Anna and Victoria Get Promoted At Master Brands

Tracey, Anna, and Victoria

Tracey, Anna, and Victoria.

We at Master Brands would like to offer a heartfelt Congratulations to Anna and Victoria for their recent promotions. We look forward to seeing what they have to offer, and thank them for their service.

Master Brands Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Recently Master Brands celebrated their 20th Anniversary, and we came out with a 20th Anniversary logo.

Here are some pictures:

Trent at 20 years

Masterbrands Anniverary Logo

We’re very pleased to serve all those that put their trust in us as a company. We thank you for your many years of loyalty.

Do It Right the Five Guys Recipe For Success

Master Brands would like to Congratulate Five Guys on this fantastic writeup in USA TODAY.

Check out the article at USA TODAY.

Masterbrands Client Pretzelmaker makes a splash with Pretzel Dog & Lemonade this summer.

Master Brands client Pretzelmaker introduces now product. You should go out and get one.

Pretzelmaker Hot Dog and Lemonade
From Restaurant News.

Fans can enjoy a Pretzel Dog and Lemonade combination all summer long when they “Unfriend the Bun” and stop into their local Pretzelmaker to enjoy this unique and delicious “America’s New Top Dog Combo”. Throughout this celebration there will be two different social media activations allowing fans to receive exciting giveaways including:

Like the Pretzel Dog & Lemonade on Facebook®
A social media contest that will award Pretzelmaker Facebook® fans with a coupon to redeem in-store for reaching a specific number of “Likes” on Facebook®
15,000 fans: $1 OFF Pretzel Dog & Lemonade Combo
20,000 fans: FREE Small Lemonade with purchase of Pretzel Dog
30,000 fans: FREE Pretzel Dog, no purchase required
Unfriend the Bun on foursquare®
Check into any Pretzelmaker location on foursquare® and unlock the “Unfriend the Bun” check-in special of 50% off a Pretzel Dog when you purchase another Pretzel Dog.

“Pretzelmaker’s Pretzel Dog is another example of our brand’s product innovation and we’re looking forward to rewarding our loyal Facebook® fans for their continued support with this delicious product as well as our signature lemonade” said Julie-Ann Reid, brand director for Pretzelmaker.

These social media activations will begin today, July 12, 2012. Hurry into Pretzelmaker now and check-in on foursquare® and become a fan of the brand on Facebook® www.facebook.com/pretzelmaker. You can also join the conversation by following their national Twitter handle, @Pretzelmaker, and use the hashtag, #UnfriendtheBun. For more information about the “America’s Top Dog Combo” and Pretzelmaker’s full line of menu choices, as well as a way to stay up to date on all of Pretzelmaker’s campaigns, join Pretzelmaker’s exclusive e-mail fan club at PRETZELMAKER.COM

Master Brands has been the sole uniform provider for Pretzelmaker for over a half decade. We’re happy to get the word out about their new Pretzel Dog and Lemonade.

Yogurt isn’t Greek to TCBY. TCBY goes healthy with Greek Yogurt.

TCBY, The Country’s Best Yogurt and frozen yogurt pioneer, recently announced the launch of the TCBY Greek Challenge, a Facebook contest designed to encourage consumers to incorporate into their diets the company’s Greek frozen yogurt, which exceeds the nutritionals of its industry-leading Super Fro-Yo.

To join the challenge, click here

To read more about this exciting thing, visit here.

Health Care

Listening to all the buzz about health care and insurance and religion, I wonder how
they all got mingled together? I am hoping someone can shed the light for me. Here
are my questions:

Isn’t an insurance company a business?
Every business in this nation (except non-profits) started out because someone
wanted to provide a needed service, make a profit, or both.

Isn’t health care generally a business also?
(Except for non-profits) Every pharmaceutical company, pharmacy, hospital, clinic
and doctor’s office opened because someone either wanted to provide a needed
service, make a profit, or both.

Last I checked, the constitution does not say that all Americans have the “right” to
free health care (of any kind).

I keep seeing all these reports of “legislation” that will force insurance companies to
provide certain kinds of care “free” so that religious entities will not be required to
go against their religious beliefs (this has now spread to corporations).

Okay.

One: Where does the “free” come from? The insurance companies have to pay the
claims of the health-care providers and pharmacies, or, are the providers supposed
to offer “free” healthcare? Last time I checked, the health-care providers had to pay
doctors, nurses, janitors, rent, utilities, pharmaceutical companies, they have to pay
for swabs, dressings, needles, band-aids etc. etc. and the pharmacies purchase their
drugs from the pharmaceutical companies, who in turn have to buy the ingredients
and pay the chemists etc. So maybe, I just don’t understand; perhaps the chemicals
and chemists are “free”?

Two: If I have a job, and my company cannot afford to pay for medical insurance
and so does not offer it, I can go out and buy my own medical insurance through
a variety of companies. These companies compete with each other, which offers
the public a chance to shop around for the benefits and prices that they need. This
means that health insurance is “available” for everyone. I can choose to buy it, or
not. Right?

Three: If I choose not to purchase medical insurance, I can pick a health care
provider that will perform whatever services I need by shopping around for the
best deal. Am I going to get the same care as say…. The President of the United
States? Probably not. Is it reasonable for me to expect the same care if I cannot pay
for it? (I think not.) OK, before you get all heated and say “well, if you can’t afford
the insurance, you probably can’t afford the medical care or the medicine, what
are you ever going to do? It isn’t fair!” To that, I say; go to a “free” clinic. They are

everywhere, and since you obviously have a job and pay taxes, you already paid for
the “free” clinic. If you don’t have a job, go to the “free” clinic anyway; I pay enough
in taxes to pay for your “free” medical care. Right?

