The official Dancing Deer Baking Company Blog

As the summer heat drives the Deers to stay in the shade, it has become quiet on the blog. Fortunately, that leaves room for an inside view on Dancing Deer through the eyes of an intern!

So far, it sure has been an eventful summer:
• I witnessed Trish Karter, the inspiring leader who co-founded Dancing Deer, retiring from her position as CEO and handing off the torch to Frank Carpenito, who I have gotten to know as an incredibly passionate and amazing industry expert, who undoubtedly will steer this company into new and exciting waters.

• I have been working in the dark - literally! As part of Dancing Deer’s commitment to environmental sustainability, we partake in a program that reduces energy usage during peak consumption periods (such as those insanely hot and humid New England summer days). How do we do that? Well, for one… we switch off the lights.

• I am doing more sports… to counteract the insane amounts of brownies I let myself indulge in. My hands-down favorite: Chocolate Chunk! Closely followed by the delicious Caramel Pecan. And if I can’t find any brownies around the office, I go on a hunt for some Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies. As you may be able to tell, I am a passionate Chocolate Lover!
• As a business student with a very corporate background, it got a fascinating glimpse into how different and fun work can be. The Deers care! It starts with simple things, such as the friendly, open and helpful environment in the office, all the way to the monthly birthday celebration sessions in the cantina. What I found is that this culture transcends the office and factory walls; it is part of Dancing Deer’s passion to not only satisfy the customer but to go above and beyond; to always put the customer first, without compromise.

Growing up in Boston, it would be hard to avoid the Red Sox (if for some strange reason you wanted to).  Fenway Park, Kenmore Square, the Green Monster, the Citgo sign…they’re all city landmarks.  For Father’s Day, we found a way to celebrate baseball-loving Dads, summer and the Sox with our Limited Edition Fenway Park Gift Tower.  The tower includes a Fenway Park replica tin filled with yummy, vanilla shortbread cookies that are shaped like baseballs!  They’re not regulation size baseballs, but they are tasty (IR)regardless. 

Once we featured Fenway, we couldn’t help but feature Yankee Stadium for our New York, New Jersey and (select) Connecticut residents.  You will never find me rooting for the Bronx Bombers, but baseball season would definitely lose most of its excitement without those anticipated Sox/Yankees games.

And if you find yourself on neither side of the rivalry, but still love our national pastime, celebrate with the Baseball National Hall of Fame Gift Tower.  Each tower includes traditional, gourmet vanilla baseball cookies and chocolate chunk brownies – you really can’t miss with that combination.

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks are great, but why not do something different for Dad this baseball season?  Check out all three baseball gift towers on our website: http://www.dancingdeer.com/baseball-gifts.

(National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. MLB.com. Dancing Deer is a retail partner of Cooperstown Cookie Company and is not a licensee/sponsor of MLB®, Red Sox or Yankees.)

We received an email today from our DEER FAN Gina who discovered that the our Pumpkin Spice Pancake Mix (made with Chinese Five Spice) makes a great dinner pancake when the batter is mixed with mashed sweet potatoes, corn kernels, and sauteed onions or scallions.

Do you have any recipes that use Dancing Deer products?!  Let us know and we’ll post them for the rest of our fans to test out!

We’re one of the first graduates from the Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP), a 6 step program that assists participating companies in the Greater Boston area making changes in their business practices in the following areas:

• Energy Efficiency
• Water Conservation
• Waste Management
• Pollution Prevention & Safe Alternatives
• Transportation
• Sustainability Management

So what does that mean for Dancing Deer?? Through SBLP and initiatives we had already put in place before joining the program we’ve done the following:

• Our entire operations facility and office use energy saving T5 fluorescent lights, and in our operating facility all of those lights are set to an occupancy sensor so they automatically turn off when not in use.
• All of our toilets, sink faucets and showers are low flow.
• We use low toxicity and green cleaning products in the entire facility.
• We always try to work with local vendors to purchase local ingredients when possible.
• We use all 100% post-consumer recycled paper towel, toilet paper and printing paper
• Use a co-mingled recycling dumpster that allows us to recycle paper, plastic and metal all together

On Wednesday, April 28th, One Family Inc hosted its 2010 Mothers of Inspiration Event.  This annual event celebrates One Family Scholars and Graduates - all of whom are mothers who were homeless or at risk for homelessness and who are attending college to build a pathway out of poverty for themselves and their families. 

CEO & Chief Deer Trish was honored with the Founders Award at this year’s event - read her accepting remarks here:

    Thank you so much. What a fun evening!  I love this event and am obviously dedicated to this organization.  It does very important work and I’m proud to be part of it.

    I was thinking about awards this morning. Sometimes, when I find myself in particularly challenging tight spots, I give myself little awards for taking the high road or hanging tough or resisting an urge to be petty.  And I really deserve those awards!! I am also very practiced at giving them because I get myself in tight spots all the time.  And when I was thinking about that, I was realizing that when I face those challenges, in addition to my own little awards for hanging in, I’ve always had that support system. And I think that’s why I’m so powerfully connected to One Family because I realize how lucky I’ve been.  There’s always been someone there for me in a crisis.  And I’ve had a few. . . . I really am honored to be able to help other people through their crises.

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