Putting the “Mint” in Merriment

44% of adult consumers find mint flavors and/or ingredients extremely appealing for the upcoming winter season.*

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and even some flavor trends extend well beyond it. Take, for instance, the popularity of peppermint, which has long been associated with, and often peaks during, the holiday season but is now becoming a perennially favorite flavor.

Compared to pumpkin spice, which kicks off autumn before Labor Day, but generally falls off once the New Year rolls around, peppermint has a lingering effect on consumer cravings.  According to the recent Flavor Consumer Trend Report by Chicago-based Technomic Inc., flavors previously linked to the holidays – namely, peppermint and cinnamon — are starting to stay on the menu in independent and fine dining chains.  In another recently-released study, Technomic found that the use of mint in non-alcoholic beverages jumped 30.4 percent and that the use of add-ins has risen 6.7 percent over the last two years.

The type and use of mint beverages has evolved with and through the seasons as well. In its Seasons Eatings Report for winter 2016, Technomic trend spotters project that in the run-up to the New Year and through the winter, specific mint flavor profiles like peppermint and spearmint will be in demand.

Already, the marketplace reflects the refresh, so to speak, of minty flavor profiles. An early glimpse at holiday beverage menus shows a move toward more festive green and minty drinks. Meanwhile, in the dessert and ice cream category, Mintel Group Ltd. reports that at least 16 new products featuring peppermint have been launched in the U.S. marketplace, including unique items like Cado Organic Mint Chocolate Chip Avocado Frozen Desserts as well as a new take on a classic, the Good Humor Girl Scouts Thin Mints Frozen Chocolate Mint Dessert Bar.

As operators meet their customers’ penchant for mint flavors, KPFG’s own trend spotters and product development experts have been ahead of the curve. The company’s new peppermint flavor packet is a relevant and easy addition to soft serve mixes, used during and beyond the holiday season. Simply blended with Frostline vanilla soft serve, the peppermint flavor packet allows operators to offer a mint variety of soft serve for a limited time.

With only weeks away, now is the time to add the refreshing taste of peppermint to your menu. Please visit Frostline’s website, www.frostlinefrozentreats.com, to find your nearest broker or fill out the contact form.

Whether for a candy cane-blended treat, a cone that evokes the spirit of the season or, later in the year, a refreshing alternative to everyday flavors, the addition of mint can lend some cheer to favorite cold desserts. ‘Tis the season – make that the year – to be jolly about mixing up menu offerings.

*Source: Season’s Eatings Report: Winter 2016, Technomic Inc.

National Soft Serve Day is August 19 – Celebrate It!

Did you know there is a national holiday devoted to soft serve ice cream? Yes and it’s quickly approaching. No need to have a meltdown…we’ve put together an entire website devoted to helping you celebrate National Soft Serve Day, www.nationalsoftserveday.com.

Order your “Celebration Kit” from Frostline today.

The most time sensitive tasks are requesting your complimentary “Celebration Kit” and Frostline t-shirts, as quantities are limited. The “Celebration Kit” contains turnkey POS materials like posters, window clings and stickers. As you know, Frostline isn’t stingy when it comes to our professionally created digital content. Feel free to download our unique National Soft Serve Day images so that you can share them with your customers. Furthermore, make sure to click the image that brings you to our soft serve contest. We are giving away a year’s supply of soft serve mix! Just think of the profit you’re already making by using our cost effective, quality dry mix.

While you on the website, please check in on our task force, “People Against Ice Cream Related Accidents” (PAICA). The group is working hard to showcase the common pain points of serving hard-packed ice cream, such as “scoop burnout”, “deep dip discomfort” and “lopsided limb”. Feel free to share with us on our Facebook or Twitter pages an embarrassing or memorable incident where you experienced an ice cream party foul or on-the-job fail.

We look forward to your success with National Soft Serve Day. Make sure to use the hashtag #NationalSoftServeDay so that we “soft-servers” can celebrate together and have a little fun!

