About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. (BreastCancer.org)
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Take care of yourself every year and get a mammogram!
4 Things you can do to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
1-Think Pink – Wear pink all month long!
2- Get a mammogram – Now is the perfect time to get a mammogram. That way you can’t forget to get one every year. You’ll be reminded every October that it’s time to take care of yourself.
3- Donate – There are several organizations out there that raise funds for breast cancer research. HerHighway proudly supports 10 groups, including Susan G. Komen, American Cancer Society and Avon. Click here and pick your favorite charity! Your donation is greatly appreciated.
4- Spread the word! Share as much information as you can with your family and friends. Make sure every woman you know is taking care of herself, too.
When Big Train recently launched all new blender-ready pour over real fruit smoothie mixes, we wanted to share our latest line of drink mix products with some local consumers. We reached out to Marcie Taylor aka @suburbanmama on twitter, a social media strategist based in Irvine. Marcie connected us with Beth, the owner at Irvine Coffeehouse Paradise Perks. What a great idea!
Jim from Big Train & Beth at Paradise Perks
After meeting Beth at Paradise Perks in Irvine, we were excited to learn they had been serving Big Train products for years including Big Train Spiced Chai and Dragonly frappes, an Asian themed line of ice blended creme mixes like Taro, Green Tea, Thai tea etc. Paradise Perks was the perfect venue to showcase new real fruit smoothie mixes. And so we set our Luau plans in motion.
Beth promoted the event, had her staff dress in Hawaiian attire and offered up a great menu:
coconut shrimp
wings of fire
bacon wrapped pineapple
fruit platter
Have your next Luau at Paradise Perks
Local ten year old blogger @TinyTechie offered to provide her interpretation of tropical desserts: Pineapple Beach Cupcakes.
Coconut Beach Cupcakes
@TinyTechie
@kimikor and @maryannewendt
@hoda007 sporting an orange lei
Lady Lux Swimwear also from Irvine offered special discounts for attendees.
LadyLuxSwimwear.com
Big Train brought a Vitamix Quiet One Blender, new Real Fruit Smoothie pour-over-ice smoothie mixes, a treasure box full of Big Train drink mix samples, and a huge box of leis.
While Hawaiian music played, our Luau guests enjoyed great food, samples all the new Real Fruit Smoothie Mixes(Strawberry, Mango, Superfruit, Strawberry Banana, Peach and Wildberry). Beth and her staff were very accommodating and were great to work with.
Paradise Perks Staff is great!
Foodie Mavens Suki and @MadHungryWoman
Christiny rockin' the blender
@TheBigDebowski & friends
Suki, Angie Weeks, Kathy Klingaman, Cheryl Hawley
The event was a success! Many thanks to Marcie Taylor, Beth from Paradise Perks, Lady Lux Swimwear, @TinyTechie for the amazing cupcakes, and of course our friends and guests. Special thanks to Jenn and Christiny from Big Train’s marketing team that worked tirelessly to make it all happen.
HSN Frappe drink mixes! For the first time ever, Big Train products were made available via national television on the Home Shopping Network on Monday, July 2nd.
It all started when HSN came looking for some delicious drink mixes to sell as part of HSN’s 35th Anniversary celebration. What better way to celebrate than to offer up amazing coffeehouse style drinks that can be enjoyed at home, right? Mixing up several Big Train frappe mix flavors on live television created a lot of excitement here at Big Train’s headquarters in Lake Forest California. We could practically taste the drinks from here.
A lot of preparation and planning went into getting ready for the HSN airing. After presenting a variety of options, and lots of taste testing, and tremendous effort behind the scenes to prepare for the live show, Big Train and HSN worked together to offer 8 Big Train yummy drink flavors in two exclusive fun packages:
The first package they presented was the “Fun Flavors” Pack. Each pack contains:
Fun Flavors Pack
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix – Bubble Gum
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix – Strawberry Banana
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix - Cookies n’ Creme
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix - Southern Velvet
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix - Root Beer Float
11.3 oz. Frozen Frappe Drink Mix – New York Cheesecake
Big Train and HSN selected Keri Maletto to be the lead on-air host. In addition to her experience as a fun and vivacious host for the Home Shopping Network, Keri has appeared in feature films like Dolphin Tale and television shows like Burn Notice and The Glades. Keri did a fantastic job presenting HSN’s exclusive Big Train drink mix products on HSN highlighting Big Train’s value to consumers that are looking for great tasting cafe style products that are easy to make. She even suggested some great ideas like adding strawberry liqueur to flavors like our New York Cheesecake frappe mix to create a yummy Strawberry Cheesecake Frappe cocktail for example. She also mixed up Cookies ‘n Cream, Bubble Gum and Orange Crème blended ice drink flavors. Great job Keri!
HSN created a Big Train brand page on their website where these exclusive products are available for sale in case you missed the program today. Hurry though, there is a limited supply and these products will likely sell out soon.
Did you miss the live show? No worries the show will run again at around 12:00 noon and again at 5:45 pm EDT.To view HSN’s Program Guide go here. Watch HSN live on your computer by clicking here:
For more information on these exclusive HSN Drink Products go here. For more information about Big Train go to Big Train.com.
