Exploring Extra Streams Of Revenue For Your Business
Vetting Your Food Safety Plan
The Official Publication Of The North American Ice Cream Association
How To Incorporate User Generated content on Instagram
January 2022
THE BULLETIN
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Happy new year to you all. Larry David has specified that there is a statute of limitations when it comes to wishing people happy new year. I think it is two weeks. If that’s the case I am well within my time. As I write this column. If you are reading it after the two week period, my apologies. Well what a great year we have to look forward to. We are hopefully growing on the foundation of a pretty good year for most of our members yearly sales. I know some of our members in certain areas struggled a little bit, but for the most part, many of our retailers and even our supplier members reported a bumper year for 2021. We are also grateful for all of those people who attended our tradeshow in convention in November. It was the largest we have held in recent association history. One of the things to look forward to this year is the cementing in our minds and hearts, the new name of the association. For those of you who attended, or read the updates, the name of the association is now the North American Ice-Cream association. We previously got so used to the NICRA acronym, that it really didn’t mean too much to anyone outside of our group. So with this new name change comes a new thought process in that we are no longer going to use an acronym. And a ICA, makes just as much sense as NICRA, when someone is looking at the term for the first time. Our goal as a leadership team is to have people refer to us as the Ice-Cream association, or the association. As you read this we are on the final throes of changing our branding and contact information over to this gnu process. The website address is now ice-cream association.org. Our emails are changing over to info@icecreamassociation.org, and you will see other significant changes are being or have been made If you see on any forms, emails or any other communications from the office, the old name or acronym, please let us know. We want to make sure we have a full and complete changeover. So as the first bulletin of the North American Ice-Cream Association, I wish you all the best for this new year and look forward to supporting you and your future growth throughout this year and beyond
1
Steve Christensen Executive Director
Welcome to The North American Ice Cream Association Cookies & Cream Boone, North Carolina
Lake Country General Store Lawrenceville, Virginia
What's the Scoop Bulverde, Texas
A and G Venture llc Donaldsonville, Louisiana
AVRILILILLYS Creamery New York, New York
Don't Miss a Beat Confirm your contact detials on your membership profile are correct to ensure you keep up to date will all things Ice Cream
CLICK HERE FOOD SAFETY SUPPORT HOT-LINE FOR
SMALL/ARTI SAN DAI RY PROCESSORS
Not sure where to start? Our network of food safety experts from Universities across the US are here to help you take the next step by providing free one-on-one plan consultation and review.
315-787-2600 Dairyfoodsafetycoach@cornell.edu
2
Food Safety Corner The Third Set of Eyes
3
Artisans are passionate about the dairy products they create. Yet, many artisans are understaffed and resource challenged when they first start their businesses. One of the first steps an artisan will need to take when producing dairy products will be to develop a Food Safety Plan to minimize the risk of food borne illness and death. Resources, templates, online courses, workshops, and one-on-one food safety support are just a click away at SafeIceCream.org. Since this first step can be scary and uncertain, information like easy to follow templates, educational materials and food safety support have been compiled to help you identify the tools for Growing Your Business Safely. Follow the steps outlined at this site to help you as you develop your plan.
and solutions on how to address these gaps.
Once you have your Food Safety Plan developed, the plan should be assessed. This is where a third set of eyes can save you time and prevent business interruptions. Third party evaluations help pinpoint risks and gaps in your plan, your operation, and/or your employees’ knowledge base that you may have missed because of the dayto-day, time constraints of producing products and selling them to your customers. Once identified, a third set of eyes can provide objective suggestions
Taking advantage of these resources not only helps make your operation best in class, but also saves you time and money. Proper layout and design upfront prevent costly remodels later. Proper equipment design saves on production costs. Most importantly, proper QC programs protect the health of your customers and ultimately the health of your business. Consultants, Inspectors and Auditors have in many cases, visited hundreds of facilities, and have also worked in processing facilities for their whole career.
A third set of eyes does not have to be an Inspector or Auditor, it can also be an outside Consultant. Best practice is to engage a Third Party Consultant who can assist you with projects and programs including: new facility design, remodeling, expansion, food safety plans, supplier verification, allergen program, labelling, employee training, environmental controls, etc. Then, an Inspector/Auditor can review your plan and operation on an ongoing basis for the effectiveness of your Quality Control programs. There is no need to reinvent the wheel when designing or improving your facility and processes. Resources are available through www.SafeIceCream.org and many other industry associations.
They have a wealth of information that needs to be passed on to you….the next generation of Food Safety Leaders! Mary Wilcox, Business Consultant, Significant Outcomes LLC.