Change Your Flavor…Keep Your Soft Serve Flowing

Let’s face it…customers love delicious soft serve choices but having just one soft serve machine can limit your creativity. STOP! That’s a myth. The truth is that there is a simple way to flavor traditional vanilla and chocolate soft serve to drive repeat business. Operators can easily and affordably achieve specialty flavors by mixing in a Flavor Packet from Frostline®. Imagine offering Vanilla and Strawberry Shortcake or Vanilla and Chocolate Mint. Now think of it as a “swirl” of flavor.

There are 15 Flavor Packets available:
Banana Split
Birthday Cake
Chocolate Lover’s
Chocolate Mint
Dulce de Leche (Caramel)
Eggnog
French Vanilla
Gingerbread
Matcha Green Tea
Peach Cobbler
Peppermint
Pumpkin
Ripened Raspberry
Strawberry Shortcake
Orange

Flavor packets transform soft serve into a valuable commodity: more customer choices with very little prep time. How easy is it to use flavor packets? Really easy.

1. Place 2 gallons of cold tap water into a sanitized Frostline mixing bucket
2. Stir in contents of flavor packet with wire whisk
3. Once thoroughly dissolved, add contents of 6 lb bag of Frostline Soft Serve Mix or Frozen Yogurt Dessert Mix
4. Blend according to package directions
5. Pour immediately into soft serve machine or cover and store in refrigerator

Transform vanilla or chocolate soft serve and frozen yogurt into specialty dessert flavors.

Operators often feature a flavor-of-the-day or weekly LTO (limited time offer). This is a wonderful way to draw more traffic to restaurants and independent shops; only make sure to shout it to the rooftops. Promoting new flavors on social media platforms can pique interests and motivate patrons to visit sooner than later. Another helpful hint is to request that customers “check in” on Facebook and share pictures on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Tumblr. This a fun way to promote your operation and encourage guests to visit.

Holidays and events become even more promotable when seasonal themes are incorporated. Making new twists on traditional ideas such as “Eggnog in July” or “Orange October” can get customers thinking about soft serve more often; translating into higher sales. Winter months are a great time to feature specialty flavors like Peppermint, Gingerbread, and Pumpkin.

Another benefit to using Flavor Packets is that operators can plan promotions in advance with the peace of mind that the flavor is immediately accessible on the shelf. Like our soft serve mix, Flavor Packets are a dry mix. They store flat on storage shelves and have a one year shelf life.

If a flavor interests you, please leave us a comment and we’ll gladly send you a sample. If you are ready to purchase a case, please visit our online store http://www.precisionfoodsstore.com/flavor-packets.html or talk to your nearest foodservice broker.

Have You Seen a Gordon Food Service Store Near You?

170 locations nationwide

Big warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s have carried products in bulk for many years but you may notice a new player in town – one that doesn’t have a club membership fee – the Gordon Food Service Store. Have you seen one? These 170 stores are located primarily in the Midwest but can also be found in Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. For a location finder, please click here.

The Gordon Food Service Store is a division of Gordon Food Service, the nation’s largest family-owned foodservice distributor. Why are we telling you about this store? Because they stock our Frostline Simply Smoothies™ base mix as well as our Chocolate and Vanilla soft serve mixes. The chain also carries DOLE Soft Serve’s soft serve mix varieties in Pineapple and Orange.

Healthier Eating Lends Itself to Smoothies

The benefit of shopping at a Gordon Food Service Store is that you get the expertise of a foodservice company that understands the complexities of cooking in bulk and the time limitations for shopping. Their goal is to line their shelves with the most popular food service products including restaurant supplies, paper products and refrigerated, frozen and dry foods so that you can get what you need, when you need it, at a price that works. Plus, for smaller businesses, shipping charges can really eat into food costs. If you’ve located a store near you, it might be worth the trip to stock up on dry soft serve and frozen beverage mixes. With a year shelf-life, there isn’t the worry of spoilage. For more food cost savings, their website houses money-saving coupons and a weekly savings ad. Another value-added benefit through Gordon Food Service is custom menu planning with Menu Wizard and Gordon GO!, a loyalty program.

If you are a restaurant, non-profit, hotel, day-care, caterer or party planner, you might check them out. After all, it’s nice to experience something new in the New Year that could save you time and money. Win-win!

Gordon Food Service Store understands cooking in bulk and shopping time limitations.

