Six Gourmet Food Consultant Home Party Tips

So how do you go about earning extra income as a gourmet food consultant? Here are some tips to get you started!

The trick is being casual about it, and simply placing your product in the right spot at the right time. Gourmet food items practically sell themselves! Here are some great party plan tips that will be sure to boost both your direct sales and your overall customer base.

1. Sign up as a helper for all parties at your church and other local community events. Take a sampling of prepared food products and you are sure to get a lot of attention. You can usually take a few orders on the spot!

2. Volunteer for all festivities at your kids’ school and use the opportunities to showcase a few great items. School staff are always having little parties for each other, and you can probably get a steady trickle of orders. Once they know you are a home party consultant, you might be able to recruit a few!

3. Offer to “cater” parties, using your products. People will always ask who catered, and you will have made one big sale plus gotten the chance to meet more potential customers. You might be able to make a nice sideline out of combining direct sales and catering!

4. Use a few items to stock a booth for a school fundraiser or church charity event, and sell sample “tasters” for a dollar each. The proceeds can go to the charity, and you will probably pick up a few new clients! Often you can take enough orders on the spot to make up the cost of the donated items, and future orders will be forthcoming.

5. If you know a party of some type is being planned, offer to bring some of the food. You can easily wow the guests with one or two gourmet selections, and when they exclaim over them you can discretely make the sale. If you stock a few of your most popular items, you can often send guests home with an impulse buy!

6. There are many different ways you can combine your direct sales pitch with another party plan. If you help throw a baby shower for an expecting friend, you can utilize your home party consultant status to help both of you! Simply bring a sampling of products to use as refreshments, and announce you will be splitting all profits from sales made with the lucky mother to be as a special gift.

Using these and other party plan techniques can grow your business on the side in addition to giving you more opportunities to host larger direct sales parties for others. You will also be able to recruit some of these people to become home party consultants. All you have to do is be on the lookout at all times to make extra sales and contacts to help you build your home business!

Four-star Gourmet Food in Paris – Part II

If there’s one thing the French know how to do well, it’s food. Food is more of an art (and for some, a quasi religion) in France, and so I knew I would be remiss in my duties to readers of paris-eiffel-tower-news.com if I did not go and seek out Paris’s finest gastronomic glories for you. Sampling the following is not an option – it’s a must!!!

In Part I, we discovered real French bread at Poilane’s and the Raspail organic food open street market. Now, we uncover the top level Lafayette gourmet food court, and Paris’s finest fromageries in Androuet’s 5 Parisian cheese shops to you.

Lafayette Gourmet – a Riot of Tastes and Colors

The Galeries Lafayette is one of the most distinguished and famous shopping landmarks in Paris. Their high-fashion displays and grand old-world architecture (including a very fine stained-glass dome) make any shopping there a remarkable experience. I have to admit though that I tend to spend most of my time loitering around its breathtaking Gourmet food court.

The food court is located on the top floor of the Galeries, and is a veritable riot of tastes and colors. There you’ll find everything and more to tantalize the dedicated gourmet: a bakery with a dizzying array of specialty breads and pastries (testament to France’s continuing love affair with baked goods of every description); a cheese counter with at least a hundred different varieties of cheese (both French and imported); meats and seafood; a deli offering the very best specialty foodstuffs; and fruit and veggies of every origin from all around the world — all products flawlessly fresh.

There is even a large section dedicated to every spice imaginable. The luxury chocolate and candy displays are worth a prolonged visit. I usually stock up here on all kinds of European chocolates when I’m in town as many brands can’t be found in the US and all of them are sold cheaper in Paris.

To top things off, Lafayette Gourmet also boasts a ‘wine library’ unlike any other: 1,800 of the world’s finest wines, classified and presented with enough loving attention to satisfy demanding wine connoisseurs.

40, boulevard Haussmann 75009 PARIS

Metro: Chaussée d’Antin La Fayette

Say Cheese!

Beside wine, what else are the French obsessed with? Cheese! The French passion for cheese and the proliferation of the stuff in their country is frankly unsurpassed. A famous quote from Charles de Gaulle goes, “How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?”

The French are as serious about their cheese as they are about their wine, and so it comes as no surprise that, like wine, French cheese is protected by AOC laws (appellation d’origine contrôlée, name of a controlled origin). These laws allow only certain limited quantities of a particular cheese to be produced in order to prevent mass production ruining the subtle variations in French regional cheeses.

