Archive for the ‘News and Updates’ Category

American Soda Reviews Round Up

December 6th, 2011 | Tags: american sweets, blogs, reviews
Posted in News and Updates
No Comments »

We’ve mentioned many times that we love it when our products inspire people to write reviews. And yes, we actively pursue some as well. November was a busier month than usual with several blogs writing about us and the American sweets, food and drink we supply to the UK and Europe.

So many, in fact, we thought they all deserved a mention. They’ve been kind enough to support us, we don’t mind giving them a little plug either.

We’ll start with ChocolateMission.net, who we’ve got a damn good relationship with. It’s a very widely read chocolate review blog and Jim who runs it is passionate about his work. His readers know they’ll get a fair review of everything he tries.

Just recently he reviewed two new products from the Wonka range; Wonka Exceptionals Triple Dazzle Caramel Bar and Wonka Exceptionals Fantabulous Fudge Bar. Now we’ll be honest, Jim has been pretty harsh on some of our chocolate in the past, but these two went down a storm with him and got great ratings – 8.2/10 and 8.0/10 respectively! Read the full review here.

Next up is FoodStuffFinds, a new one on our radar but a long time customer from what we can gather. Cinabar and Spectre review all kinds of food so their experience is broad. For us, they tried our Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Variety Pack and Wonka Sour Nerds Amped Apple & Lightning Lemon. Quite a mix! The Swiss Miss went down a treat, while the Nerds got this response:

I just couldn’t share the Sour Nerds though, as they simply tasted too good!

Read the reviews here and here. (more…)

Stocking up for Christmas…

December 1st, 2011 | Tags: american drinks, american food, american sweets, christmas, stocking fillers
Posted in News and Updates
1 Comment »

November is behind us, Thanksgiving is over, Black Friday is the past…inevitably our thoughts turn to Christmas, probably the best holiday period of the year. Time to spend with friends and family, time to eat drink and be merry!

We love Christmas at American Soda. Many of the American sweets, food and drink we supply is perfectly suited to it, whether it’s for sharing with guests, giving as gifts or just munching and slurping on yourself! Let me show you. (more…)

We’re giving something back for Thanksgiving…

November 14th, 2011 | Tags: discount code, ebook, thanksgiving
Posted in News and Updates
1 Comment »

Click me to download.

As we said when announcing the winner of our Thanksgiving competition, we were astounded at the number of and, more importantly, honesty in the responses we had. So much so, it made us realise how thankful we are for you, our loyal and valued customers.

That’s why we’ve put together this eBook, just for you. Entitled 196 Reasons to be Thankful it contains, unsurprisingly, all 196 reasons you gave in our competition – plus our little thank you from us at the back.

The eBook makes for a very nice read, especially at this time of year when thoughts turn to friends and family. There are stories of hardships overcome, illnesses and diseases beaten, strength, love and the odd moment of humour, all told by American Soda customers in an honest and open (and completely unedited!) way. You could, at a push, give this as a gift to a friend or loved one. At least as a stocking filler!

Just remember – once you’ve downloaded it and read it, keep going all the way to the back for your present from us.

Have a GREAT holiday season, everyone.

The American Soda Team

Also downloadable from the eBook Directory.

eBook Directory
Jogena’s – eBook and eZine Directories – Get Listed Today!

Thanksgiving Competition Winner Announced

November 14th, 2011 | Tags: competition winner, reasons to be thankful, thanksgiving
Posted in Competitions, News and Updates
6 Comments »

We had almost 200 entries. That’s 196 different reasons to be thankful. I’m not joking when I tell you that we here at American Soda have been utterly blown away by the response we’ve had from you.