So, my real question is this:

Is my company going to be “Legislated” into providing “free” coveralls to companies
that can’t afford to pay for their own? How long will I be able to sustain the business
in that scenario? How long before I lay off employees and our “government” has
to “create jobs” for them with the taxes that they used to be able to pay out of the
income that I provided for them? Ooops, now who will pay the taxes that will go
for the “created” jobs (welfare) that the government is handing out to those who
lost their jobs because the government over-regulated all the businesses out of
profitability? Just saying.

A friend of Master Brands writes a book.

My friend, Karri Andersen just published a book! I am extremely jealous because I have always wanted to be a writer. How many times have I started a writing project and then given it up because I was sure that nobody would like it, I wasn’t any good..etc., etc.. Anyway, this isn’t about me, it is about how she wrote the book for a heart-felt purpose.

Karri’s daughter, Kindra was diagnosed with Diabetes when she was 4 years old. It was very scary and very strange for this young girl (and her family). Karri wrote a book called “I Have Diabetes” about a little girl who has just been diagnosed with Juvenile (Type 1) diabetes and her struggle to understand and cope with her new situation. You can see the book through this link: https://www.createspace.com/3450297

I am so glad that Karri didn’t give up on her idea to help other children cope with and understand their disease. I believe she has made it possible for even children not diagnosed to understand and accept what their friends and classmates might be dealing with.

Congratulations, Karri; and Thank you.
Tracey Brown

Congratulations Intensity Independent

Intensity Independent Colorguard is glowing with excitement after this past weekend. Not only did they bring home the Independent Open Title at the Winterguard International Regional Competition in Riverside, CA on February 25, 2012, but they were also sporting new group jackets sponsored by Master Brands.

The guard members looked simply radiant in their new embroidered jackets as they paraded the campus of Etiwanda High School in Southern California. Many of the performers reported that members of other guards offered several compliments throughout the entire competition. “These jackets are absolutely beautiful,” Intensity Colorguard captian, Marissa Perez. “The give us that extra edge and confidence that will help take us to the next level. We are so appreciative to have received them!”

Intensity Independent will compete at their next Winterguard International Regional Competition in Union City CA on March 17th, then in San Diego on March 24th. They will compete in the Winterguard International World Championships April 12-14, in Dayton OH. Everyone from Intensity Independent would simply like to say – Thank You So Much and we LOVE Master brands!

California Here We Come

Welcome to San Francisco

San Francisco, Here We Come:

I have an interesting story about how far we are willing to go to service our customers….

One of our customers, a retail pretzel brand (Pretzel Maker), needed 2000 t-shirts for an event. While this sounds like the perfect order, the details soon brought perspiration to our brows.

Revelation 1: The T-shirts would be needed to be completed In ONE week. Ohhhhkay, we can figure that out… two days to receive the blanks and 24 hour printing shifts…

Revelation 2: Each white T-shirt was to have a design with 7 colors on the back and 3 colors on the front. But, the design wouldn’t be approved until the day the blanks arrived…

Revelation 3: The customer was on a very tight budget for this event. We would have to re-design a bit to reduce the number of colors and setups in the print in order to make it work within the budget and not lose our “shirts”.

Revelation 4: Once we got to the halfway point, we find out that the shirts are needed, not in Salt Lake where we are printing them, but in San Francisco. Yes, as in CALIFORNIA.

The budget did not allow for overnight shipping, or even 2nd day shipping, (which was the latest option available for the shirts to reach the venue in time) so we checked into trucking companies and trains…

All of our options were exhausted, but we were not going to tell this good customer “no”. So, we rented a U-Haul trailer, hooked it up and hauled them ourselves. Took turns driving and arrived on location with some time to spare (about 45 minutes).

The REALLY SUPER GOOD part of the story is this: we brought our daughter, Sierra and our niece BreckLee with us and made it a weekend vacation.

We visited old war ships and had a very nice veteran teach us all about the weapons. Visited the Golden Gate Bridge and relaxed on a pier. We giggled, sang and laughed the whole time!

Both of the girls are teens now, (Brecklee is 17 and Sierra is 13) but they both remember this trip as a great time, even though it was only 4 days (total with driving) and we were supposed to be “working”.

We are thankful to our customers for providing us with many opportunities over the years to teach our children about customer service (optimism), dedication (resilience) and hard work (fun)!

Ensign Energy Drilling Featured on Where in the Town: NBC 9 News in Denver Colorado

Ensign Energy Drilling, wearing Tough Tech fr coveralls, was featured on Colorado’s NBC Affiliate NBC 9′s program, “Where in the Town”? The news crew came on location to visit Ensign drilling rig 132 in La Salle, Colorado. The purpose of the story was to tell how the natural gas and oil business is benefiting the Colorado economy. They broke in several times during their morning news program and highlighted various aspects of Ensign’s business. During the segments, the workers involved are seen wearing Tough Tech manufactured coveralls, decorated and supplied by Master Brands.

Here is a compilation video of each segment throughout that morning.

Tough Tech Coveralls Logo

Tough Tech Coveralls Logo