Get Ready to Meet the New Year Demand for Fruit and Veggie Smoothies

It’s near 2015 and foodservice operators are looking at predicted trends for the New Year. As the latest health and nutritional information floods the web, we know consumers will continue to demand healthier, simpler, more clearly labeled foods. Another trend we anticipate escalating in our busy world is convenience. When you combine these trends, fruit and vegetable smoothies become the perfect response to consumer requirements. According to IFT (Institute of Food Technologists), beverages remain the largest U.S. functional product sector¹.

Just add kiwi, lemonade, Simply Smoothies base mix, water and ice.

Does your establishment currently have a smoothie offering? If not, we think 2015 is the year to invest in a blender and start experimenting with flavor. Our Simply Smoothies™ base mix is a powder base mix that makes it easy to create rich, creamy smoothies without the need for an expensive yogurt or dairy base. Your shopping list can focus on fruits (fresh or frozen) and vegetables (fresh or frozen), or perhaps you’ll find that the best flavor combinations are made with items you already buy and have on hand.

Our product has been tested and blends easily in most commercial blenders but if you don’t currently own a good blender, we recommend you check out Blendtec and Vitamix. Consumer Reports’ experts agree with us, listing the top two picks as the Vitamix 5200 and the Blendtec Designer 725. Check out the complete article here. A reliable, powerful blender is a necessity for making a large volume of smoothies on a regular basis. Blending ice and frozen fruit can sometimes jam or break blender blades. Obviously, this is not a welcome surprise. Also, blenders vary with longevity so making sure to research long-term durability is key.

Over 30 smoothie recipes to blend.

Once you have your blender and are ready to experiment, we’ve put together a recipe Idea Book as well as seasonal flyers for winter, spring, summer and fall to get you started. Colorful veggies like carrots, kale, and chard easily combine with berries and melons to make a super-food smoothie. Want to give it a whirl? Leave us a comment and we’ll send you a sample of our Simply Smoothie base mix. It is gluten free, low fat and low sodium – a portrait of the 2015 healthy food trend.

¹The Top Ten Functional Food Trends A. Elizabeth Sloan, April 2014, Volume 68, No.4 accessed 11/21/14 http://www.ift.org/food-technology/past-issues/2014/april/features/toptentrends.aspx?page=viewall

Introducing Birthday Cake Soft Serve! A Celebration of Flavor and Color!

Excuses, excuses! No more excuses not to eat birthday cake! We recently perfected our newest soft serve flavor Birthday Cake and it is BLUE! You might ask why we choose this flavor and color combination over a billion other combinations? The answer is simple – we think it’s time for a celebration!

Cone or dish? Celebrate flavor with our newest flavor packet – Birthday Cake!

Kids perusing an ice cream parlor are drawn to a selection that makes a statement with a bold color and a crazy fun name. We’ve all been there…red, blue, orange, black, purple, hot pink; they exude fun AND hold the possibility of a color-stained tongue. Don’t believe us? Tom Kerber Jr. of Kerber’s Dairy in Pennsylvania said, “Most kids…they don’t care what flavor the ice cream is…they care what color!” He added, “…Anything that sounds really goofy or fun, they like that!” reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bright colors and creative names don’t just attract kids but they are proven to attract the young at heart too. According to Food Business News in May, manufacturers are “keying in on childhood classics, with s’mores, peanut butter and jelly, and birthday cake among featured flavors in new products.” Birthday cake’s popularity resulted in the introduction of birthday cake-flavored M&M’s, Oreos, vodka, and America’s favorite Easter chicks – Peeps.

There is no denying that color attracts but when it’s in a soft serve machine, flavor variations are equally as important. Plus, let’s face it, there is a seasonality to soft serve, and a good survival tactic in the off-season is offering trendy flavors. In response to the “featured flavor” trend, we created flavor packets that can be purchased in packs of 12 and 36 and yield 113 servings per packet. Favorites for fall include, Pumpkin, Kettle Corn and Dulce de Leche. Once the winter holidays set in, Peppermint, Egg Nog and Gingerbread are safe bets and when spring arrives, Matcha Green Tea, Banana Split and Chocolate Lovers fit the bill. At the height of soft serve season, adding flavors such as Valencia Orange, Strawberry Shortcake and Sun-Ripened Raspberry can be a refreshing change. Check out our complete list here.