Rich Draper, The Ice Cream Club,
Heather Draper, The Ice Cream Club,
4
5
Extra Streams of Revenue Only relying on one source of revenue in today’s retail world can be pretty treacherous. Particularly when customers have been rapidly changing their purchasing and consuming habits over the past 12 months or so. I have often said that it is no longer a good business practice to simply open up your doors and “hope” that between the hours of 11am and 10pm you are going to get enough sales volume to survive another day. Many businesses, apart from the food business, have learned how to tap into extra streams of revenue to boost sales, improve influence and have a broader revenue stream to lessen the risk of retail failure. Added to this increased opportunity is the fact that, if you own a batch freezer, then you have a mini manufacturing plant at your facility where you can continue to run ice cream and frozen dessert through the night, if you have to, to generate products to sell in these extra business models. Let’s have a look at a few. Third-party delivery service Third-party delivery services really took off in the food service business during the 2020 pandemic. Thankfully, many of these services offered substantial discounts to restaurants and other food locations to help them navigate the difficult retail food environment. However, many of the food service businesses that took advantage of
these third-party delivery services continued with them after the discounts were phased out. Generally, most of these services take around 30% of the purchase price of the menu items ordered. Some businesses choose to inflate the pricing of their door dash, Uber eats or other business menu in order to recoup the 30% fee, whereas others only increase these products slightly. Either way you look at it, this may be a market of customers that you really haven’t tapped into yet. Those using these services are generally younger couples or individuals who have embraced the process of online order and delivering. If you can imagine a young couple sitting down to watch a movie at home, and starting to feel a little peckish, they open up their delivery app and start scrolling. Many times, the offerings lead with dynamic pictures of menu items such as sundaes, and other products. Unless you have a presence here, this is a market that you have not been tapping into. Some say it’s a necessary evil, but I say that it is just a new way of doing business. People pay for convenience. So, paying a little more for their sundaes, shakes or anything else is the norm for many of this newer generation. Now you may need to modify your menu or even have a delivery specific menu for these delivery services in order to preserve your products during travel, many retailers also have a minimum order on their delivery menu
6
so as to make each order worthwhile. Don’t be put off by thinking that your average customer will not pay an inflated price to eat ice cream delivered to them. Because these are not your average customers. I definitely think it is worth talking to your local thirdparty delivery representative to get an idea as to how much it will cost you as a percentage of the price, and the potential market share that you are not tapping into right now. Wholesale to other ice cream shops and businesses About two years ago I had a gentleman in one of my Scoop School classes that wanted to start making his own ice cream. He had two very successful ice cream stores in one of the southern states of the United States. Both locations were beachfront in a very heavily populated tourist area, and both were close if not over to the million-dollar revenue mark for a year. He wanted to learn to make his own ice cream because up to that point he had been buying ice cream from another ice cream store located 100 miles or so from him. He shared with me that in the last calendar year he had purchased about $260,000 worth of ice cream from this other ice cream store that was co-packing for him. Can you imagine that? Imagine having a wholesale customer buying a quarter million dollars of ice cream from you every year. Now that may be a very unique situation and as the infomercials say, we cannot guarantee the same outcome, however getting into the process of copacking or manufacturing Ice-Cream for other concepts can be very lucrative, and a great revenue stream for your current business, particularly if you are batch freezing and having the ability to store and transport your products. It may be as simple as placing a “wholesale”
7
tab on your website describing your manufacturing and food safety process, perhaps a couple of videos of you making your products and a testimonial or two and the whole concept is under way. There are a couple of ways of does this. You may have a line of ice cream flavors that you currently sell that your customers love, that would also be appealing for other ice cream stores to sell. Always keep a couple of flavors that our unique to your store so you keep your “proprietariness”. Then offer some of your standard flavors to other businesses. Or better yet, offer to make unique ice cream and frozen dessert flavors to food businesses who are in the business of making their own products in the marketplace. Like the ice cream business, the “small batch” industry is also taking off in the brewery and wine world as well as other food concepts such as burgers and pizza. Approaching these businesses with a brochure offering to make their own unique line of desserts can be very appealing. A range of Guinness or beer flavored frozen desserts or a line of wine sorbets for a regional winery could be very popular. Events I wrote an article previously about the journey of an ice cream business. Usually that journey starts out with an individual who has a great passion for frozen desserts starting to make ice cream at home. That then progresses to offering your ice cream to family and friends which progresses to someone in your relationship circle asking you to cater a small event or party, which then leads to more events. The special event and catering industry is huge. Weddings, office parties, fundraisers and many other events held by clubs, families, individuals, and businesses.