So, in search of the ultimate cheese repast, I asked my Parisian friends where the cheese crème de la crème (no pun intended) was to be found in France’s capital. The answer was unanimous: “Androuet!”

And Androuet it was. I wandered over to their fromagerie (cheese shop) at 37, rue de Verneuil and was greeted with the most tantalizing displays of cheeses – you have to see it to believe it! The cheeses look a far sight different than what they laughingly call cheese in supermarkets – this is the real enchilada.

Family owned and run, Androuet was founded back in 1909 by the current owner’s grandfather, and since then its people have been cultivating the art of the maître fromager affineur (cheese maturing master). The name is famous worldwide. Today, and to the great benefit of the Parisian population, the house of Androuet actually comprises 5 fine cheese shops in Paris alone and plans to open another one in the new Roissy airport! They even have a branch in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital.

Androuet’s cheeses hail from more than 200 different locations and are all exclusively made with raw milk. Each cheese is unique, cured and matured under the supervision of maîtres affineurs (masters in cheese ripening), and aged or prepared in curing cellars. You’ll find Androuet’s shops in all Parisian tourist guides, and I was told that their clientèle comes from all over the world – from the US to Japan.

Cheese is best accompanied with bread and wine, and Androuet specializes in the best. They provide a wide range of wines, from red Sancerre to Chateau Neuf du Pape, and work with two Parisian bakeries to supply you with some very decent bread to go with your cheese.

So you can get your cheese, your wine and your bread all in one fell swoop, as well as excellent advice on all three free of charge. The staff speaks English, and a variety of other languages, so communication shouldn’t be much of a problem… failing that, animated gesticulations punctuated by the odd use of random foreign words have always worked wonders for me abroad…

For those who want to take some of this priceless loot back home, Androuet provides air-tight and vacuum-sealed packages.

For Americans, you can check the US Customs & Border Protection website for the latest on food importing rules at help.cbp.gov, or the US Department of Agriculture’s website (www.usda.gov). At the moment, they confirm that cured cheeses (i.e. hard cheeses like parmesan and cheddar) are generally admissible if imported for personal use, although this is subject to change depending on disease outbreaks. Keep in mind that you should declare them. Ask for advice from Androuet’s staff – they’ll be in the know about this.

A buffet-size assortment goes from 35 to 70 euros, and they do themed gourmet gift baskets, boxes and chests too. They even cater for private or business cheese-themed buffets with the whole nine yards: fresh and dried fruit, Poilane or Poujauran breads (see below), wine, candles, floral decorations etc.

Androuet in Paris (normal working hours Tuesday to Saturday, and they all close at 7:30 pm):

37, rue de Verneuil – 75007 Paris

Metro: Rue du Bac, Solférino (line 12).

134, rue Mouffetard – 75005 Paris

Metro: Censier Daubenton (line 7).

1, rue Bois le Vent – 75016 Paris

Metro: La Muette (line 9), Passy (line 6).

17, rue des Belles-Feuilles – 75016 Paris

Metro: Victor Hugo (line 2), Trocadéro (lines 6, 9).

23, rue de la Terrasse – 75017 Paris

Metro: Villiers (lines 2, 3).

Gourmet Food: The Perfect Gift

We all know someone who has it all. The person you leave for last on your gift list because you can never think of a suitable gift for him or her. That’s where gourmet food comes to the rescue.

It’s a great gift for anyone, all you have to do is cater to their taste buds. And, since food is something that gets used up, you can keep giving more for each holiday, it will always be appreciated.

Choosing the Right Gourmet Food

It really helps to know what your gift recipient likes and doesn’t like when you’re choosing food for them. It would be in bad taste to give canned swordfish to a vegan activist, for example! If you don’t know the person well enough, you can ask someone close to them for ideas.

The best food baskets will contain things that people wouldn’t normally choose or buy for themselves. Things like caviar, smoked salmon, exotic fruits or specialty olives all make for interesting food gifts and gourmet chocolates are rarely unappreciated.

Time periods can be a fun gift for someone special. If you know someone who grew up in the 50’s, for example, why not give the gift of memory with as many candies from that era that you can find? While not precisely gourmet, it does make a wonderful present.

