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Year-round gift-giving ideas for Metroplex offices

Gift

Soon, the holiday season will have come and gone. But for those in offices throughout the Metroplex tasked with giving gifts to clients or fellow staff members, the search for That Special Something is a year-round proposition. What can you give that special client as a way of saying thanks? Fortunately, the Dallas/Fort Worth area is a veritable cornucopia of edible gift ideas, and I’d like to share three of my favorites, run by local companies, that work for any office environment while being unique and high-quality enough to really stand out.

  1. FRESH FRUIT GIFT BASKETS. I highly recommend the gift basket from ORCHARD At The OFFICE, a Richardson-based organization which specializes in premium-quality office fresh fruit delivery. Their gift basket is a great deal: for $40 plus a $5 delivery fee, the recipient will receive a great wicker basket filled with a fantastic mix of delectable whole fruit with a handwritten note. The basket comes with all the classics you’d expect: Dole bananas, quality apples, citrus, a rainbow of pears…but what I really enjoy are the more exotic varieties they pop into the gift baskets, such as papaya, kiwi, and peaches. The Seckel pears in particular are a delight: they’re a little larger than a golf ball, with a skin that fades between green and red, and a sweetness which is elegant without being overpowering. It’s a great package that encourages healthy snacking, and as such is the gift that keeps on giving!
  2. PREMIUM ROAST COFFEE. Our workplace has become completely sold on Eiland Coffee Roasters, another small company in Richardson which imports an amazing assortment of beans from all over the world, roasts them onsite, and packages them up to suit the palates of coffee cognoscenti throughout the Metroplex. Clay Eiland and his knowledgeable staff have the uncanny ability to turn virtually anyone into a coffee connoisseur with the purchase of just a couple pounds. It happened to me: a year ago I could scarcely taste the difference between any random Starbucks blend; now I find myself describing flavors of different cups with sentences featuring phrases like “notes of…”! You can stop by their location or have pounds of coffee sent as a gift. Check out their selection – I myself am partial to the Ethiopian (especially the Ardi) but have yet to make a bad purchase.
  3. ARTISAN CHEESE BOXES. Most foodies, local or otherwise, are familiar with Scardello, an Oak Lawn staple featured on The Food Network. But their gift box selections sometimes go overlooked – which makes them a particularly unique gift choice. The small box will get you three ¼-lb pieces of handmade cheese (I myself am a huge fan of their mozzarella, which to me tastes like what might happen if milk were touched by an angel) as well as one accompaniment: antipasti, olive oils, a variety of beverages, and even “charcuterie” – cured meats and prosciutto. A big hit for one and all!

For more information on ORCHARD At The OFFICE, call 972.295.9091.

To learn more about Eiland Coffee Roasters, call 972.991.0100.

If you’d like to know more about Scardello Artisan Cheese, call 214.219.1300.

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Healthy habits in the workplace: simple tips for meeting your fitness goals

Delivering wellness

by Chris Buchanan, Marketing Wiseapple

For many, the biggest challenge in maintaining a healthy lifestyle comes from changing habits in the workplace. How do you make wellness a top priority when you need to be sedentary at least 40 hours a week?

I’m certainly no miracle of modern fitness myself, but I have the advantage of being married to a personal trainer certified by The Cooper Institute, and I’ve consulted with a lot of my friends who have successfully restructured their lives in order to bring you just a few helpful suggestions on ways you can make progress in your 2016 fitness goals while you’re at the workplace.

  1. 30-SECOND EXERCISES

While it is very important to spend at least 20 minutes doing cardio or resistance training that will elevate the heart rate, there are little things you can do rather inconspicuously to help muscles, joints, and tendons – and you don’t have to change into gym gear! Here are three of my favorites:

  • Calf Raises: it’s as simple as standing on your toes! It can even be done – albeit carefully – in stilettos. I try to do twenty in 30 seconds several times a day, especially if I’m going to be in an elevator for a bit. Which brings us to…
  • Taking the Stairs: I know it seems a bit obvious, and at times it’s impractical as it can be tough on the knees for those who are really out of shape, but just taking one flight of stairs is a good start. (And it’s just as important to take steps going down.)
  • Wall Sits: This one’s a bit different. You simply put your back against a sturdy wall, put your feet out in front of you with about six inches of distance between them, then slide your back down until you’re at a 90-degree angle, as if seated in a chair. Hold this position for 30 seconds, although it’s best if you can do 60! You’ll really feel it in your thighs.
  1. KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU EAT

Logging what you eat is pretty straightforward, but it’s not an easy habit to get into. I struggled for a long time myself with estimating quantities, knowing how to describe what I was eating, and so on. (I found it particularly tough if I went to the lunch buffet at Afrah, until a friend pointed out the irony of me moaning about the difficulty of counting calories at an all-you-can-eat.) By far the best app is MyFitnessPal, which has loads of users and a database of over 2,000,000 foods which makes maintaining a food diary much easier. It’s something anyone can do, and tracking what you eat and how much goes a long way to illuminating the path to healthier living.

  1. GET YOUR OFFICE TO ORDER HEALTHY SNACK ALTERNATIVES

A break room or board room can sometimes seem like a den of iniquity for the well-meaning weight watcher, with sugary, high-sodium snacks lurking everywhere. Sure, you could bring a banana or an apple to work with you, but in the morning rush that’s easily overlooked.