Give them a “cup of joe” in the form of soft serve.

Although, flavor packets make implementing seasonal flavors quick and easy, Frostline has many recipes for creating your own unique soft serve just by adding one additional ingredient to our soft serve mix. For example, soda varieties like Mountain Dew, Cherry Coke or Dr. Pepper create a taste-tempting teenage delight and for younger kids, adding grape juice or apple cider lures them in! For adults, black coffee easily transforms into “a cone of joe” or a local microbrew will spike up a hopper quickly and tastefully!

Want to try our newest flavor – Birthday Cake? Please leave us a comment on this blog and we will send you a sample. All you need is a soft serve machine and vanilla soft serve mix! The flavor packet is easily added while mixing the soft serve mix with water. Check out our newest mixing video!

Celebrate EVERYDAY with Frostline! For pennies per serving, you can attract families to dine at your restaurant or soft serve shop and keep coming back for more! Especially if you rotate seasonal flavors in between your gold standard vanilla and chocolate!

How Cool is Your Creation?

Picture yourself as the customer…It’s summer, you’ve been outside enjoying the day and now you are hungry for a snack. You want a healthy snack, something that will refresh you but not make you feel guilty, after all, it will be dinnertime in just a few hours. What sounds perfect? A fruit smoothie! If the customer is lucky, your establishment is nearby and they will check out your menu!

Just add lemonade, base mix, frozen strawberries and ice for a refreshing smoothie!

Pina Colada, Kiwi Kicker, Bananarama, Pineapple Upside Down, Summer BerryAde, Mango Madness, Beach Berry, Sunkissed Raspberry…what will it be? Sounds tempting, right?

According to Mintel Menu Monitor, February 2014, the top 10 smoothie flavors are:

1. Strawberry
2. Banana and Strawberry
3. Mango
4. Berry
5. Peach
6. Raspberry
7. Chocolate
8. Vanilla
9. Orange
10. Banana

Fruit Smoothies Add Choices to Your Beverage Menu

Achieving these flavor varieties is simple and only requires fresh or frozen fruit. No risk of milk or yogurt spoiling when using a base mix like Simply Smoothies™. As an operator, there are many benefits to offering smoothies:

1. Have blender? Make smoothies!
2. Effortless. Simply measure 2 scoops of smoothie base mix, ¾ cup fresh or frozen fruit, ¾ cup ice, ½ cup cold water and BLEND! 16fl ounces of smoothie in under 60 seconds.
3. Profitable. We estimate it will cost operators $1.30 to make a smoothie if using fruit with the Simply Smoothies™ base mix. The average sales price for a smoothie is $3.99. This is a gross profit of $2.69 per smoothie, translating to a yearly gross profit of over $15,000 if 16 smoothies are sold a day.
4. Year-round demand. Consumers order smoothies as snacks round the clock, especially fruit smoothies! They are viewed as healthy snacks!
5. No waste. Simply Smoothies™ base mix comes in a 4.8lb canister which yields 39 smoothies. The canister is resealable and comes with a premeasured scoop. Single-serve packets are available for operators who would rather take it one smoothie at a time.

Over 30 smoothie recipes to blend!

Want to step outside of the single flavor box? We have great flavor ideas for your beverage menu in our FREE Simply Smoothies™ Idea Book. Also, our seasonal recipe flyers allow you to just plug and play or should we say purchase, blend and serve! Our summer flyer has four delicious flavors: Watermelon Basil, Fruit Pizza, Key Lime Pie, and Raspberry Pink Lemonade.

What are you waiting for? DIVE IN to SMOOTHIES!

Increase Sales with Milkshakes, Iced Beverages or Smoothies

In 2014, is it still relevant to offer milkshakes on your beverage menu? That depends on your target market, current menu and business location. If you sell hamburgers, we will give you a firm answer YES! If you have a drive-thru and you currently offer soft-serve, we say YES! If your establishment draws a family crowd, we say YES! Not identifying with any of the situations we described? Consider equally profitable iced beverages or smoothies.

