Archive for the ‘General’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Thankful For My #1 Fan!!

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving  S’more friends,

I’ve been super busy, like most people, this time of year.  My calendar has been packed with a ton of events, creating new holiday flavors, photo shoots, customizing holiday S’muffins, marketing, marketing, marketing and last but not least LOTS of orders!!  I’m heading out this week to celebrate Thanksgiving with my hubby and little girl in the great state of Minnesota; that’s where Ben is from.  The first week of December Gotta Have S’more will officially be one year old. The rest of the month, I’m sure I’ll be in the bakery making a zillion S’muffins with my fabulous assistants. 

Daddy's little girl

With everything that is going on, I have to say the most important date on my calendar is one that just passed.  On November 18th Ben and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. Five whole years!!!  Time flies…. I can’t imagine what my life would look like right now without Ben by my side.  Gotta Have S’more would not exist, because the crazy “S’more Idea” probably wouldn’t have happened with anyone else.  He takes the word “supportive” to a whole new level and I thank God every day for giving me such a wonderful husband. 

Since starting this company, our world has been totally flipped upside down.  Running a business is all consuming  24/7, especially when you’re totally obsessed like I am.  When I was working 8am- 6pm things were definitely more structured in our lives.  There are lots of nights and weekends when I’m either up at the bakery, doing events, or off to networking groups.  During those times Ben and Maddie will just pal around at the beach, ride their bikes, play house, read, she’s already had her share of UFC, and when he puts on his Wisconsin jersey she automatically yells “Go Vikes”!! 

Vacation in Cancun

I asked him the other day if he ever wishes I would go back to a corporate job.  He laughed and said, “No, I want you to be successful with your business”.  Thank God, what would I have done if he would have said “Yes”?!?!  It’s truly an amazing experience starting a company out of nothing and watching it grow.  Even that doesn’t measure up to having someone who believes in you so much, they are willing to make sacrifices for your success. I love you Ben with all my heart and am so thankful to have  you by my side for the rest of my life!! xoxox

Ben & Maddie - best friends!

Posted in General | No Comments »

It’s Been One Year… Time For a New Look!

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

P.S. Arts Nov 2009

HI friends!

Wow, it’s been awhile.  My “weekly” blog post is becoming  more like a “monthly, (if I’m lucky)” blog post.  So my secret is out, blogging is not my most favorite thing to do.  I’m constantly wondering…. “what will I write about this week/month”.  But, once I sit down and start typing, it’s actually not so bad.  

Now that it’s November we’re gearing up for the holiday’s doing tons of events, creating new flavors and hiring a new person to work in the bakery.  Last weekend I returned to P.S. Arts Express Yourself for the 2nd year in a row.  P.S. Arts was actually my very first event ever. So much has happened in the last year, it’s truly been one of the best years of my life!! 

Since Gotta Have S’more is hitting the year mark I decided it was time to give my booth a fresh new look. With the help of  my great friend, Alycia Monet Denham, founder of Yogahitch and previously one of LA’s top interior designers, I gave my booth a whole new look.  I told her I wanted it to look very modern and stylish.  First she did a mock drawing of what she thought it should look like.  Then I ran around LA like a madwoman for the next couple weeks trying to find display items, curtains, creating little signs, getting my bigger signs made up, etc.  Of course while all of this was going on, it just happened to be the busiest week we’ve had since our beginning.   In the end, everything worked out and really came together.  I’ve posted some before and after shots.  Let me know what you think!!  Oh, you’ll get to see some “before and after” shots of me too…. Before I started eating S’muffins every day for a year straight! :-(

Nov 2010

xoxoxo

back table of new booth Nov 2010

Carmen Lindner

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

Being a Mom And a Business Owner!

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

On September 19, 2010, Gotta Have S’more will be one of the sponsors at the Baglady Promotions’ LA Women in Business conference.  The CEO of Baglady, Laura Filipowicz ,  is one of my good friends.  She has put a lot of time and energy into this event, so I know it’s going to be GREAT!  Laura will be honoring the top four winners of the  mompreneur contest by letting them share the background and story behind their businesses.  Personally, I can’t wait to hear what they have to say because I know I’ll be reliving some moments of my own personal experiences as a mompreneur. 

So what’s a mompreneur?  That’s easy….. It’s not just a woman who is daring enough to start her own business, but a woman with the responsibility of one or more children who is daring enough to start her own business! 

Testing the S’muffins to make sure they are perfect.

Testing the S’muffins to make sure they are perfect.

Starting your business is extremely challenging, but starting a business with a toddler on your lap makes “challenging” look like a walk in the park.  Don’t get me wrong… if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I absolutely love being a business owner and am totally obsessed with Gotta Have Smore and of course my little girl.  It just makes me laugh when I think back to my corporate days….. I thought I was so busy then with my “nine to five or six or seven” job with no kids…. Oh the days of having nights and weekends all to myself!!  