We did not expect so many of you to be so open and honest about your lives, sharing with us some pretty private stuff, but we are absolutely glad that you did. Reading the comments on this post has made me laugh, made me smile and even brought a tear to my eye. Before I announce who we eventually picked as our winner, I just want to share some of these with you. There were examples of people being thankful for overcoming illness, getting through seriously tough periods in their lives and finding love, joy and happiness. Incredible.

katie
I am Thankful for having the strength to move on with my life. After being a victim of domestic violence, I am thankful to the police for taking him out of mine and my childrens life. To put him in prison so I can live again. I am thankful for my mummy not suffering for too long with breast cancer and able to die with dignity. I am also thankful for my friends and family for all their support and meeting my partner and having a baby girl and getting married in March. Although I have money worries I am thankful for every day I get to spend with my family and friends because life is too short.

Linny
I could write a large sob story about my life at the moment and there are indeed many things I am and should be thankful for, yet today there is one main thing on my mind. I am thankful that I am alive. Without certain people looking out for me I would have taken my life. It seems odd that I should choose a candy website to confess this , as it is certainly something I have never managed to say out loud. Perhaps it is fitting, perhaps it is inappropriate but overall I feel a little better knowing I’ve put it out there. Thank you!

Mike Savage
I am thankful that at age 72 I can still walk, talk, care about other people, cry, forgive, help when I can, but most of all I can LAUGH at myself. Laughter is surely the most important benefit that we have been given. Without it the world would be totally without purpose.

Beverley
This year, I am thankful that I made my five year anniversary of being free of breast cancer. They tell me I am now officially “cured”. I think I will always be a little bit paranoid and have a little touch of hypochondria, but I have begun to relax more and reduce the OCD-style self examinations from once a day to once every couple of days. It’s been a long, long road and during chemo, I could barely eat anything, so if I win this, I will stock up on all my favourites and, in keeping with my new resolution to live life to the full, maybe try something new!

Ben Hughes
I am very thankful for every day at the moment as I had a heart/double lung transplant four and a half years ago and four months ago my lungs were classed as being in chronic rejection, so everyday at the moment is a bonus. I am also very thankful for the organs I receieved all that time ago. Just to anyone who reads this if you havent considered signing up to the organ donor register could you please consider it, from one american food lover to another. You really could be a “life-saver” cheers. Ben – Shrewsbury

Inspiring, and a good reminder to us all that as bad as things might seem, there’s always someone worse off than us and always something we have to be thankful for.

How do you pick a winner from so many entries from people with such stories to tell? Well, you have to look for something a little bit different. That’s why, after much deliberation, we chose this from Fraser as our winner:

I am thankful for…

*A* place to live
*M*y family and friends
*E*mployment, especially in these hard times.
*R*eeses Pieces & Root beer
*I*mported American goods from a certain soda website
*C*ats – Dexter and Pixie, two lovely furry friends
*A* cold winter’s morning promising Christmas is near
*N*ot having to go without food, water or comfort.
*S*aving up pennies to treat myself to Cheetos Crunchy snacks
*O*n the whole, having good health
*D*reams, some which I’ll always be trying to achieve, some that I already have.
*A*nd not forgetting the little boy or girl my wife is currently growing for me

It combines many of the sentiments from the more personal entries in an innovative way we just loved. If anything, this one just summed everything up for us. So thanks Fraser, and enjoy your £50 to spend with us.

Later this week, certainly in time for Thanksgiving, we’ll be giving a little something back to each and every one of you that shared your reasons with us, just to show YOU how thankful We are.

Cheers for now

- Jordan & everyone at American Soda

Thanksgiving 2011 – what are you thankful for?

November 7th, 2011 | Tags: american food, pumpkin pie, thanksgiving, turkey
Posted in Competitions, News and Updates
196 Comments »

UPDATE: Competition now closed. Winner to be announced 14/11/11. Thanks for your entries everyone!

On November 24th America will sit down to eat their Thanksgiving dinner, comprising turkey, pumpkin pie and all manner of other delicious dishes and treats. You can do the same this year with authentic American foods from American Soda.

