Isle Concierge | Isle Unplugged Blog

Office Mystery...

2010-10-04T22:40:00Z

Like AT&T, Isle Concierge is raising the bar.

Generally, usually, mostly . . . we like to keep our office in good standing order. Sitting in the office late last week Friday though, I finally noticed that all our staplers in the office had been sitting on our counter all nicely together for pretty much the entire week... a week that was anything but orderly. Now there are several things that are pre-determined or planned in our office, but then there are moments like these... completely random moments of order amongst the insanity. It's a mystery.

We learned a lot this week... not fun learnings... it was the growing kind. It was pandemonium, a madhouse, re-donk-ulous or that's how I felt it was. When I revisit this week, I think of explosions and headaches... but amongst that, our three little staplers ended up in complete order? What does it mean? Perhaps it is a reminder that though we may think everything is in disarray, it's not so.... there were no explosions, no riots, and certainly no wounds. Or are these three little staplers a reference to AT&T's ever so famous slogan "Raising the bar" and in that sense, this week we have raised the bar through the different experiences and craziness? This could be a possibility too because all this learning has led to upgrades in our system... hmmmmm...

Blame it on one of our OCD staff members (which one? we don't know... we're all a little OCD) or on coincidence or on the fact that I am truly exhausted, but these little staplers have led me to realize something about us this week. Our team has somehow established control and focus amongst our chaos... maybe it was always there and we never paid attention to it, but now it has my full attention. We are also raising the bar everyday through the many random things we help people do. Today it was tying bows on boxes (which is not as easy as you think) that were much too small. Next week it could be folding 1,000 origami cranes for a wedding. Whatever it may be, we will learn to do it and perfect it... that's how we're raising the bar.

You marinade on that... and if it doesn't make any sense don't worry, you're not alone.

. . . burning the midnight oil, after hours.

Custom Chocolate Creations

2010-08-31T22:36:00Z

About two months ago I heard about Chocomize, an online company that allows you custom create your own chocolate bars. Being a concierge company, I thought a little research into these custom creations was in order. You know, so that we can offer our clients something different (what can I say, I'm a dedicated guy).

Just log on to their website and you'll be guided through the step by step process of creating your bar. You start off by picking what chocolate you want to have for your bar (dark, milk, white) then choose up to five ingredients (or toppings) to go on your bar from about 100 different options. They have almost anything you can think of to put on a candy bar; nuts & seeds, fruit, herbs & spices, candy, decorations, and more! One bar can run you anywhere from $5-$15, depending on your selections (and not including shipping). While this may seem like a lot to pay for a candy bar, you have to remember that what you're paying for is the customization. And at less than $20, I definitely think you're getting a deal.

So what did I end up with when I finally got my delicious goodies, er, I mean research? Take a look:

The bars are packaged beautifully and securely in their shipping boxes. Check out the sticker indicating that the contents of the box should be protected from heat.

Opening up the box yields a tightly packed insulated bubble wrap bag.

Inside the padded bag the bars are packed between two ice packs.

Once everything is unwrapped you finally get the the nicely packaged bars of your order and ice packs.

Flipping the packing over gives you information on just how much care went into creating your order.

For the health conscious there is nutritional information on the back also listing possible allergies.

To really get a good feel for what Chocomize could do, I decided to order two bars.

The first was a white chocolate bar (pictured above). What goes good with white chocolate? What else other than Oreo cookies. As for the rest of the ingredients, I decided to add some color to the bar so I threw on M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles. I have to say, when you take it out of the box for the first time, you are blown away by the visual presentation of what you just got.

For my second bar (pictured below), I went with the traditional milk chocolate. The milk chocolate bar had more of my favorites: toffee, graham crackers, and hazelnuts. As you can see from the pictures the milk chocolate bar wasn't as flashy as the white chocolate, but I definitely liked it better.

So how did the bars taste? They're pretty good. The quality of chocolate they use is pretty good on it's own. And while I can't speak for the tons of different ingredients on the site, the ones that I did get on my bars were on par with how they would taste if you had bought them separately in the store. Though, it all depends of what combination you go for.

Half the fun though is simply trying to figure out what kind of bar you're going to make and then seeing it for the first time when you open up your package. If you want party favors or giveaways that are a bit more different and unique, then Chocomize might be the answer.

We're Official

2010-08-05T22:45:00Z

A new sign under our long standing logo declares that our office is the "Concierge & Information Center" for Waterfront Plaza.

"What do you do here?" That's a question we frequently get at our office at Waterfront Plaza (the complex formerly known as Restaurant Row). With our office being on the ground floor and relatively high foot traffic that passes us by on a daily basis, each of us that works in the office usually has a stock response prepared for just such questions.

While answering this question comes with the territory of being a concierge, there are times when I just wish people understood that what we do is similar to services provided by the concierge at any hotel or resort you would stay at while on vacation . . . we provide help, information, and special expertise to the tenants, employees, and visitors to the property.

Well, to give passers by a better idea of what we do, we decided to have a new sign installed in our window. Though not as big as originally conceived, we hope that our new "Waterfront Plaza Concierge & Information Center" sign helps convey the message to everyone that we're here to provide help and service.

And let me tell you something, it seems to be working. During the installation of the sign (the sign wasn't even fully up yet), people started looking at it and came in to ask for directions for a tenant on property. YAHTZEE! The sign started paying for itself immediately! They saw the sign, understood it, and came in to ask for directions. Once the sign was finally up we did see a higher amount of walk in traffic the rest of the day.

Here's hoping that in the coming days and weeks we have to answer less "What do you do here" questions.

Our sign guy Tim from TLT Designs installing our new window sign.

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