Another option is to go with a specific geographical location. For someone interested in Italy, you could put together a basket with Italian sausages, exotic pasta and other themed items. Likewise, a Canadian basket with some authentic maple syrup and flapjacks mix would likely be very welcome to a homesick Canadian.

There are a lot of different types of gourmet food available, so the difficult part is making the selections. Often, where gourmet foods are sold, you’ll find pre-assembled food baskets with themed contents. This option might be a little cheaper than putting together the entire basket on your own, though that is certainly an option. A pre-made basket or gift box of gourmet food can also save you a lot of time if you are running last minute errands or simply missed an occasion.

A Year Round Gift

Gourmet food isn’t just something to be given at Christmas. While a nice gift box is ideal for the holiday season, there are so many more uses for it. Literally any occasion goes with an elegant edible gift. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.

A hostess gift for a party could be a selection of cheeses and gourmet crackers works well for this occasion, as do chocolates or truffles.

Get well baskets of chicken soup or an assortment of jellies and jams can be ideal for someone recovering from an illness or accident.

An assembly of exotic meats and cheeses, along with a nice bottle of wine, makes a wonderful wedding gift. Surprise your favorite college student with a gift of favorite candies or some fancy hot chocolate mixes. A romantic gift of chocolates or other sensual treats can be a good make-up gift for a lover or a spouse, as well.

As you can see, there is no shortage of ways to use gourmet food as a gift item. It’s actually very helpful to keep a couple of small gift baskets with some items such as chocolate or coffees on hand in case you are invited to a birthday or find that you’ve forgotten an event. It will save you quite a bit of time and stress, trying to find a gift at the last minute.

Finding and Packaging Food Gifts

You might not be lucky enough to encounter what you’re looking for at the local grocery store. In fact, you probably want to avoid things that are commonly found in supermarkets. Your gift will be that much better when you present the recipient with something they can’t find locally.

Ordering online is probably your best bet, or finding a specialty store in your area. Most people find that the ease of ordering online is far more convenient and it can also be a good way to send something to someone in another state, simply by changing the mailing address.

Choose the items that you want to include in the gift basket and package it yourself, or buy a pre-packaged gift box. To make it look more original, you can even take an existing pre-packaged basket and redo it yourself, adding a few personalized touches.

Use your creativity when putting the gift together and you’ll find that it is even more appreciated. Finding a unique method of presentation and adding in some little extras to make the gift more than just a basket of food is what will set your present apart from any others received.

For the budding chef in your life, a selection of exotic cooking ingredients like truffle oil, vanilla beans and spices is a good choice, tucked into a baking dish along with an apron or dish towel. Or perhaps you know a gardener who could use a new pair of gloves, along with a variety of sundried tomatoes and herbs, all presented in a new garden pail. The careful attention to details here is what will really make the gift something special to the recipient.

The best gifts are given unexpectedly, not just for Christmas or birthdays. You can really let someone know how much you appreciate them by simply presenting them with a gift for no particular reason. And what better way to do that than with a specialty food that they’ve been dying to try out?

Gourmet food truly is a great gift to give any time of year. Whether you are putting together a special, personalized basket for that certain someone in your life or just preparing a simple box for a coworker or client to show your appreciation, food is never a bad gift. Especially not when it’s something rich and decadent that the recipient would really enjoy, but probably not buy for themselves.

Are Gourmet Foods For Everyone?

When you think gourmet foods what comes to your mind? Expensive, only available in the top restaurants of the world presented in unique design by men that speak with accents wearing tuxes? The truth is that they are not as expensive as you think, they do not need a culinary master to be prepared and they do not take as much time as you may believe.

Gourmet foods can appeal to all the senses. Taste, touch, sight, and sound. Finer gourmet foods when beautifully presented and carefully tasted can equal the experience of seeing an original piece of a masters work of art. The aroma that lingers in the air and the beauty in the way it was arranged can be worth the price that some of the finest restraunts may charge. Only high quality food and drink will suffice for those that consider food to be a delicacy and treasure.

With that being said, how does a person go about selecting everyday foods from the local market and preparing them at home to equal those prepared by a world renown chef? I completely believe that preparing gourmet meals at home for yourself, several times a week, is possible and not saved for those times when special dinners are required for guests while entertaining. Where to shop for gourmet foods? That depends on where you live. Gourmet quality items can be found at your local grocery or farmers market, it just takes some looking. There are some areas that have specialty stores or gourmet shops. Remember, I said it doesn’t have to be expensive to be gourmet it has to be high quality.