We’re talking authentic pumpkin pie filling, cornbread mix, turkey stuffing, mashed potato and scallop potato and a host of other American food for you to enjoy, brought to you direct from the States by us.

In the spirit of the season, how would you like the opportunity to win £50 to spend with us to get your Thanksgiving off to a real flyer? Sound good?

All you have to do is tell us what you are thankful for this year in the comments. Could be a new job, new car, your team winning something, a particularly good meal…whatever you like!

We’ll pick the best one and the lucky winner gets the £50! Simple. So go on…what are you thankful for?

Rules

- Only entries made in the comments of this blog post with a valid email address will count (we approve every comment, so don’t worry if your entry doesn’t appear straight away!)
- American Soda’s decision is final
- We will announce the winner on Monday 14th November 2011
- The £50 prize has to be spent with American Soda

My trick or treating experience!!

November 1st, 2011 | Tags: americansoda, Indian Corn
Posted in News and Updates
3 Comments »

Hey Guys,

Thanks for coming over to see what I got up to for Halloween. It’s funny, when you have kids it takes you right back to the excitement you used to feel when faced with the prospect of trick or treating!!

Loved taking little Mia out for her first experience of it. Unbeknown to her she looked fantastic in her little witch outfit…….

I took to taking my mask off when I got to people’s doors as I think it is particularly scary!!

I really think Halloween gets better each year in the UK. I was lucky enough to be in the states one year visiting my sister who at the time was studying over there. WOW. Americans have halloween nailed down!! Glad to see slow but steady improvement over here……

As an example, my mum used to buy things for the neighbours so they had something to give us when we knocked on the door!!

Much different now though, take a look at how much swag we got……

Was really hoping to see some Candy Corn, Indian Corn or somethingfrom Americansoda.co.uk. I am sure one day I will but rest assured, the future for Halloween is bright in Britain!!!

Are Ghost’s Real………?

October 18th, 2011 | Tags: ghost stories, halloween
Posted in News and Updates
11 Comments »

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I promise you this happened……I am not saying what did it but this did happen………

I was about 8 years old and playing on my bed, the curtains in my room were closed and it was dark outside. Only the light in my room was on and so looking out of my room into the rest of the house was darkness. This however did not bother me due to the engrossing nature of the game I was playing at the time……Other than the gun noises I was making to enhance the game and the argh noises of the men recieving the bullets silence was all that could be heard………I feel I am building this up a bit and what happened will not be as exciting as first thought. Basically the curtains, at a pace, opened by themselves. There was no one in the room but me. People have often cited wind as a reason, maybe, but I know what I saw……..

My question to you is….what have you seen that YOU, not those around you but YOU would put down as a paranormal experience.

Halloween approaches…are YOU ready?

October 17th, 2011 | Tags: candy corn, halloween, trick or treat
Posted in News and Updates
3 Comments »

Yes, it’s almost that time of year when spooky things happen and kids (and some adults!) get dressed up and go out Trick or Treat-ing in the hope of gathering the biggest haul of sweets and candy they can. In the UK it’s an enjoyable event – in the US, Halloween is HUGE!

Our American cousins decorate their homes with pumpkins, cobwebs, skulls and all manner of scary stuff. They throw lavish parties and generally get into the spirit of things far more than we do. Just take a look at this as an example:

Incredible, isn’t it! We might not go that far here in the UK but American Soda is here to help! Trick or Treat-ing is by far the most common practice here, so this year why not get some American sweets and candy in to hand out to all the kids that’ll be knocking on your day on October 31st!

We’ve got traditional Halloween sweets like Candy Corn, plus some other treats that fit the bill. They include Brach’s Autumn Mix, Brach’s Mellowcreme Pumpkins and Brach’s Indian Corn and you can find all of them on our Featured Products page.

So, get stocked up in preparation for October 31st and make sure you don’t get tricked instead of treating!