The key to increasing sales for both milkshakes and other frozen beverages is offering a product that the consumer perceives as too difficult or not as good if prepared at home. Denny’s, coined as America’s Diner™, experienced firsthand how adding new coffee and milkshake flavors could increase the bottom line. They attributed their increase in guest check averages to their expanded beverage menu selections.

What’s Your Favorite Flavor?

Make Room for Milkshakes
First, if you already serve soft serve – milkshakes are an easy addition. According to MINTEL’s “Trends in Snacking and Value Menus in Foodservice-U.S. June 2012” , 19% of consumers typically order shakes as a snack. The most popular age group who order shakes is ages 18-24, which translates to 1/3 of the beverage market. The profitability margin is outstanding with shakes. We estimate your cost to a couple pennies per ounce for an 8 ounce serving. Each bag of shake mix yields approximately 59 milkshakes or 472 ounces.

With shake mix…if you can imagine it, you can make it. Premium milkshakes attract consumers craving something outside of the traditional chocolate, strawberry and vanilla milkshake flavors. Mixing in candy, cookies, flavored syrups, fresh or frozen fruit, peanut butter, or protein powders add more variety to your milkshake menu. A spindle blender will marry anything with vanilla soft serve and mix it to the perfect thick and creamy consistency that milkshake lovers crave. The cost of the added ingredients ups your food costs a bit, but with a higher menu price, your profitability is still looking great. Another idea for milkshakes that is trending in foodservice is offering alcoholic shakes. According to a recent USA Today article, Red Robin is offering Wine Shakes made with wine, vodka, mango puree and vanilla soft serve. The price tag for these doubles or triples that of the non-alcoholic kind.

Move over Starbucks

Add whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate or caramel sauce for a craveable snack.

What about the lure of coffee-flavored beverages? If your business attracts customers throughout the day looking for a filling snack, you should consider offering Iced Cappuccinos. An added bonus; people like iced coffee beverages year-round. Our dry mixes, Mocha or French Vanilla flavored, are blended with water or milk to produce a rich and creamy coffee flavored frozen treat. The only equipment you need is a good blender or a granita machine. According to Coffee Talk magazine, the average margin for a frozen beverage ranges between 65% and 70%.

If you want more affirming facts on increasing sales, look no further than your nearest convenience store. According to NPD research, iced and slushy coffees have been growing by double digits for the last five years. Convenience Store Decisions reported that in 12 months, iced coffee alone grew 7% and frozen slushy sales increased by 14%. Think of the growth that McDonald’s saw when they began offering flavored iced coffees. Add a little whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate or caramel sauce and you have yourself a craveable snack.

When to Add Smoothies – A Sign of the Times
Anytime! We think adding smoothies to beverage menus is smart. Messages bombard us everyday about healthful eating, disease prevention and obesity. Smoothies, especially fruit smoothies, exude the perception of “healthy”. Frostline Simply Smoothies™ base mix is low in fat (2 grams), sodium and carbs and has zero grams of cholesterol. A trend that we don’t see diminishing is the one focused on kids eating healthier. With the new governmental regulations coming down on school lunch and the awareness of the new food guide, “My Plate”, parents are paying closer attention to what their kids eat and buying healthier foods. Fruit smoothies fit that bill. Packaged Facts, a leading source in food and beverage market research, expects sales of kids’ food and beverage to grow to a $30 billion by 2018.

Frostline Simply Smoothies™ base mix is low in fat (2 grams), sodium and carbs and has zero grams of cholesterol.

Regardless of how you choose to expand your beverage menu, we encourage you to do just that…EXPAND! A little extra goes along way when grabbing the attention of new customers or retaining old ones. In this world of hustle and bustle, fast casual and convenience, chill customers out with refreshing, cold beverages.

Healthier Eating Lends Itself to Fruit Smoothies

Fruit Smoothies Add Choices to Your Beverage Menu

Paying attention to food and beverage trends is important to foodservice professionals. If trends aren’t monitored, menus turn stale resulting in decreased new and return customer traffic. With the world paying closer attention to eating healthier, it seems conceivable that menu options should be mindful of this evolution. Ten years ago, consumers were used to seeing milkshakes on beverage menus. Today, menus are beginning to offer healthier alternatives for consumers’ steering away from high-fat, high-calorie foods. According to a recent Mintel® survey, 68% of people would like to see more restaurants offer smoothies.