And having the mechanism that not only helps you get ice cream to the people but looks really cool is essential. Many ice cream business owners started off with beautiful looking carts that are decorated for weddings and events like this. You may also consider exhibiting in the local wedding expo as a unique option for event catering. Obviously, you need health department approval and some other investments such as trailers and remote freezers, but these events can add a new flavor and revenue to your current business. You may recall that we invested in a firetruck for outside events and remote locations for our business in Brisbane Australia, and when it was out at an event, it would often bring in more revenue than our brick-and-mortar stores did for the day. Food Trucks Speaking of trucks, let's chat for a bit about food trucks. In some markets they have become quite cliché and over-saturated, but this segment of the food service industry continues to grow, and more and more businesses and special event planners are looking for food trucks as an easy option to cater to a business function or special event. Now the investment into a food truck has become quite extensive since most health departments are focusing more on regulations and standards, but the investment in a good-looking food truck is still comparatively less than building a new brick and mortar location. And food trucks are now becoming the norm in semipermanent locations as well. Having the flexibility to do events as you require, or setting up at on your lot or car park in a semi-permanent location are options that come this with concept.
Remote locations It used to be a very low entry point, or hokey way to get your products to market. Yes, the farmers market is back with a vengeance. As more consumers strive to look for clean label products, or traceability of produce, or care more about farm to table, people are going back to farmers market’s in droves. These locations have always been a little dicey for ice cream vendors because most of these markets start very early and finish at lunchtime or a little after. Your window for selling frozen desserts is quite limited, but with the advent of modified consuming practices, many farmers markets are not encouraging people to stay on site and eat what they have purchased from the vendors. That means more customers are coming prepared to make a quick purchase and then go home. Multiple members of our family sell poffertjes at the farmers market‘s both in St Louis where we live, in Phoenix Arizona, and in Houston Texas. When Covid restrictions forced market operators to encourage vendors to buy packaged products so that customers could take them home, many of us thought our “eat on site” products would not be as popular. However, when we packaged up items “to go”, it made it more convenient for customers to take their fresh made products home to consume with the family. On top of this slowly reviving marketplace, booth spaces still remain relatively inexpensive, and many sites are available with power. Simply set up a tent and a couple of tables, a dipping cabinet filled with take home containers and test the water. What also works well here are sorbets and other products that have a perception of healthiness and are made with fruits, berries and such.
8
Satellite Locations Satellite locations are a little different to remote locations. Remotes are temporary set up points for a morning, a day, or a weekend. A satellite location is one where you replicate your brand or concept in a miniaturized form to fit into a smaller location. Again, if you are batch freezing, all you really need is a display cabinet or two, some storage and some counter stage and you are golden.
opportunities, and I think you may be surprised as to how easy it could be to expand your brands footprint and its bank balance. Steve Christensen
With many core or original locations being about 1200 sq feet (100 sq meters) and being the hub for your manufacturing and selling, satellite locations can squeeze very easily into a space of 400 sq ft (40 sq meters). This may be in a space in your local grocery store or other business that may be interested in subletting space to another food vendor. You can choose to scoop at this location or sell smaller take away containers, but whatever the offering, this process broadens your footprint, your brand awareness, and your revenue. As the market changes, so do the options to get ice cream and frozen desserts out there. Keep an open mind as to the returnon-investment options for these
Conenect With Our New Mentorship Program We are looking for mentors for the Association mentor program. Please CLICK HERE to get eligibility details and sign up today!
9
How to Incorporate UserGenerated Content into Your Brand’s Instagram Feed Target Market User-generated content (UGC) can be a content creator’s best friend. Sharing UGC can help to build strong relationships with your followers, provide great branded imagery and enhance your brand’s Instagram presence. UGC can be used on most any platform when providing the right credit to the user, but for this blog, we’ll just be focusing on using UGC on Instagram. Let’s get into it. What You Need to Know About UserGenerated Content If you want to know how to incorporate UGC into your social strategy, you need to know what kind of content qualifies as usergenerated. Sprout Social sums it up nicely with, “User-generated content refers to unpaid or unsponsored social posts that people across every network share when they’re using or raving about a product or service. When your friend posts a Tweet about a fantastic experience they had with a hotel they stayed at, that’s UGC. When your favorite brand reposts Instagram Stories from customers at an event they hosted, that’s UGC. When someone shares a video on TikTok about finding the best lipstick they’ve ever used, that’s UGC.” Visitors and customers that have a great experience in your shop, at your location, with your product, or on your website are more likely to let their followers know by sharing their own experience on social media.
