Upper Midwest Gourmet

Upper Midwest Gourmet

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Upper Midwest Gourmet is a one-stop, wholesale distributor of specialty food service ingredients, Flamenco fair trade organic coffee, Italian gelato ingredients and equipment, hundreds of other gourmet beverages and foods, café equipment and machines, and environmentally-conscious supplies like cups, napkins, and eco-sleeves.

Upper Midwest Gourmet

1901 Traffic St. NE Minneapolis, MN 55413

Office: (612)728-7208 / Fax: (612)728-7227 / E-mail: info@uppermidwestgourmet.com

Hours: Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm / Friday 9am-1pm / Saturday & Sunday Closed (Central Time)

See About Us for more. Our UMG Blog starts below. Thank you.

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February 28th, 2012

Winter Brewsletter – Volume 46

What a winter we have had this year! It’s either been the worst or the best, depending on your perspective. We hope that the warmer than usual weather has helped business for everyone.

The weather will be turning even warmer, though, which means cold drinks like iced espresso drinks, cold press coffee, smoothies, frappes, iced tea, and lemonade are going to really start picking up. It also means that those of you that are making gelato will start to see some serious sales increases.

We have used this winter to make some serious improvements around here with a focus to better serve you, and want to let you all know again how much we appreciate your business!

Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 46 – Winter 2011/12

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!

Enjoy and thanks again from all of us at UMG!

August 29th, 2011

Gelato at the Minnesota State Fair

We are very happy to have our relationship with Papa Gelato at the Minnesota State Fair. He started at the Fair many years ago with his amazing pizza at The Pizza Palace and decided to stay in the authentic Italian theme when he introduced gelato to the State Fair and most of Minnesota, for the matter, back in 2005. He has been producing gelato/Italian ice cream at the MN State Fair for seven years now and it continues to get better and more creative every year. This year he has introduced new flavors like the super popular “Sea Salt Caramel Gelato” and the savory “Bacon Gelato!” Yes, BACON GELATO!

 

 You have to make sure to stop and get some gelato or sorbetto on your next visit to the MN State Fair and tell them that the Beanheads at UMG sent ya! Remember, you can always ask for a sample of a flavor to try first if you just can’t decide which flavor you want.

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

June 30th, 2011

Price increase madness!

For the past year I have not had a week go by without being informed of a price increase of some sort from one or more of our vendors. Coffee, sugar, cocoa, paper, plastic, petroleum are all being traded at historic high levels and the manufacturers are raising prices across the board. Paper and plastic companies on an almost weekly basis. As our business volume has increased we’ve tried to make up a lot of those increases on volume vs passing the increase along. Sometimes it’s simply impossible but most of the time we’re splitting the difference and only raising 25-50% of the increase passed on to us. On the positive side, we’re seeing a steady rise in same store purchases showing an increase in volume on the retailers side as well. Hopefully we can all weather this storm and as commidities recover, we see some manufacturers begin to pass that saving back towards the retailer. We’re commited to keeping prices as competitive as possible while still being able to provide you with the great service we are so well known for.  

A number of customers have asked why we don’t call them when there are price increases?  It would be impossible for us to notify you all without hiring a full-time employee for just that job alone, which would again lead to more price increases.  However, we try and update the brochure as the increases occur and UMG customers have 24-hour access to the latest version 365 days a year.  Just go to the Upper Midwest Gourmet home page and click on the Information and Training materials link on the right hand side.  The very first item is our most current catalog.  This is for UMG wholesale customers only so make sure to get the current password from your UMG sales representative.   Of course, you can always call or email if you’d like a hard color copy mailed to you.  Hang in there everyone and remember, raise your prices, too, so you can still provide the best product and service that your customers expect.

January 17th, 2011
January 6th, 2011

Website Difficulties

We experienced problems with our website this morning but all links have been restored and should be working again.  Order away.  If you still experience any trouble please email david@umgcoffee.com.   We apologize for the inconvenience.