Billed as the “Mother of all Meet and Greets”, the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America hosted its best annual conference yet recently in Las Vegas. We were introduced to the WLSFA by several of our consumer customers who discovered our Fit Frappe® low sugar high protein drink mixes in 2011.
The WLSFA mission has three components:
Ending Obesity by empowering people to move from surviving to thriving through weight loss surgery, education and support.
Performing charitable services and supporting research to find solutions to enhance the quality of life of the morbidly obese community.
Raising awareness and funds for surgery.
Antonia Namnath, CEO WLSFA
Antonia Namnath, CEO of WLSFA encouraged Big Train to help sponsor their annual conference. We are so glad we did! Attending from Big Train were Jim Wendt and Christiny Bouback from Big Train’s marketing department. According to Wendt, “The response from the WLS community for Big Train has been great. We were blown away by the positive response at the recent show in Vegas.”
At the conference Big Train sampled Fit Frappe gourmet Protein Drink mixes: Espresso, Vanilla Latte, and Vanilla (coffee-free) blended with water and ice, and Fit Frappe Mocha served hot (by mixing the powder mix with hot water). We also handed out several of our low carb products (including low carb chai, low carb cookies, low carb brownies) and no sugar added mocha and chai. Customers seem to like the diversity of both our Protein drink mixes as well as the other non protein options.
One attendee at the show had an amazing protein mix recipe: Fit Frappe Sorbet. They take the mix add more ice less water and store in the freezer then eat it like ice cream. So it’s like a high protein no sugar frozen treat that’s good for you!
One of the charters for the WLSFA organization is to raise funds for weight loss surgeries. Connie Bailey, their first grant recipient, attended the Las Vegas event and posted this video on You Tube after trying our protein drink mixes (one of our best testimonials ever). Thanks Connie!
We didn’t ask for this video and so it means a lot to us that Connie would take the time out of her day to produce and share this video with her You Tube followers. Thanks again Connie! WLSFA profiled an inspiring documentary produced by our friends at BariatricTV about Connie and her sister that has received over 100,000 views check it out: http://wlsfa.org/media-kit/view-surviving-to-thriving/the-film/
Some Fun before the Conference
Wendt and Bouback wanted to do something fun for WLSFA attendees prior to the show and invited some of the early bird attendees on a private tour of Zappos.com‘s corporate HQ that is close to the Las Vegas strip. The company was recently ranked #11 Best Company to Work for by Forbes Magazine in 2012. Zappos is legendary for its unique and sometimes wacky culture. The BookDelivering Happiness. A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, by the company’s CEO Tony Hsieh is a MUST read for anyone looking to overcome adversity and make great things happen by among other things building win-win relationships with people. Wendt figured the WLSFA community, a passionate and brand-loyal group, would appreciate the Zappos tour. In typical Zappos exceed-customer-expectation fashion, the Zappos Insights team made an exception for us (Natalie rules) and graciously hosted their first ever Friday tour (as that was the only day that worked for us). Here are a few pics:
Melting Mama photo bombing Wendt's Zappos Tour sign pic.
Thx Celebrity Coaches for the Big Train ride!
Zappos Reception
No managers get offices, not even the CEO.
Beware vendors: Do not wear a tie at Zappos.
Everyone is a VIP at Zappos.
Thanks everyone at the WLSFA “Meet and Greet”! And just how did folks respond to Big Train at the event. According to Namnath, “I knew your Fit Frappe was going rock it in Vegas it IS the talk of the show!!!!”
It truly was a humbling experience meeting so many people that have made huge differences in their lives. So inspirational! Thanks for the great feedback on our products. Thanks Zappos for the amazing tour and service for our group. I don’t know what impressed us more the $16 Million record braking sales day poster or the size 40 boot you shared with us. For more information about WLSFA go to http://www.wlsfa.org. For more information about Zappos, go to http://www.zappos.com. And to find out more about Big Train go to http://www.BigTrain.com. To get more information about Fit Frappe gourmet protein mixes go here.
Big Train is pleased to help sponsor the Mile for Maddie event on May 19th in Dana Point, California. The Maddie James Foundation was founded by the parents of a five year-old California girl who passed away due to an inoperable brain tumor, but whose love of the ocean and its many creatures will live forever. The individual who raises the most money for this year’s walk will earn an original, signed Chinese brush art painting created by Wyland. Wyland will personally award the prize at the Club Honu dinner.
The Foundation is committed to supporting the construction and ongoing operation of The Maddie James Seaside Learning Center (scheduled to break ground in 2012) at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California, one of Maddie’s favorite places.
The Foundation is also proud to partner with other ocean-minded charities and groups committed to bringing the ocean to children around the country, regardless of circumstance, to show them its many wonders and the importance of its preservation through dynamic educational programs.
Come join Big Train and a great group of amazing people and be a part of Maddie’s dream. If you are interested in volunteering at “a Mile for Maddie”, please contact the Foundation at volunteer@amileformaddie.com
Today Empire Avenue launched Branded Luxury Items and Achievements with XBOX leading the way, and Big Train on board as well! With these items, players on Empire Avenue will be able to show off just how much they enjoy certain products when they buy them, and earn subsequent achievements for doing so.