The Power of UGC A new survey performed by Stackla reports on the post-pandemic shifts in consumer shopping habits, looking at authenticity, personalization, and the power of UGC. They stated, “Not only are pandemic shopping and social trends here to stay, but they are also making real and relevant content—like user-generated content (UGC) —more important than ever for brands to leverage.” Also as part of the data report from Stackla, “79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions, while a mere 9% said influencer content impacts their purchases.” UGC adds a level of valuable authenticity that your brand can’t purchase through traditional advertising. While utilizing UGC as part of your posting strategy isn’t necessarily a new concept, it is one that can now be used in so many different ways on Instagram and Instagram Stories with the help of new features. UGC and Branded Content A great approach to curating Instagram content is incorporating brand-related UGC while also posting original branded photography. Blending the two will help create a relatable, reliable, and aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed.
10
Scheduling and planning your content in advance will help you map out the best way to incorporate these posts into your feed. Create a posting plan and stick to it.
business. If there are other brands out there with similar names and products as yours, consider going with something on-brand but different from your business name, like Apple’s hashtag.
Vetting User-Generated Content for Brand Use
Providing Credit
Depending on the size of your brand, the amount and types of UGC may vary. There might be endless UGC to choose from but choose carefully when incorporating it into your content.
Give credit where credit is due. Instagram scheduling tool, Later put it best, “you need to make sure you’re honoring the creator’s work and not ‘stealing’ content for your own marketing purposes.”
While Instagram posts don’t have to be perfect, there is something to say about a great photo with good lighting that features your product or brand.
Always credit the creator very visibly, in the caption of the Instagram post that you are sharing on your own account. When in doubt, you can always comment on the user’s original post or send the user a personalized DM regarding the image you would like to share and credit to make sure they are comfortable with you sharing their material.
Remember, not all UGC has to go on your feed! Some lower-quality images might be a great fit for your brand’s Instagram Stories. With the Add Post to Story feature, a user’s feed photo can be shared directly to your IG Story. If a user tags you in an IG Story, click Add This To Your Story for it to be added directly to your own IG Stories. Create a Branded Hashtag If your brand has a location that people can tag when posting on Instagram, you might likely already have some great UGC to work with. But creating a branded hashtag for your business is another way to encourage users to share their content with you. Apple’s branded hashtag is a great example of this user-brand relationship. With their #ShotoniPhone shared in their Instagram bio, more than 22.3 million users have used that hashtag in their content. A brand can usually never go wrong with using the business name as the branded hashtag as long as it is unique to the
11
Target Market
Have you checked out our online training resources? CLICK HERE TO SIGN IN AND GET STARTED
Join The Conversation Have you joined the private forum for association members? The forum is a great way for association members to share ideas, questions and best practices. Click HERE to join now!
12
13
MARKETING CALENDAR JANUARY 2022 Daily Holiday
New Years Day: 1 Polar Bear Plunge or Swim Day: 1 National Cheese Lovers Day: 2 Drinking Straw Day: 3 National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day: 3 Trivia Day: 4 National Keto Day: 5 Whipped Cream Day: 5 National Shortbread Day: 6 National Technology Day: 6 Bubble Bath Day: 8 Earth's Rotation Day: 8 National English Toffee Day: 8 National Cut Your Energy Costs Day: 10 National Hot Tea Day: 12 Rubber Ducky Day: 13 Bean Day: 14-15 Organize Your Home Day: 14 National Bagel Day: 15 National Hat Day: 15 Thank Your Mentor Day: 15 National Use Your Gift Card Day: 15 Fig Newton Day: 16 World Religion Day: 16 World Snow Day: 16
Popeye Day: 17 Martin Luther King Day: 17 Popcorn Day: 19 Get to Know Your Customers Day: 20 International Sweatpants Day: 21 National Pie Day: 23 National Peanut Butter Day: 24 National Irish Coffee Day: 25 National Peanut Brittle Day: 26 National Geographic Day: 27 National Kazoo Day: 28 National Pediatrician Day: 28 National Puzzle Day: 29 Croissant Day: 30 Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day: 31
14
FEBRUARY 2022 Daily Holidays
Candy-Making Day: 1 Chinese New Year 2022: 1 Crepe Day: 2 Hedgehog Day: 2 National Sweater Day: 3 Bubble Gum Day: 4 World Nutella Day: 5 Canadian Maple Syrup Day: 6 Play Monopoly Day: 6 Ballet Day: 7 Extraterrestrial Visitor Day: 8 National Pizza Day: 9 Toothache Day: 9 National Giving Hearts Day: 10 No One Eats Alone Day: 11 Lincoln's Birthday: 12 Galentine's Day: 13 National Cheddar Day: 13
15
Ferris Wheel Day: 14 Valentines Day: 14 National Gum Drop Day: 15 National Almond Day: 16 Girl Scout Cookie Weekend: 18-20 Chocolate Mint Day: 19 Love Your Pet Day: 20 Presidents Day: 21 National Dog Biscuit Day: 23 National Chili Day: 24 Skip The Straw Day: 25 World Pistachio Day: 26 National Retro Day: 27 National Tooth Fairy Day: 28
A NOTE FOR OUR SUPPLIER MEMBERS
1 issues 3 issues 1/4 page $70 $65
6 issues $60
11 issues $50
1/2 page
$90
$85
$80
$70
Full Page
$160
$150
$140
$120
DISPLAY ADVERTISING Hey there, Supplier Member. Hopefully by now you have seen quite a few changes in the way the association is improving member benefits and communicating with our members. Our main method of communication is still our monthly Bulletin published on the 10th of each month. Up until recently, The Bulletin has struggled to attract advertisers and we have been offering free ads to those supplier members who contributed an article.