My little girl, Madeline Grace actually goes to pre-school four days a week.  But, if you’ve ever called to place an order on a Friday, then you know I keep her home with me on Fridays.  Some Friday’s are great and others not so much but I’m determined to take advantage of my “flexible” schedule and designate Friday as our day together.  So, if you happen to call to place an order on a Friday and I sound like I’m out of breath, don’t worry, I’m just sprinting away from my two year old who likes to exercise her freedom of speech by screaming, “I gee it” that’s I’ll get the phone in toddler.  She loves to assist me by answering the phone and has been known to hang up on a customer or two; thank God for caller ID!!  My company laptop doubles as her DVD player and has seen its share of Dora the Explorer and tiny little fingers covered with oatmeal and peanut butter. Maddie LOVES to color and enjoys scribbling all over my work notebook and calendar when no one is looking.  Some nights (like tonight) my oh so valuable four hours of sleep are broken up when Maddie has a nightmare, a fever, or just wants to party all night.  But, more and more I’m learning to just laugh at the crazy little hiccups that take place. Because honestly, if I had the option to change anything I would have to say “No thanks, things are perfect just the way they are”.

Maddie running after me so she can answer the phone to take an order!

Maddie running after me so she can answer the phone to take an order!

 Ok, wait! That last sentence sounds really sweet but IF I could actually change one thing, I would have my mom move from Oklahoma to Los Angeles and help me with everything,,,then things would be PERFECT!!

xoxoxo

Carmen Lindner

Founder & CEO

Gotta Have S’more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Calls From the Food Network!!

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

I have to admit, I’ve never been so happy while working so hard in my whole life!  There is nothing better than owning your own business, except of course, spending time with family and friends.  I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, even when I was waiting tables, a hundred years ago.  I NEVER called in, always went in early, stayed late, and loved making people happy by giving the best customer service I possibly could.  I’ve always wondered what I would be able to accomplish if I took all of my time and energy that I spend “working” and directed that toward something I’m passionate about.  Well, now I know the answer.  Gotta Have S’more is approaching its one year anniversary and I’ve never been so head-over-heels in love with work!!  Yes, I know that sounds crazy but it is so true.  Every day is like an adventure.  I never know who’s going to call, who I’m going to meet, or what new challenge I’m going to tackle.

Last week I received a couple calls that sent me on “cloud nine”.  The first one was from the Food Network!  They wanted to discuss having me on the next season of Kid In A Candy Store.  This is the second time the Food Network has called in the past two months.  The first time they called about having me on Cupcake Wars!  To that I said, “thanks, but no thanks”.   There are a handful of shows you will never see me on… Jeopardy, Americas Got Talent, American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen, & Cupcake Wars (and of course all the silly dating shows, since I’m happily married!).  Some of the reality shows require a bit of skill that I do not possess….  Baking a cupcake is one of those skills.  Now, if they ever come out with a show called S’muffin Wars…. Watch out!!!  So, I’m waiting for a call back from Kid In a Candy Store.  Just the fact that they called is super exciting!!

  I also received a call from the Producers of Gene Simmons 

 Family Jewels!  They called to see if I would be interested in swapping a 4 pack of S’muffins for a little in-program integration.  Apparently, they are huge S’muffin fans and wanted to write them into the script….  WOW!!!  So, the next day I boxed up a 4-pack, 6-pack, dozen, and a Gotta Have S’more T-shirt and sent them off for their big TV debut.  I feel like a stage mom whose kid just landed their first commercial.  I’m so proud of my little S’muffins.
Carmen Lindner
Founder & CEO
Gotta Have S’more

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

It’s Time to Make Some Big Moves

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Hello friends!

It’s Wednesday morning and I feel like I’ve accomplished so much this week both  professionally and personally Things seem to get better and better every day with Gotta Have S’more (GHS).  Earlier in the week, I was reading in my journal and around this time last year I wrote that I was “dabbling with Gimme S’more” (Gimme S’more was going to be the original name until we discovered it was already trademarked).  It’s hard to believe it hasn’t even been a full year since I started this company.  So much has happened and it’s been such a HUGE success!!  This week the decision was made to REALLY kick it up a notch and take GHS to the next level.  We’ve decided it’s time to take on investors!!!  It has gotten to the point where I know that I cannot grow this company, or I guess I should say, “handle it’s growth” all by myself.  For awhile, the thought of going to investors really scared me.  Now I’m super excited to see how big this little idea of ours can grow!!  So stay tuned! 