4.8 lb. Container Yields Approximately 39 Servings

Fruits and vegetables are the pillars of healthful eating. An easy way to accommodate the healthier-eating food trend is to offer smoothies. Frostline® Simply Smoothies^™ base mix offers a low cost of entry into the blended beverage category. The mix is a dry base mix that easily blends with water or juice, ice and your choice of additional ingredients like fresh, frozen or canned fruit in a traditional blender. This versatile mix can be used with a wide array of ingredients to create delicious, profitable smoothies. We suggest starting small and offering the top two smoothie flavors – Strawberry and Strawberry/Banana. When you are ready, branch out to Mango, Peach, or Pineapple flavors. Once you feel comfortable this blended beverage is working for you, create a smoothie menu and offer seasonal flavors or specialty flavors. With the neutral base mix, you can add anything from peanut butter to Girl Scout Cookies to carrots or kale. The possibilities and combinations are endless!

Single Serve Packets Too!

There isn’t a worry of waste because smoothies, like milkshakes, are made to order – one 16 oz. serving at a time. Operators can see more than 50% gross margin on one smoothie. The reason being, in each case of bulk mix, there are four – 4.8 lb. containers of the base mix and each container yields approximately 39 smoothies – over 150 smoothies per case! Our base mix is also available in convenient, individual serving packets. There are 50 packets in one case. Simply Smoothies® can help you make use of ingredients you already have on hand in order to avoid spoilage concerns.

If you decide to try smoothies, you have Simply Smoothies® support! Operators can choose from a variety of complimentary, high-quality, point-of-purchase materials including posters, stickers and clings. Each piece was professionally designed to keep your smoothies top of mind with customers for increased sales. Although free merchandising materials are available for order, you can download and print the files anytime from our website. We host a wealth of product information on our website: unique flavor combinations, promotion ideas and seasonal recipes.

We’re happy to send you a sample. Visit us at FrostlineSimplySmoothies.com and complete the Contact Form.

Simply Smoothies Spring Recipes

Simply Smoothies Spring Recipes Page 2

 

Swirl Won’t Curl? Seeing Ice Crystals? Let’s Fix That!

Problem: Product is too soft.  Symptoms: Cones won’t stand up. The soft serve looks wet. The product starts melting almost immediately.

Treatment: First, check your machine’s temperature settings. We recommend setting the temperature between 18 and 21 degrees and the temperature inside the hopper be at 41 degrees. Since your soft serve seems too soft, try setting it more towards 18 degrees. If this checks out, move on to examining your scraper blades. Plastic blades should be replaced every three months and stainless blades every six. If your blades are in good shape, reexamine the mixing instructions on the bag and on the bucket. The amount of liquid you add will directly affect your soft serve texture. (Our complimentary mixing bucket has premeasured lines to help you get the mixture perfect!) If all of that is okay, we suggest contacting your soft serve machine representative for a service call. There are other mechanical issues that can cause soft serve machines to malfunction or work less efficiently.

Problem: Product is too firm. Symptoms: Soft Serve texture is icy and firm.

Treatment: First, check that the machine’s temperature dial is set properly. We recommend setting the temperature between 18 and 21 degrees and the temperature in the hopper be at 41 degrees. Since your soft serve seems too firm, try adjusting the temperature more towards 21 degrees. Next, confirm that your machine’s air holes and lines are clean and open. If they seem blocked, please refer to your machine’s owner’s manual for cleaning instructions. If you are still reading this, we assume you are still troubleshooting. Check the sharpness and life of your scraper blades.  It is recommended that plastic blades be replaced every three months and stainless blades every six. Lastly, review the steps and measurements in our product instructions. If you think that you didn’t add enough liquid or didn’t whisk the mixture long enough, try the mixing steps again and add the new mixture to the other side of the hopper. Lastly, if you still have icy soft serve, please contact your soft serve machine representative to schedule a service call. There are other mechanical issues that can cause soft serve machines to malfunction.

Troubleshooting The Perfect Swirl