Instead, you might suggest to your Office Manager or the Executive Assistants that they have fresh fruit delivered on a regular basis. The primary company providing this service to the D/FW Metroplex is ORCHARD At The OFFICE, a local company specializing in office fresh fruit delivery. Not only will you have some healthy and tasty fruit to snack on, but your whole office can share the goodness! This one’s really worth looking into, as there are some insurance companies that will reimburse your organization by considering it a wellness expense.

Whatever your fitness goals, don’t forget to have fun, take it one step at a time…and LIVE WELL!

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PRESS RELEASE: Metroplex company makes healthy snacks their business

As a concept, wellness has become a cultural concern that has found firm footing in the corporate environment. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the link between healthy lifestyles and productivity, and are willing to allocate resources to providing everything from smoking cessation materials to aerobic instruction. There are even insurance providers willing to reimburse entrepreneurs who take steps to contribute to the well-being of their staff. Weight loss challenges, yoga classes, fruits and vegetables in the break rooms and board rooms – these all contribute, figuratively and literally, to a healthier bottom line.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, one company has taken up the challenge of delivering wellness to offices…one bite at a time.

Richardson, Texas-based ORCHARD At The OFFICE has a singular mission: to deliver fresh fruit to the businesses of north Texas. By putting together a variety of baskets of top-quality produce, they allow companies small and large to eat healthy with minimal fuss. But these folks are not mere “grocery-getters”: their knowledgeable and energetic staff knows their fruit facts. By viewing their clients as friends, and seeing themselves as partners on a mission to provide health and great taste, ORCHARD At The OFFICE has grown from a two-man effort into a round-the-clock operation dedicated to the cause of healthy living.

“It’s an amazing response,” says Kevin Long, founder and Chief Banana (as it says on his card). “People welcome the difference.” He should know. He first got the idea when he was employed as a director of an advertising firm, and decided to experiment with bringing in bananas and apples in lieu of the more sugar-centric morning munchables. The result was gratifying: “they attacked the baskets! They were really excited.” So much so that Long got the confidence to take his idea and start his own enterprise in 2010. As time has gone by and the business has expanded, so have the offerings: customers can receive the ever-popular bananas, apples, oranges, a variety of pears, citrus, stone fruits, grapes and berries. “Helping our friends find the right mix for their office is part of the fun,” says Chris Buchanan, the Marketing Wiseapple.

Their friends certainly seem satisfied. Monday morning sees a flurry of activity at the company’s headquarters, as baskets of fruits in all manner of inviting colors are loaded into a slew of vehicles to find their way into office kitchens throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The drivers operate as the primary point of contact with their friends and serve to answer questions and note any special accommodations. Regular deliveries are made, special events are scheduled, and even a few gift baskets are dropped off by those wanting to give other companies the gift of health.

For the Chief Banana, that’s what it all comes back to. “Fruit is a gift on so many levels. It’s a gift to yourself.”

 

For more information on ORCHARD At The OFFICE, you can go to http://orchardattheoffice.com or send a message to getfruit@orchardattheoffice.com.

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Taking Root: ORCHARD At The OFFICE grows

ORCHARD At The OFFICE stemmed from a simple idea: delivering fresh fruit to offices throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In their pioneering days, this necessitated Chief Banana Kevin Long and his partner Dennis McCart rising at hours that would make a bat groggy as they hit the farmers’ markets as early as possible to prepare baskets for their friends. With the assistance of a small team of delivery drivers, ORCHARD At The OFFICE soon grew to the point where they could assert themselves as “north Texas’ largest office fresh fruit delivery service”.

In March of 2012, tragedy struck as “Uncle Denny” passed away from a sudden myocardial infarction. His loss, and legacy, are still felt in the company today, as both bolstered Long’s conviction that the mission of “healthy snack alternatives” is indeed vital to society’s well-being.

"Uncle Denny" left an enduring legacy with our company and community.
“Uncle Denny” left an enduring legacy with our company and community.

Under these difficult circumstances, it became necessary to employ additional staff to fill Uncle Denny’s considerably sizable (and always stylish) shoes. One friend of Denny, Ali Sheikh, approached the Long family immediately offering to do anything he could to help. He is now the longest-tenured staff member and his contributions at so crucial a moment will always be valued.

From here, the Long family reached out to other friends. It is at this point that I cease to speak in the third person, and “they” becomes “we”. I, the Marketing Wiseapple, joined the ORCHARD At The OFFICE family to help with deliveries and to champion the cause of healthy snacking in all available media, a role for which I am ideally suited as I am both gregarious in personality and ridiculously obdurate in temperament. I only include this autobiographical information to say that each member of our team is indeed unique, not just in respect to our workplace, but indeed within our community. We are proud of our staff because they are so much more than “good hands” – they are good people, (See future posts for more on each team member.)

Getting started on a Monday morning in the Metroplex.
Ali (a.k.a. Junior) getting started on a Monday morning in the Metroplex.

By May of 2015 we had expanded into Dallas, Fort Worth, and every suburb major and minor. Vans loaded with goodness depart each weekday ready to bring the freshest produce available to our smiling friends strewn hither and yon through our sprawling Metroplex. This necessitated a relocation, and after a great deal of searching, we found a new home…just two doors down from where we were! This story will be told in our next installment…

(back to Our Story)