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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 8:30am-5pm / Friday 9am-1pm (Central Time)
See About Us for more. Our UMG Blog starts below. Thank you.



By Michael Applen, on June 28th, 2010
We are always open to bringing in new products that our customers request, especially when those products are right in line with our social and ecological values. These are some of the newest items that we are now stocking because you asked for it.

PureVia (Stevia) “100% Natural, Zero Calories” Sweetener

CE Organics “Fair Trade / Organic” Chocolate Sauce
(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
By Michael Applen, on June 7th, 2010
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,
By Michael Applen, on June 2nd, 2010
We hope to see you there, please visit us in our booths 326 & 328!
Coffee Fest Minneapolis
Minneapolis Convention Center – June 04 – 06, 2010
In this challenging time of economic uncertainty, with trusted advice more valuable than ever, Coffee Fest brings you the nation’s best retail operators and industry professionals and consultants to ensure your business survives and even thrives with today’s profitability threats and tomorrow’s challenges.
Event Location
Minneapolis Convention Center
1301 Second Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2781
612-335-6000
(For additional information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
By Michael Applen, on May 13th, 2010

Thanks to everyone that took part in the Fabbri workshop yesterday at UMG. Special thanks to Tom Trieshmann and Donna Domiano “The Gelato Queen” from Fabbri North America for their efforts and expertise.
Donna and Tom put on a great workshop by making some amazing gelatos and sorbettos, refreshing seasonal drinks, beautiful pastries, and showed us all how to use Fabbri in a ton of different applications.
Here is a link to all pictures from the event:
If this looks like something you want for your business or if you have questions please Contact Us.
Thanks again!
By Michael Applen, on January 1st, 2010

All of us at Upper Midwest Gourmet would like to wish you, your family, your friends, and your staff a very Happy and Healthy New Year in 2010! We truly believe that your success creates our success and we promise to continue to support and serve you as much as possible!
Please always know that we are just a phone call or email away. UMG has been on the cutting edge of the coffee shop and cafe industry for almost 20 years! We have seen the latest and greatest fads come and go, but there are a few constants that will always remain the same. Coffee drinks and blended beverages are your bread and butter because of their great profit margins. I agree with my previous statement, but I’ve learned that to be truly successful offering retail sales and food is a must.
One constant that makes any businesss successful is a self-motivated staff with ambitious goals along with a desire to always work hard no matter if it is within their job description or not. This is something amazing that I witness everyday working at UMG, but also something that is very obvious in many of the most succesful cafes that we work with. Striving to always be better is something that rarely breeds anything, but success.
Our guarantee to you, our customers, in this new year and decade is that we will continue to strive to always be better. In fact, we will be taking a coffee origin trip to Dominican Republic to meet our Flamenco Direct Relationship coffee friends and their families in February. This will give us a better understanding of all aspects of coffee production, but will more importantly build a stronger relationship with people we care about, just like our customers. We want you to know that there may be other companies that sell similar type products, but you will never find a company with more personal dedication to their customers than us.
We aren’t just a Midwest distributor of coffee shop products or just a Fair Trade Organic coffee roastery in Minnesota or just a gelato equipment and ingredient company. We are so much more than all of those titles and all we want is a chance to prove that to you this year!
Please Contact Us if you have any questions about what we can do for you.
Thanks for your support!
By Michael Applen, on October 1st, 2009
Welcome to Fall!
Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 39 - Fall 2009

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!
By David Chall, on September 26th, 2009

Halloween Gelato Seminar
We’ve had many requests for another gelato seminar. Now that business appears to be getting back to normal for most of you we thought this was a great time to host another. Now is the perfect time to start planning and getting financing together for a Spring startup.
Come to UMG on Friday October 30th @ 1pm and see all that Gelato can offer your business.
Fabbri will be sending Pastry Chef Tom Treischmann to co-host the event with us. We’ll go over what type of equipment you’ll need, simple and artisan gelato preparations and have some fun with seasonal gelato ideas (beware of the Gelato Brain!) Already making gelato? Feel free to come over to meet Tom and pick his brain (not just the gelato one….getting curious aye?) and find new ideas for spicing up your gelato display. Space is limited so please RSVP to david@uppermidwestgourmet.com and reserve a spot.
By Michael Applen, on May 6th, 2009
By Michael Applen, on April 14th, 2009

Next time you are in the Fargo/Moorhead area make sure to stop by Fargo Coffee Company.
Finally a cafe that serves high quality drinks and food in a very comfortable and classy atmosphere. From the dark wood counters and furnishings to the plasma televisions, this cafe is truly stunning.
They serve Fair Trade Organic coffee and espresso drinks that will be sure to impress you. I can personally say that it is one of the few times I’ve ordered a dry cappuccino and received an espresso drink that was nothing short of perfect.
Fargo Coffee Co. is still very new to the scene in Fargo/Moorhead, but is already getting a ton of attention and positive feedback.
Just check out their guest comments: http://fargocoffeeco.com/guestcomments.htm
Please enjoy some pictures of the cafe. (just click on picture to enlarge and view)


Please Contact Us for more information about Fargo Coffee Co. or about the incredible products they serve!

