Cookies, Film, Power: Businesses Show What They Can do

More than 130 area businesses attended the Morris County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo Thursday, displaying their goods and services to a crowd they hoped had need for a new way to do things.

Paul Boudreau, president of the Morris Chamber, said the event at the Birchwood in Hanover was "a chance to find new clients, a chance to meet face-to-face" with business that might need new services.

The expo was a joint effort of the Morris Chamber and chambers from Mahway, North Essex, the Tri-County Chamber, North Jersey, the Newark Regional Business Partnership and the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners.

The banking and credit union community was well represented, as was the energy sector, along with businesses offering building services, staffing solutions, clerical and accounting services. There were also bakers, film makers, and the Boy Scouts.

Melissa McGarrigle brought samples of her gourmet cookies that she can package for corporate gift-giving and thank-yous, or for weddings and showers.

"It's just as important to say 'thanks' to our older customers as it is to thank new customers," she said.

Her business, Cookie Crumbs Productions, is located in Washington Township (it has a Hackettstown mailing address).

Her products are a cost-effective and tasty way for businesses to connect with their clients, she said.

The cookie varieties vary from chocolate chunk to toffee and oatmeal white chocolate cranberry. They can be packaged as gift boxes, edible business cards, or with photos for graduation.

Another way for a business to express itself is through film, said Dan Hollis of Grey Sky Films of Rockaway, a film production company for television and the Web.

Hollis said the company produces customer suited films from testimonials to instructional films and company profiles.

"Film evokes emotion," he said.

Lisa Montalbano, product business developer for Employment Horizons of Cedar Knolls, which provides job training and placement services to people with special needs, said the organization attends the expo to introduce  its services to new clients and connect with old friends.

The non-profit agency can provide low-cost services such as product assembly for clients.

One of the energy-related companies on hand was Glacial Green Energy, a supplier of natural gas and electricity. Based in The U.S Virgin Islands, it is one of the smaller energy companies and is bolstered by the deregulation of the energy industry, said representative Jason Deibert.

The company supplies energy to businesses as an alternative to the larger utilities, he said. The company also supplies a variety of energy control and monitoring devices, he said.

A company that showed the growth of the connections between vitural and traditional businesses was Cybertary, a Newark-based company with a Montclair franchise owned by Felicia Lucco.

Representative Chris Doherty said the company supplies financial services, copy editing, graphic design, social media marketing, desktop publishing and newletters and administrative and other services through email and over the telephone.