Empire Avenue's Fun Shiny Warm Day Items!
Buying these items is another cool way to diversify your portfolio on Empire Avenue. Rather than just stocks, now there are these luxury items bought with virtual money that will also count towards your total value in the game and will actually reward you with real life discounts, products and services (depending on the company!)
Check out Big Train’s #EAV portfolio here! We’re currently promoting our popular blended ice coffee products. On Empire Avenue go here to purchase a virtual Kona Mocha Blended Ice Coffee. Big Train eCommerce Marketing Manager, Jim Wendt, has this to say about Empire Avenue:
“Empire Avenue is one of the stickiest sites around. We’re excited about the potential to grow our brand awareness with influential social media leaders and early adopters of EAV.”
If you’re an individual who wants to take advantage of these achievements and rewards, or a business whose brand wants to become a part of this this latest social media phenomenon, visit www.empireavenue.com and sign up today! (Careful, EAV is as addicting as Big Train’s Spiced Chai.)
Have any questions about Big Train? Visit our website or call us toll free at 800 BIG TRAIN (244-8724).
In honor of Social Media Day, Big Train has scoured the pages of Mashable.com, the top news source for all things social media, to find the 10 best stories from their website. Whether they’re interesting, shocking, silly or just plain funny,we’ve found recent articles from the past two weeks (except the first, but it’s still fun!) that are all about social media. So, if you can pull yourself away from tweeting and updating your Facebook for a few minutes, we hope you enjoy the links :
1. Here are some fun ways to customize the new-ish facebook profiles: CLICK.
2. Apparently grandparents want to play Farmville, too. YIKES.
3. If you tried to rob a bank and ended up in a police standoff with a hostage, what would you do? Facebook about it, obviously!
10. Speaking of, the rise of social media and fall of Myspace: CLICK.
For further up-to-date social media news, visit Mashable at their website. Have any questions about Big Train? Visit our website or call us toll free at 800 BIG TRAIN (244-8724).
Today is Flag Day, and here at Big Train® we were discussing how to properly honor the occasion. The general consensus was that the flag should go up, and beverages should be had. This led us to the topic of barista attire, and what better way to celebrate our nation’s flag than by fixing your favorite Big Train drinks for friends and family in a Corduroy American Flag Apron! The durable nature of the cloth is a great metaphor for our country, holding up and staying strong through even the toughest situations.
Thanks to the genius of the people at Zazzle, you can customize your own Corduroy American Flag apron! For the color of the apron choose between white, yellow and khaki, and it’s even up to you which picture you use! Whatever you think would be best fitting to pay tribute to the high waving mascot of our country, go for it. From everyone here at Big Train, Happy Flag Day!
Have any questions about Big Train? Visit our website or call us toll free at 800 BIG TRAIN (244-8724).
When we think of hot chocolate we imagine fighting off the cold nights with a toasty fire and a warm brew in hand. Sadly, with summer just beginning, those days feel a long ways away. But what if you could have the best of both worlds? What if you could have that same rich, chocolate taste at the perfect temperature for those hot summer days? With Big Train’s 20 Below Frozen Hot Chocolate, you CAN have it all.
AND it’s easy to make! In a blender, simply add the powdered mix with 5fl oz of chilled coffee, milk or water, and 12 oz of ice. Blend until smooth and VOILA! You’ve just created a sinfully delicious treat (and you don’t have to share!).
Big Train’s 20 Below line also plays well with others. Adding it to our Black Cherry Blended Creme mix makes for a fabulous chocolate black cherry frappe. Use your imagination and come up the drink you’ve always dreamed of. And of course, adding a little whipped cream never hurt anybody!
To celebrate this delectable dessert, Big Train® is having a sample giveaway. Starting NOW, the first 20 people to follow all of these instructions will be mailed a free sample of our 20 Below Frozen Hot Chocolate or 20 Below White Chocolate drink mixes. Good Luck!
Today’s Friday. That means, before you know it, it’s Monday again. Work. School. Kids. Life can get hectic and sometimes it’s hard to find time to relax and reflect. Do you ever wish you could be transported to some far off exotic place? Well wish no more! Let Big Train® take you there with our decadent Coconut Mocha Frappe.
Thanks again to our good friend Amanda (@pinkmacprincess), we have yet another video recipe for your convenience. Here’s a list of what you’ll need to get started:
Big Train® Mocha Blended Ice Coffee Mix
Big Train® Dragonfly Coconut Mix
Shredded coconut
Whip cream
5 oz milk
12 oz ice
Blender
Once you’ve got all the key ingredients on hand, follow Amanda’s instructions and enjoy!
If you feel like spicing up the recipe with a few chocolate chips or sprinkles, don’t hold back! Don’t let anything get in the way of your “me time”. Indulge and experience the soothing calm of unwinding with a cold, sweet Big Train® beverage!
Have any questions about Big Train®? Visit our website or call us toll free at 800 BIG TRAIN (244-8724).