So you are going to look for foods that look good, are high quality and are fresh. You want foods that are not processed or packaged and in most cases have not been treated with pesticides and such. Pick the freshest foods if at all possible. If fresh foods are not an option some frozen varieties are acceptable but never use canned. You know the difference in quality foods when you see them. They are usually the foods that are packaged attractively and displayed in a way that makes you want to buy them. You are consuming it, it should be high quality.

If you are not sure how to go through the grocery and pick out the high quality foods, then you can turn to the internet. There are many quality gourmet shops online. If you are going to use the online approach to gourmet food shopping I recommend making a list of what you are looking for. Once you have that list you will want to find the better sites that offer the best foods. Places such as Amazon.com can help you locate the foods you are looking for and offers you a simpl way to price compare.

Price compare, paying more doesn’t mean that you are getting better quality of food. The quality of the food is not always revealed in the price tag. I have been to restaurants and had a filet mignon and paid an insane amount of money for a steak and then gone to a chain restaurant and had a filet that was ten times better and cost 1/3 of the “fine restaurants” filet.

Shopping for the good gourmet foods takes time. It can be an enjoyable time. Planning ahead and getting bargins by watching for coupons in your local paper is also wise. Instead of taking a long county drive on a Saturday, try visiting one or two local markets browsing up and down the isle looking for special food items to create a gourmet meal. Eating should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience, so take the time to prepare your gourmet meals.

Gourmet Food Cheese, Candy, and Cookies

Gourmet food can be anything that is better than normal in quality, and is something everyone will try, even if they are picky eaters. Often gourmet cooking has more than the normal range of ingredients, but sometimes can contain just a few, carefully selected ingredients. The same is true when it comes to gourmet cheese, candy and cookies. While they can be simple in ingredients, they are elegant and luxurious in taste.

Cheese:

When it comes to gourmet food, cheese is often an ingredient. Cheese itself is can be a gourmet food depending on how it is served. Brie is considered gourmet, and is a popular appetizer cheese, especially when served with crackers and vegetables.

Other gourmet cheese may include compound spreads that have added ingredients, such as some of the spread-able cheese spreads that have flavoring added like bacon and Swiss, or cheddar with port wine, for example. Cheese can also be turned gourmet when made into a spread with lump crab meat, onion or garlic and served with biscotti.

Cheese balls or cheese logs are another gourmet serving suggestion for cheese, where nuts are added to the outside, or cream cheese has become popular with chipped beef, onion and garlic, served as a cheese ball.

The semi-soft to hard cheeses, like mozzarella, Gouda, gorgonzola and parmesans, for example, are varied in taste and variety, so you can make a gourmet gift from different kinds of cheese from around the world.

Candy:

When it comes to candy, the first thing that comes to mind is truffles, which are luxurious and have a smooth creaminess and variety of flavorings. Everybody loves truffles.

Filled chocolates are another kind of gourmet candy, and fillings of coconut, caramel, nuts, marshmallow and nougats in different flavors are popular gourmet candies. Of course, there are some of the gourmet candies made in different regions like saltwater taffy, fudge, peanut clusters and turtles, or hard candies from around the world that are considered gourmet.

Cookies:

This is a sinfully wide category that can include any number of gourmet cookies. Gourmet cookies typically offer more than average ingredients, so even chocolate chips can become gourmet when they have large chocolate chunks, with marshmallows, peanuts or something else added. Ladyfingers, turtle brownies, or heath bar cookies can be considered gourmet. There are many cookies from around the world that are served in gourmet tins and are simple such as Danish butter cookies.

Some of the more recognized gourmet cookies like lemon bars, or cheesecake cookies and peanut butter chocolate chunk are traditional styles of cookies or brownies, with added ingredients to make them more rich and gooey. Decorated cookies, for example are considered gourmet, and can be topped with icing, coconut, chocolate drizzle, caramel and nuts, among other things, to make them more than a typical cookie.

Whatever your gourmet fetish is, many people love gourmet cheeses, candy and cookies, no matter what time of year or day it is. With the internet, it is possible to have any kind of gourmet treat shipped right to your door. Why wait for a special occasion when you can order them anytime, from the convenience of your home, and can get your favorites for a snack or a gift basket for somebody else.

One thing is for certain, everybody loves gourmet food, especially cheeses, candy and cookies.