On a personal note, I finally bit the bullet and hired a personal trainer to whip my S’muffin butt back into shape!  Since this company really started taking off, around Dec 09, I have focused 100% of my time and attention to it.  I was neglecting a lot of other really important responsibilities and myself.  I have a very extreme personality and once I start a project (or a company), I become totally obsessed.  So this past week my obsession for GHS has not fizzled at all, but I’m forcing myself to make time for other responsibilities too.  Hope I don’t fall off the wagon!!

Wish me luck!!

xoxo

Carmen

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

CRAZINESS at the LA LARGEST MIXER

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Hello friends,

It’s Friday night and I’m still recovering from the LA Largest Mixer which was held last night at the Shrine Auditorium ExpoCenter.  I’ll admit, I was warned that they were expecting 3000 people to attend. I was even there last year and witnessed firsthand how crazy it gets. So, I’m not quite sure where my head was when I decided to only take about 1500 samples and do the event completely by myself without any assistance from anyone!!  It’s the first event I’ve ever done that got totally out of control!!  It was scheduled from 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm and I was completely wiped out (of S’muffins & my mind) by 7:30pm!!!  People were going bananas (in a good way) over our S’muffins!!!  Honestly, I NEVER get tired of hearing comments like, “Wow, this is the BEST thing I’ve ever tasted!!”, “That is a brilliant idea (GHS & S’muffins)” and the one I love most….“We’re going to see you on Oprah soon”.  I absolutely love doing events because not only do I run into lots of people that I rarely get a chance to see, but I get to meet new people and  introduce them to S’muffins.  It’s one of my favorite things about having my own business even if I look like I’ve been drug by wild horses by the end of the evening!! The crowd!!

This is a list of my upcoming events, hope to see you there!!

xoxoxo

Carmen

Friday, 7/30 Savor LA event
Sunday, 8/1 CupcakeCamp OC

Friday, 8/6 Young, Gifted and GIRL Conference.

Posted in General | No Comments »

Introducing Gotta Have S’more….. Again!

Friday, July 16th, 2010

S'muffin at their very first event The Royal Dance Party

Hello S’more Fans!

Today is the first day that I am officially your “Gotta Have S’more” spokesperson.  As you know, Simone S’muffin has held that position since our website launched in December 2009.  Although I love the Simone S’muffin character, the decision has been made to give her some time off and bring her back at a later date.
 
So, I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Carmen Lindner; Founder & CEO of “Gotta Have S’more”.  While I’m running a successful business, I’m the wife of a super- supportive and amazing husband, Ben.  Finally, I’m also the mom of a feisty little, two year old daughter named Maddie.
 
Everyone always asks how I got started and how I came up with the idea of Gotta Have S’more and the S’muffin.  My husband and I for the past seven years have always talked about starting a S’more Store/Company.  We always wanted to create a treat th

at was unique from the traditional bakery pastries and cupcakes.  We decided that a great and fun product would be to use the traditional known Smore and make it better. One day in Sept of 2009 the conversation came up again.  I said, “I’m going to make some S’mores tonight”.  So I took off to the store to get baking supplies, real butter and real sugar.  During the process, we would brain storm different names from Gimme S’more (this was the original name until I discovered it was already trademarked), Simply S’more, Love Me S’more, the list goes on and on.   

Before we had our current logo and sticker

I never considered myself much of a pastry chef or baker and what I usually made was low fat, no fat and definitely never any sugar. Over the next couple days, I was determined to create the perfect S’more.  It wasn’t long before I presented to Ben my new little creation and what we today call the S’muffin.  To my surprise, he really liked it and he’s the biggest skeptic there is.  To test out the concept, we had some friends over for dinner so I introduced them to the stylish, new S’mores.

 They said, “These are really great, what an idea!”!!  The rest is history :-)

Some of the very first S'muffins ever made. Not quite as pretty as they are now & not dipped in chocolate yet.

Little did I know how one little idea, transformed into a recipe would ultimately flip our lives upside down and take us on a wild journey we NEVER expected.
 
This blog will keep you updated on all the exciting events and fabulous parties we attend.  I’ll introduce you to a ton of AMAZING women business owners that we partner with along the way(and a few men WINK).  In addition to everything that’s going on with expansion of the company I’ll be sharing a behind the seen look to into my life and how I’m learning to take care of Ben, Maddie and the newest addition to our family.. my baby.. .Gotta Have S’more.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in General | 6 Comments »

Simone’s Last Day with Gotta Have S’more

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Simone S'muffin last day with Gotta Have S'more

Hello friends!!  Before I spill all the latest and greatest about what I’m up to this weekend, I have an announcement to make.  I say this with a heavy heart……I’m going to take a bit of a break from being the official spokesperson for Gotta Have S’more (GHS).  It’s VERY bitter sweet because although I’m going to miss the hustle and bustle of GHS,  I’ve decided to take advantage of all the  high profile connections I’ve made over the past year and pursue my acting career!  Everyone tells me I’m a natural and that I have a very “sweet” and “unique” look.  So, I’ve decided to go for it!!!  Carmen has been a doll, super supportive and is really happy for me.  She told me that the door will always be open, so you never know when I might make a special guest appearance at a future event. WINK!  Carmen has decided she will officially take over this blog and twitter followers will follow Gotta Have S’more for all the latest updates on GHS.  So, keep an eye out for me on your next favorite CBS show, or even better, a feature film!! (although I have been approached by some really HOT indie directors..)  