THE GOOD NEWS IS..... We have recently put extra effort into increasing the effectiveness of the Bulletin with the following functions: Full Color Front Cover President and Executive Director Messages Monthly Food Safety Articles Marketing and Event Calendars More Links to articles and online content. This has led to high engagement through open rates and link clicks. With this higher engagement, we are having more inquiries by Supplier Members about advertising to our members again in the Bulletin. For this purpose, we are publishing The Bulletin Advertising rates for 2022.
Frequency rates are based on the total number of insertions used within a twelvemonth period. Space Reservations: 10th of month preceding publication Material Deadline: 15th of month preceding publication.
Please direct any questions to Steve Christensen, Executive Director at the below contact details. 636 778 1822 * Toll Free: 866-303-6960 E-Mail: info@icecreamassociation.org * Web: www.icecreamassociation.org
Association Officers 2022 President Dave Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI Vice President Charlie Wilcox, Marianne’s Ice Cream, Santa Cruz, CA Treasurer Kelly Larson, Sweet Temptations, Grand Haven, MI Secretary Rick Pizzi, Pizzi Farms, Waltham, MA
16
Immediate Past President George Xouris, Andia's Ice Cream, Cary, NC Executive Director Steve Christensen, Wildwood, MO Terms Ending Annual Meeting 2022 Charlie Bomboy, Bomboy's Homemade Ice Cream, Havre De Grace, MD Dirk White, The Alaskan Creamery, Sitka, AK Kyle Cameron, Joy Cone Company, Wirtz, PA Rick Pizzi, Pizzi Farm Ice Cream, Waltham, MA Jill Curran, Kimball Farm, Inc., Westford, MA Terms Ending Annual Meeting 2023 Valerie Henrici, Yummies, Warsaw, NY Sue Kloter, Kloter Ice Cream Barn, Ellington, CT Donnie Montgomery, Homestead Creamery, Wirtz, VA Andy Jones, Lloyds of PA, Prince Frederick, MD 2020 SUPPLIER OFFICERS President Evan Waldt, Ice Cream Equipment Spec. Reno, NV Vice President Nichole Theriault, I.Rice & Company, Inc.. Philadelphia, PA Secretary/Treasurer Hank Sweeney, Classic Mix, LLC.. Neenah, WI Chairman Ben Keser, Joy Cone Co., Hermitage, PA COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Executive Committee David Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI
17
Nominating Committee George Xouris, Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream, Morrisville, NC Convention Committee Dave Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI Membership Committee Charlie Wilcox, Marianne’s Ice Cream, Santa Cruz, CA Ice Cream Clinic Committee Christine D’Amico, Over the Top, Pleasant Hill IA Scholarship Committee Sue Kloter, Kloter Ice Cream Barn, Ellington, CT NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY The Association is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in all of its endeavors. To that end, we shall not tolerate any words or acts of discrimination, harassment or any inappropriate behavior in general against any person affiliated with the association, including its members and guests, with regard to race, sex, color, creed, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.
This Bulletin is published by: The North American Ice Cream Association PO Box 601 Wildwood, MO 63040 This issue of The Bulletin is now available online at www.icecreamassociation.org. Click on the Members Only button and enter your Username and Password. If you cannot find your Username and Password, call the office at 866-3036960 or send an e-mail to info@theicecreamassociation.org requesting the information.