Your Name in Chocolate

"WE DID SOME RESEARCH and found that food gifts are the No. I gifts in the corporate world," says Tim Beere. "People don't need more things. This is a treat, and they can enjoy it and be done with it."

Beere should know, because corporate gift recipients by the thousand enjoy the treats created

DeBrand creates high-end chocolates, and is well-known for its creations molded in shapes that indicate the flavor on the insidecherry, pecan, almond, apricot, orange, strawberry, etc. Especially popular among corporate gift-givers are its custom-made logo chocolates formed with corporate logos. "We've done more than a thousand different logos in chocolate," Beere says.

Some companies have been sending DeBrand chocolates to clients for years. Beere says a regular customer decided one year to do something different. "The next year they were the first one to call us," he says. "They got complaints from people who looked forward to the chocolates."

Hoosier manufacturers offer a wide variety of choices for corporate food gifts. For example, the Sechler family has for generations been making and selling pickles of all kinds, and does a decent business in holiday gifts, says David Sechler, president of Ralph Sechler & Son Inc. in St. Joe. "The candied sweet items are especially popular."

Lots of pickle makers produce good dill pickles, he says, but few can match the variety of sweet pickles that Sechler makes. The menu boasts 39 flavors, including candied sweet gherkins, jalapeno sweet relish, sweet cauliflower, apple-cinnamon chunks, hot Hungarian banana peppers and sweet sliced green tomatoes. Gift packs include a variety of different flavors.

The company produces some 4 million pounds of pickles a year, which sounds like a lot but is tiny by pickleindustry standards. "We've got a little niche market," Sechler says. "The big guys are battling for all the big shelf space and big deals, and they kind of leave us alone."

Here's just a small sampling of other Indiana-made corporate food gifts:

* Like DeBrand, Graham Cheese Corp. in Elnora can embed a logo in its product. Also available are cheeses with the state outline, Indiana and Purdue university logos and other graphics.

* Bloomington's Dillman Farm produces a wide range of preserves, jellies, sauces, fruit butters and other tasty treats.

* Ghyslain Chocolates in Union City specializes in hand-painted candies that are almost too pretty to eat.

* South Bend Chocolate Co. makes everything from traditional chocolates of all kinds to chocolate-covered Rice Krispie treats. Healthconscious companies may want to give the sugar-free chocolates.

* Candy makers in Madison have been turning out fish-shaped candies since the mid- 1800s, feeding a warm sugary concoction through brass rollers that form it into fish shapes. They're now available from Mundt's Candies, which has been using the same candy-making equipment for decades.