A How-To Guide for the Best Chocolate Corporate Gifts

You might think corporate gifts are purely a commercial transaction – shiny objects, cold and calculated – sent from one big office to another, given to clients or customers only to encourage future business. But, whether for a board meeting or a sales meeting or for the holidays, corporate gifts can be so much more than obligatory tokens of appreciation. When carefully chosen, corporate gifts can and do send a message of gratitude, and they have the potential to deepen connections in the corporate office, home office, and in the minds of your best clients. 

While strengthening business relationships is part of the story, corporate gifts have also always been from real people to real people. And this year especially, the pandemic has only heightened the wish to connect on a human level. In effect, even corporate gifts are saying we depend on each other. We care about your health and well-being. That’s why, when thoughtfulness of the gift especially matters, we’ve put together this How-To for corporate gift-giving.

Chocolate Makes the Perfect Gift for Employees, Customers, Clients, and Bosses

So what turns a corporate gift from a tchotchke into something enjoyable and memorable? It’s easy for us to say, but chocolate – good chocolate – usually goes over pretty well. Customers, clients, employees, and even bosses can get giddy when opening a gift box to reveal a well-selected assortment of truffles, caramels, buttercreams, and other seasonal goodies. Include your brand and a personal note with each box, and the chocolate that makes them stop in their tracks and say “oh, wow” is a gift they will remember.

Best Chocolate Gifts Ideas for Employees

Employees are the backbone of any business. They devote their time and talent to the company every single day. During the holidays or any time of year, it’s good business practice and good people practice to drop in with a gift that will bring them a smile. Especially if done with any regularity, gifts to employees don’t need to be elaborate or expensive. . . just thoughtful. We’d recommend a fun box of four truffles, tied up with a ribbon, placed on their desk on a Friday afternoon. Or a box of eight they can take home to share on the eve of a holiday. Or in the summer, try a jar of our award-winning Maine sea salt caramel sauce or hot fudge sauce to go on an ice cream sundae.

Chocolates for Current and Potential Clients and Customers

Clients and customers are the heart of the business. Without them, there is no business. And keeping that pipeline of potential, not-quite-yet clients active will feed the business in the months to come. The holidays are a perfect time to let them know how much they are appreciated. We recommend a statement gift, such as a 16 piece-assortment of Dean’s Sweets top sellers tied up with a ribbon and card. Or a holiday bundle that includes hot chocolate, peppermint bark, and little chocolate snowmen. 

There’s also a case to be made that sending a gift just after the New Year or in the middle of March, when the holiday season has petered out, is the way to stand out in a client’s eyes. A colorful gift box filled with potato chip and mocha chocolate bars and house-made toffees could provide a major bright spot when winter is dragging on and spring hasn’t arrived. Or a Maine-made wooden crate, made by Doles Orchard, filled with our deep dark hot fudge sauce and Good Food award-winning caramel sauce could give a boost to clients and future customers when sent during the “off” season. Gift-giving in any season is a smart move to keep customers and clients coming back. They may even stick around just to get another box of chocolate next year.

Chocolate Gifts for Your Boss

Does your boss deserve chocolate? Holiday time often calls for a gift exchange, but usually we don’t want to, and don’t need to, overdo it with our bosses. Just a small gift that says Happy Holidays without going overboard is a winning approach. One of our small chocolate decorated trees in dark or milk chocolate would be sweet and just the right touch. Or a trio of single-serve hot chocolates for your boss to keep in her office would remind her throughout the winter of how amazing you are.

Office Secret Santa Gifts – Gifts for Coworkers

Or maybe you pulled a name out of the hat for your secret Santa and you know nothing about Jane from accounting or Phil from human resources. What then? Chocolates once again to the rescue. You can take a little risk and give our boozy assortment, or play it super cool and give the perennial favorites, Maine sea salt caramels. As other co-workers unwrap scratch cards and gift cards, your happy recipient will have the immediate gratification of well-selected confections as well as the relief they didn’t get another tree ornament. 

It also bears saying that chocolate, while practically unanimously loved, also avoids some of the tricky questions holiday gift-giving can foster. Can I send wine? What if they don’t drink? Can I give coffee? How do they brew it? How about a coffee mug, or a pen set, or a cribbage board? Maybe they already have/don’t really need any of these things? A basket of crackers and local cheeses may be a nice idea, but are they gluten free or vegan?

Chocolate can be all of what you want and none of what you don’t want. Our chocolate is always nut-free and gluten-free, and can be selected for dairy-free, and vegan diets. We can add the bacon or keep it out. And if you’re shipping the chocolate, we can help with that too. (Shipping chocolate to Florida can be done!)

As always, we’re here to help figure out what, when, and how to give a thoughtful and delicious corporate gift. Customers, clients, employees, board members, and bosses will all enjoy and remember their gift when it’s sent from one person to another, one connection at a time. After all, whatever the year has brought, we are all in this together, depending on, Zooming with, and caring for each other.