The Beanheads

December 22nd, 2010

“My Customers don’t care about Fair Trade and Organic”

Yeah right. I hear it many times a week from coffee shop owners who wonder why their sales are going down and their shop isn’t going to survive. They continue to offer non FTO coffee because it costs less money and kid themselves into believing that they have the only consumers in America that don’t care about FTO products.  I argue that they are not saving money but driving customers away from their store.   Sales of Fair Trade Certified Coffee in grocery stores alone rose 30% this year to $140 million dollars! Fair Trade is growing despite the bad economy. Why? Fair Trade is 100% consumer driven, that is why. If you think your customers don’t care you are flat out wrong and don’t understand Americans philosophy on Fair Trade. Three fourths of respondents in a 2009 BBMG conscious consumer report stated that they believe they can make a difference by buying products from socially and environmentally responsible companies. Two thirds said buying products with social and environmental benefits is important in tough economic times and MORE THAN HALF SAID THEY WOULD PAY MORE!!!!! If grocery stores are adding more Fair Trade it’s only because consumers are demanding it. Nobody wants to sell products that cost more. They do it because customers are leaving their stores and going somewhere else to buy what they believe is as good a product if not better and they are making the world a better place at the same time. Stop kidding yourself, your customers care and you should too. The specialty coffee customer is the number 1 buyer for FTO products. If you own a Specialty Coffee Store and don’t sell Fair Trade Organic coffee what are you waiting for?

December 9th, 2010

New Brewsletter – Winter 2010 – Volume 42

Winter is upon us! Warm up with a blanket next to a fire and enjoy our newest brewsletter.

Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 42 – Winter 2010

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!

Enjoy and thanks again from all of us at UMG!

September 28th, 2010

UMG welcomes newest beanhead, Nala, to the crew!

Nala is David’s family’s new puppy, but we are all lucky that she will be spending some of her days at UMG hanging out with us.

Isn’t she cute!

September 1st, 2010

New Brewsletter – Volume 41 – End of Summer 2010

Summer is almost over with Fall on the way!

Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 41 – End of Summer 2010

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!

Enjoy and thanks again from all of us at UMG!

August 3rd, 2010

Cupcake Love from Amoretti

Amoretti has a large line of Pastry ingredients. I have been playing with some of their compounds and extracts lately.

It’s kind of like my own little cupcake heaven.

If you would like to play too, give us a call. All their ingredients can be drop shipped to you. Let us know if you would like to experiment with any bakery, pastry, beverage, gelato or ice cream applications. I promise you. It is a lot of fun.

Here’s the basic cupcake recipe that I have been using for my experiments (makes a dozen):

1/2 cup butter (room temp)

2/3 cup granulated white  sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (also try subbing sifted cake flour)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

Be sure to add your favorite flavoring ingredient (See below inspiration).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease 12 muffin cups.

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, beat until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk. Mix thoroughly.

Evenly fill cups and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.

For Orange Cream Cupcakes:

Add 2 tablespoons of Amoretti’s Blood Orange compound and the zest from 1 orange.

Top with Cream Cheese frosting! (See recipe below)

For Blackberry-St. Germain Cupcakes:

Add 2 tablespoons  Amoretti Blackberry compund, 1 teaspoon Amoretti Elderberry Blossom extract, and 1 teaspoon Amoretti Champagne extract.

Top with Berry Buttercream (See recipe below).

For Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes:

Add 2 tablespoons Amoretti Strawberry compound.

Top with Champagne buttercream!(See recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,  1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar,  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Berry buttercream:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons Amoretti Blackberry compund, 3-4 tablespoons of milk

optional: 1/2 cup of fresh blackberries and/or raspberries whipped into frosting. Yummmm.

1. Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.
2. Add 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar, one tablespoon of milk and blackberry compound, beat until combined.
3. Add more powdered sugar (One cup at a time) along with milk (one tablespoon at a time) as needed to get to whatever consistency/sweetness you wish to achieve.