An Inside Look At American Soda

October 5th, 2011 | Tags: american soda, offices, warehouse
Posted in News and Updates, Photos
11 Comments »

It’s just over a year since we moved into the new warehouse, offices and shop in Ashton and what a year it’s been! We’ve met some amazing people and made some new friends during that time and the premises themselves have undergone some radical changes too! I want to give you an insight to how things work round here (and how the place looked when we first moved in!), so here’s a little photo walk through American Soda HQ.

I often like to look at these pictures just to remind myself how much has changed. This is one of the earliest views of the upstairs working area and to the right of that, how it looks now! It is completely different. We now have somewhere that we are really proud of.

Stairs, however, are amazingly still stairs…

Look at the difference here. On one hand we have an empty warehouse with NO stock and now we are bursting at the seams!

Let me just tell you, we recognise that without you guys we would have no need for any of this infrastructure and we’re so pleased to offer you the goods we do. Keep the requests coming in (via the tool on our homepage, Facebook and Twitter) as we love to know that we are giving you what you want.

One of the main reasons to move to this new facility was down to your suggestion that we needed a shop. We knew you would only accept the best so we tried to get that for you. We think we did a pretty good job. It has been great having the shop because so many of you come from miles away just to see us and that makes us feel great. The bike is a great feature, come and visit the shop and this will be waiting for you upon entry.

(At this point, I’d like to remind you that if you check in at American Soda on Foursquare, you’ll get a free pack of Now & Later and a 10% discount code to use online when you make your next order. THAT’S how much we love you!)

Pete and James pretending to do some work…

The table below is where we often meet (for dinner normally!).

And that is Aydin’s usual reaction to the suggestion of lunch!

This is a little office in the corner and it is where I like to sit and think.

And finally…this is a door and a window. Exciting I am sure you will agree!!

I hope you enjoyed this little photo walk (and trip down memory lane!). If you’ve any questions, leave them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer! We want to keep you up to date with what we do, we need you to help with this. Keep the suggestions coming in for new products and keep entering our competitions, we love that.

Cheers for now!
- Jordan

Dr Pepper issue the Ten Man’Ments. Broken any, men?

September 28th, 2011 | Tags: dr pepper
Posted in News and Updates, Soda
4 Comments »

To promote their new 10 calorie range of drinks, Dr Pepper have issued Ten Man’Ments, which they describe as “The Definitive Guide to Social Protocol for Men”. Now we don’t subscribe to the idea that a 10 calorie Dr Pepper should be aimed only at men (they’ve gone so far as to say “It’s not for women”!), but the Ten Man’Ments are actually very good guidelines for us blokes to follow when using social media!

You can pop over to the Dr Pepper Facebook page and see them for yourself (you’ll have to Like the page)…or you can just read them here :

1 – THOU SHALT NOT OMG
If it’s not exploding, it’s not exciting.

2 – THOU SHALT NOT PUCKER UP
Kissy faces are never manly.

3 – THOU SHALT NOT POST PICS OF YOUR OUTFIT
Unless it’s battle armour and you have a gigantic sword and/or small bazooka.

4 – THOU SHALT NOT POST FURRY ANIMAL VIDEOS
Exceptions made for beasts fighting to the death and bears destroying idyllic picnic scenes.

5 – THOU SHALT NOT MAKE A ‘MAN-GAGEMENT’ ALBUM
That is all.

6 – THOUGH SHALT NOT SHARE YOUR HOROSCOPE
Daily.

7 – THOU SHALT NOT INSTAGRAM YOUR LUNCH
Real men eat lunch, not tweet it.

8 – THOU SHALT NOT UNTAG UNFLATTERING PICS
We know you were there.

9 – THOU SHALT NOT END A COMMENT WITH A =)
(Oops…I do that all the time!)

10 – THOU SHALT NOT MAKE A FACEBOOK PROFILE FOR YOUR PET,
baby and/or imaginary friend.

So go on – how many have you broken? I’m sad to say at least two…

And ladies, this implies you’re guilty of all ten – is it true?