFORNIA BUDGET CRUNCH BAR©”
Rohnert Park, CA — June 26, 2003. Upon learning that California state legislators were embroiled in another fiscal stalemate, the confectioners at Heart’s Desire Chocolates, the North Bay’s premier creator of specialty sweets, devised a delicious remedy: a whimsical candy bar dedicated to the budget debacle.
The “California Budget Crunch Bar©” smoothly and sweetly blends Heart’s Desire’s charitable interests with its nationally famous chocolate. “We’re donating ten percent of the proceeds from every Budget Crunch Bar© to the California State Education Fund,” says Diana Calderón, CEO of Heart’s Desire Chocolates. “This is our way of showing our community that we’re doing our part in these tough times.” Heart’s Desire is sending samples of the California Budget Crunch Bar© to officials in Sacramento, to Governor Gray Davis, and to U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
The Budget Crunch Bar© sports a unique combination of tantalizing California-grown tastes. Bits of real California orange pulp are whipped into both milk and dark chocolate varieties of the Budget Crunch Bar©, with chunks of California almonds adding texture and flavor. Each candy bar is handmade in the Heart’s Desire kitchen in the Wine Country community of Rohnert Park, then finished in colorful custom packaging. “It’s the wrapper that really sells the concept,” says Calderón. “Our yellow and blue label features a caricature of the state of California, straining against a belt tightly cinched around its waist.” Under the wrapper, the Budget Crunch Bar© is clad in pink foil—“symbolizing the pink slips so many California workers have been handed recently,” Calderón adds.
Even the lopsided form of the California Budget Crunch Bar© contributes to its theme, though this occurred by happy accident. “When the chocolatiers made the first batch, the vibrating table that settles the liquid chocolate was out of alignment,” Calderón explains. “The bars therefore came out a little bit off-center. I told our staff to keep the shape for future batches—our Budget Crunch Bars© are out of balance, just like the state budget!”
California Budget Crunch Bars©, which retail for two dollars each, are available in Heart’s Desire’s two Sonoma County stores beginning Thursday, June 26. Telephone orders can be delivered anywhere in the U.S. via cold-pack express shipment.
The California Budget Crunch Bar© is the latest innovation from a company renowned for community activism and homespun sensibility for over 20 years. “We always try to veer differently from other chocolatiers, and our community spirit is one of our greatest distinctions,” affirms Calderón. Heart’s Desire owns a proud legacy of charitable involvement, from such national efforts as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society, to local schools, police departments, and fire stations.
A Sonoma County institution for more than two decades, Heart’s Desire Chocolates has been led by current CEO Diana Calderón since February 2001. From its 2000-square-foot kitchen and store in Rohnert Park’s Doubletree Plaza, and its retail outlet in Santa Rosa, Heart’s Desire Chocolates manufactures and distributes award-winning, handcrafted confectionery, including wine and champagne truffles, caramels, fudges, and a line of sugar-free candies, all of which are made fresh daily. Visit Heart’s Desire Chocolates at www.heartsdesirechocolates.com.
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