***Champagne buttercream: Sub 2 teaspoons Amoretti Champagne extract for blackberry compound.

July 23rd, 2010

Berry Ricotta Gelato

I recently found myself craving a “berry cheesecake” style desert and promptly decided to make some gelato with our Fabbri Ricotta base. I used blueberries, because this craving was a very specific one, but there are several berry options that would do quite nicely in this recipe, namely Fabbri’s Amarena (Cherry), Frutta di Bosco (Wild Fruits) or Fragolosa (Strawberry) Variegates. Luckily for me I have Fabbri’s imported Italian gelato ingredients and a Bravo Trittico 18 Mechanic “hot process” batch freezer at my fingertips.  (You may also obtain these ingredients, this batch freezer, and a plethora of other products and equipment by contacting our office @ 612-728-7208, hint. hint).

For one 5 liter batch of the Ricotta gelato you will need:

750 grams Fabbri Ricotta base

1500 grams milk

175 grams sugar

200 grams fresh ricotta

Directions:

Add ricotta powder and sugar into milk, mix well. If using a cold process machine, heat milk so that the powders dissolve completely.

Once powders are mixed well, add in fresh ricotta and again mix thoroughly.

According to your machine,  hot process your mix or move directly onto freezing.

When extracting the gelato from your batch freezer, stop half way through and layer in the fruit/berry variegate of your choice.  Finish extracting the second half of the gelato, then layer your remaining variegate on top in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.

Proceed to serve this tasty treat to the delight of all!

June 7th, 2010

Thank you for visiting our booth at Coffee Fest!

   

We had a blast at Coffee Fest Minneapolis this year and want to say “Thank You” to everyone that stopped by our booth and chatted with us.

Our Flamenco coffees were very well-received by all and we are glad that we waited until to this show to unveil our newest dark blend, Minnesota Mudd! The Rancilio Lever machine pulled some amazing Matador espresso shots to anyone that needed that extra caffeine.

The Barista Fria Smoothies and Frappes (with the awesome ice shaving machine) definitely caught a lot of people’s attention. Per usual, we were the only ones with Italian Gelato and Sorbetto that we made fresh for the show! Also starring in our booth were the new flavors from Cappuccine being blended on a Vita-Mix blender (Cafe Mocha Chip & Mint Chip Cookies and Creme) and the new flavor from Big Train being blended on a BlendTec blender (No Sugar Added Vanilla Smoothie).

It is customers like all of you that took part in the show that make our jobs as great as they are. We will continue to work as hard as possible to serve you as a leader in the cafe industry. At Upper Midwest Gourmet we pride ourselves on being more than just a  distributor and a roastery, but a business that makes sure your busines is successful.

Here are some pictures from the festival:

  

  

 

If you have interest in these products or working with us, please Contact Us. Thanks again,

May 3rd, 2010

New Products for the Spring!

UMG is happy to announce some new products:

  • Sugarcane Plates: 6″ & 9″ round plates (perfect for any food, hot or cold, and completely biodegradable/compostable!)

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

April 5th, 2010

NEW Brewsletter – Volume 40 – Spring 2010

Hooray for Spring!

Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 40 – Spring 2010

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!

Enjoy and thanks again from all of us at UMG!

March 9th, 2010

Banana Nutella Muffins: Another Delipaste Recipe

Now, don’t those look delicious? You agree, you say? Well here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups ripe banana, mashed (2-3 bananas)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup Fabbri Nocciola E Cacao delipaste (Nutella flavor)

Directions:  Preheat oven at 350 degrees

1) Combine softened butter and granulated and brown sugars in large bowl.

2) Mix in mashed bananas

3) Sift in 1 cup of flour along with salt and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.

4) Now mix in wet ingredients including: eggs, yogurt and vanilla

5) Mix in another cup of flour. Combine thoroughly.

6) Finally, add delipaste.  Mix thoroughly, giving the entire muffin a chocolate color and flavor.

7) Add mix into greased muffin pan or pan liners.  Sprinkle on slivered almonds for extra pizzazz.

Bake for 18-22 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

Yield: 12 muffins