 Stay tuned!  This will be my final weekend with GHS, and I’m going out with a bang!  Two great events on the same day… First is , Walk with Sally, White Light White Night, with a private concert by Rocco Dellue.  Walk with Sally is an amazing not for profit that provides healing and comfort to children debilitated by the emotional experience of living with, or losing a parent or sibling to cancer.  Second is the Concern Foundation’s 36th Annual Block Party!!  The Concern Foundation is dedicated to raising and granting funds to support cancer research.  Two great events, I can’t wait!!

kisses 

Simone

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

Summertime Begins with Opening Night at The Hollywood Bowl

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Last Friday was definitely a night to remember….  My sassy, little entourage and I attended The 89th Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl!!  It was a first class night from beginning to end.

Alycia Denham, Carmen Lindner CEO Gotta Have S'more, Linda Rosenberg, Holly Self

Alycia Denham, Founder of Gotta Have S'more Carmen Lindner, Linda Rosenberg, Holly Self

Sponsors - Gallo Wine

Sponsor - Gallo Wine

We started the night at the VIP COCKTAIL RECEPTION where we sipped our first few glasses of bubbly and nibbled on some yummy Hors D’oeuvres provided by Patina Catering.  Patina is known for providing guests with the very finest cuisine and exceptional service at extraordinary landmark locations such as the Hollywood Bowl.  Friday night was no exception; their staff was bending over backwards to make sure we were all well taken care of.  After the reception, we took our seats in the Garden Box where we were treated to a bottle of white and red Gallo wine along with a delicious dinner to die for!!  The Hall of Fame concert preformed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic started at 8:30 where Donna Summer, The Carpenters, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet were all being honored.  The Queen of Disco looked amazing and had everyone on their feet lookin’ for some “Hot Stuff” baby!  Richard Carpenter seemed delighted, and almost gitty to be part of such a special night, especially during the tribute to his late sister Karen Carpenter.

The Hollywood Bowl

Of course, the highlight of the whole evening was the dessert being served during intermission!  Yep, The Hollywood Bowl treated everyone in a box seat to a four or six pack of Gotta Have S’more “S’muffins”!  It was so much fun walking around watching everyone rip open their little gift and gobble down the surprise inside. What a perfect way to kick off the summer!  How will I ever top this one next year?  Thank you so much Jennie May, Special Events Coordinator, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.

xoxoxo

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

Introducing the L.A Sweet Shop at the BizBash Expos!

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Today is the BizBash L.A Expo!!  Two thousand party professionals have anxiously been waiting for this day for awhile.  Here’s the short but sweet 411 on BizBash…..They are the “go to” source for all  event & meeting planners who are looking for venues, caterers, rentals, entertainment, calendars, decor, banquet halls, audio-visual production, security, staffing, ideas, style, trends, industry news, planning tips, and marketing strategies.

The dessert divas!

Now, the BizBash Expos are THE industry standard for event and meeting planners who want to seize all that’s fresh and new.  Of course, I will be there telling everyone about the hottest new dessert in L.A…S’muffins!  I won’t be there alone.  Three other dessert divas and I have combined all of our yummy sweetness to create the L.A Sweet Shop.  We’re customizing a beautiful dessert bar showing how well all of our yummy’s look together.  And, trust me… they all look GREAT!! WINK~     Please, let me share a little bit about each of them.  First, we have Patricia Tsai from ChocoVivo.  She creates stone ground chocolate from bean to bar, die hard chocolate lovers you’ve met your match.  Next, we have my dear friend Chef Jamie Cantor from, where else..? Platine Cookies, of course!!!  Jamie does a sophisticated twist on old time favorites.  FYI, I won’t hold it against you if you sign me up for Jamie’s Cookie of The Month Club!!  Last but definitely not least, Rachel Flores from P.O.P candywill be there with her fresh Butter Crunch.  YUM!!! I am over the moon to be spending the day with these three dessert superstars!  If you’re there, stop by our booth to say “hello” and grab some samples… there will be plenty for everyone!!  You know I’ll post some great pics asap!!

xoxoxo

L.A Sweet Shop

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in General | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »