Upper Midwest Gourmet

We are very pleased to announce that we now offer the awesome Synesso Espresso Machines! That’s right, the The Cyncra™, The Hydra™ and The Hybrid™ are all available from Upper Midwest Gourmet.

We met a bunch of the great people from the Synesso company at SCAA, Portland and are really excited to be working with them. This opportunity to have what we consider to be the “best of the best” available to us is very cool and we even plan on showcasing one of these sweet machines in the new cafe, UP.

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

We are really excited that the Blended Beverage & Soft Serve Bases from Pacific Natural Foods are going to be part of our offerings soon!

Here are few of the reasons why we like it so much:

• Simply blend with ice and espresso, or fresh fruits and juices to create indulgent frappés and smoothies.
• USDA Organic and Certified to the Source® ingredients, No Powders!
• Convenient, 32 oz. aseptic packaging – No refrigeration required (until opened).
• Available in Dairy (Gluten Free) and Non-Dairy (Gluten Free & Vegan) versions.
• Also performs perfectly in your soft-serve machine!

Here are some information sheets about this awesome product that we will have in stock very soon:

Blended Beverage Base – Dairy & Non-Dairy – Pacific Natural Foods

Soft Serve Base – Dairy & Non-Dairy – Pacific Natural Foods

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

That’s right, we are bringing pour-over coffee brewing to the forefront in the Upper Midwest and we want you on board!

We will be doing it with the help our newest offerings from Hario and Chemex.

Both companies make some amazing brewing devices and we are very excited to work with them.

Here are links to the Hario and Chemex products:

Hario

Chemex

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

As many of you know, things always seem to take a little longer than expected to get up and running when opening a cafe.

UP will be an open to the public cafe serving Flamenco Organic coffee and espresso roasted on site, Italian gelato made fresh on site, and tasty baked goods and panini’s all made from local ingredients.

The best part for all of you is that this cafe will be our brand new fully operational training cafe and state-of-the-art showroom. We will be able to have you come in with your staff to get full company trainings. In areas like espresso, coffee, and gelato preparation, this can be very beneficial to everyone!

If you have any questions about the UP, please Contact Us.

Yes, the rumors are true, Newco no longer makes their OSC coffee brewers.

We just sold the last one we had in stock and, unfortunately, won’t be able to get more in the future.

We do have the replacement carafes still in stock though should you ever need those.

• Newco Replacement Carafe for OCS-12:  Steel lined 12 Cup
• Newco Replacement Carafe for OCS-8:  Glass lined 8 Cup

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

It’s never too early to start thinking about the next trade show.

That is why we are already telling everyone now that we are in booths 100/102/104 at Chicago Coffee Fest in June 2012.  We will be making gelato on a Carpigiani Coldelite batch freezer and displaying in one of the new Ciam Pozzetti display cases.  We will definitely be serving our award-winning Flamenco Organic Coffee along with a ton of other great products for you to check out and sample.

Here are the basics:

When – June 8th-10th 2012

Where – Navy Pier, 600 East Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611

Registration Information

Early Bird is $20 per person if registered by Sunday, 5/20/2012. $30 per person after that.

Onsite Registration Hours: Trade Show and educational Classes
Friday & Saturday: 7:00am to 4:30pm
Sunday: 7:30am to 3:30pm

Show Hours:
Exhibition Hours:
Friday & Saturday: 12:00pm to 5:00pm
Sunday: 12pm to 4:00pm

Educational Training
Friday & Saturday: 8:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday: 8:00am to 4:00pm

If you have any questions about the trade show, please Contact Us.

This process, although taking longer than expected, is really getting us excited for this new cafe and training space that we plan to have completed in the next few months.

Our newest additions include new full length windows (will add a ton more natural light into the cafe), leveled floors, finished floors in the new kitchen, new electrical, and we are almost ready to start on the ceilings and finish the floors.

Here are some pictures to help you the idea:

New kitchen floor:

We hope you enjoy our updates and can’t wait for you to visit once we are “Up!” and running!

Just wanted to say “Thank You” to everyone that came out and chatted with us at the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo last week.

It was a pleasure sampling our great products to all of you and we really appreciate your business!

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

Please enjoy this article about composting from Heather at Badger Brew Express in Rice Lake, Wisconsin that she wrote for the Twin Cities Coffee Guild.

ARTICLE – “Where Do Your Grounds Go? by Heather H. Haller”

Remember that UMG carries a bunch of compostable disposables like the Eco Products Green Stripe cold cups that Heather uses.

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

Yes, it’s that time of year again when the trade shows begin. We are exhibiting in a couple of them that we would love to invite you to attend.

Our first show of the year is the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo being held in downtown Milwaukee on March 12-14th. That’s a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday show. We have been exhibiting at this show for over 10 years now and will have our usual spot on the floor with a 20 foot end booth. This year we will be highlighting our Flamenco Organic Coffees, Dr Smoothie 100% crushed fruit smoothie mixes, Mozo Chef shoes, Cappuccine, Big Train and a host of fine products from Amoretti including flavoring syrups, 100% fruit smoothie mixes, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar and Martin mixes. We will have many other items on display as well including a 2 group espresso machine. We would love to see you there this year so stop by for an espresso, smoothie or martini (maybe all 3 mixed together!). We have a limited amount of FREE passes for Wednesday the 14th. Please contact us if that is a day you can make it.

Go to http://www.everythingfoodservice.org for more info on this fantastic show.

The second show of the year for us is Coffee Fest Chicago being held at the Navy Pier Convention Hall. This show is on June 8-10th (Friday-Sunday). We will have another 20 foot booth there highlighting many of our products including Flamenco Organic Coffee and are hoping to have a full display of Gelato on hand. For more info on this show and to register to attend, please visit http://www.coffeefest.com for more details.

Please stay tuned for more details on this show as we comprise them.

Hope to see you at one or both of these shows. We love to meet with our customers rather it may be the first time, or an annual routine. We truly appreciate your continued business and support and feel these show are a way for us to convey that to you.

Feel free to contact us for any further information on either of these shows.

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!

Better Stevia packets are now available at Upper Midwest Gourmet.

This all-natural sweetener is made with certified USDA organic stevia.

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

As many of you cafe owners and managers know, selling retail products is very important to your bottom line.

Having those retail offerings adds to the overall order total of the customer which means increased profits.

The Ghirardelli sauces in squeeze bottles come in Creamy Caramel, White Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate and are the perfect retail item!

These high-end sauces are something that any cafe customer would love to have in their home or to give as a gift.  In 2011 this was one of Ghirardelli’s best selling items for coffee shop and gift shop owners.  They literally flew off the shelves.

I think that once you give them a try and start offering them on your retail product display that you will see them start flying off the shelves too.

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

La Spaziale has come out with two different instant / no-dose espresso grinders with internal electronics and a digital display for measuring grams! The two versions are the Astro 12 Instant and the Top Instant. These espresso grinders are the way of the future and we will personally be working with each of these in-house to make sure we are happy with their performance. Now available at UMG!

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

Here is our newest offerings sheet from Flamenco Organic Coffee Company

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