1601 University Dr S
Fargo, ND 58103
By Michael Applen, on March 31st, 2009
Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring!
Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 37 – Spring 2009

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!
Enjoy the new format and thanks from all of us!
By Kevin Selig, on March 31st, 2009

As UMG finished our last show of the season in Milwaukee, it was in no means the end of the work to be done. There are many months of follow up to be completed. We look forward to contacting those of you who requested us to do so.
We wish to take a moment to offer our thanks and appreciation to those of you who took the time to stop by and say hello at the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo a couple of weeks ago in the lovely city of Milwaukee. As usual, this show was a great success for UMG. We especially appreciate the opportunity to meet with many of you face to face each year, and to meet some of you for the first time. It’s funny though how our mind can create an image of what you think someone is supposed to look like prior to ever meeting them face to face. Sometimes you are right on, and some times you are way off course! (I am usually the off guy). Either way, it makes a relationship that much more rewarding once you can actually place a face with a voice.
If you missed the show this year, here are some of the highlighted products that we were offering samples of; Zola Acai in Ready-to-drink, blender and concentrate formulas, Pro Bar meal supplement bars, Wally Biscotti (Mr. Wally himself graced us with his presence at the show this year), Dirty all-natural potato chips, Boosta shot pure all-natural energy, Cappuccine blender/frappe mixes, Rancilio Leve manual Lever espresso machines (this truly was the hit as we sold 2 of them off the show floor) and of course, our very own Flamenco Organic coffees. Jesse our Roast Master has been busy since last year and was offering some of our award winning coffees for sampling.
Without gloating, I believe that we were the hit of the show this year with our product offerings. We were just informed that we are to be on the front cover of next years Expo Info packet handout.
Take a look at this cover by clicking the following link;
http://www.wirestaurant.org/expo/exhibit/index.htm
You can also take a look at some of the photos we took ourselves at the show.

Again if you took the time to stop by, we say thank you a thousand times over. If you missed us this year, we say shame on you (OK, that might be a little harsh!), no, we do encourage you to try to make next years show if you are within 4-6 hours of Milwaukee. This show is definitely worth your time.
For all of our customers, we say thank you very much for your continued patronage and support. We would be nothing with out all of you! We strive to ensure the success of every customer that we have a relationship with. It is our goal to be able to always offer you the products and tools needed to meet that success. Please feel free to contact any one at UMG with any comments or concerns, we are ready to listen.
Your Bean Head staff thanks you
By David Chall, on February 18th, 2009
It’s show season again! Look for Upper Midwest Gourmet at the shows this weekend, next month and all year:
Chicago, IL - Coffeefest 2009: Friday, Sat, Sun: Feb. 20th – 22nd:Look for Kevin and David, we’ll be mixing up all those yummy Frappes in Cappuccine’s booth
Minneapolis, MN - UP Show 2009: Monday, Tuesday: Feb. 23rd & 24th: Look for Kevin in the Vita Mix booth for some delicious smoothies.
Moorhead, MN (Concordia College) NACUFS Conference: Monday,Tuesday: Feb. 23rd & 24th: Michael and Jesse will be giving a presentation on the benefits of using Fair Trade, Organic Specialty Coffee. They will also be focusing on ’Going Green’ and how it can improve your profits and strengthen sales, all while leaving a better mark on the world.
Milwaukee, WI Restaurant Show & Expo 2009: Mon, Tue, Wed: March 9th-11th: Jesse, Kevin and David will be demonstrating all the new products for 2009.
Minneapolis, MN - UMGWHQ 2009 (Upper Midwest Gourmet World Headquarters): February – December 2009: The show that never ends! Come to our showroom and try out any product anytime. Our showroom is fully functional so you can brew coffee, extract espresso and froth milk, make gelato and sorbetto, prepare pastry or even bake bread! You can also see the latest equipment in action, watch training videos, see what’s new and exciting before anyone else or just come to play some foosball (beware, Michael can really run a table). We’d love to have you here. If your going to the UP show, stop by before or after the show? David, Sarah, Eric, Alan, Brandon and Charles will all be around to help you.
We hope to see you all soon!
Cheers,
David – Chief Beanhead
By Michael Applen, on January 1st, 2009
Happy 2009!
FREE S/H on 1st order made by new customer! No Minimums! Must be 1st order ever made with UMG.

UMG would like to extend a special New Year’s offer of FREE SpeeDee shipping/handling on the FIRST order made by any NEW customer in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Illinois.
Offer only good on 1st orders made between January 1st-31st, 2009.
Please Contact Us to set-up a new account and make your first order with FREE shipping and handling today!
By Michael Applen, on November 24th, 2008
How about Holiday Coffee Bags (1lb) with your own personalized photos or pictures?
You choose the image, message, and type of coffee!
We make the label, roast the coffee, and ship it to you to be given as a great and thoughtful gift!
It’s that easy!

This is a great way to share the amazing Flamenco & Quarry coffees with your family and friends…
Simply email label@uppermidwestgourmet.net your family or holiday photo, with message and coffee/roast you would like to give and we can design and create a beautiful personalized label for you!
We do request that you order at least 1o / (1lb) bags per order.
Please Contact Us with any questions.
Happy Holidays from all of us at UMG!
By Michael Applen, on November 11th, 2008
 
Upper Midwest Gourmet & Flamenco Organic Coffee Company are extremely proud to be involved with the ECO and SOCIAL actions being taken by the University of Saint Thomas and Concordia College of Moorhead, MN.
Both schools are strong supporters of Flamenco Organic’s mission of only serving Fair Trade and Organic coffee. Coffee has historically been one of the world’s most exploitative industries. Fair Trade helps to insure the quality of life for workers and helps to prevent cost-cutting practices that hurt the quality of coffee. Coffee, which is the world’s second largest traded food commodity, is also one of the most unregulated and chemically treated. That is why Organic and Fair Trade coffee is SO important to all of us.
UMG, Flamenco, UST, and Concordia also strive for sustainability. That means that we are all working to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. We do this by only selling and using Eco-conscious supplies, like cups, napkins, etc.
Some examples of our sustainability are:
UMG has solar panels on our facility which help to power the roasting equipment of the Flamenco Organic Coffee Co. UST has switched to corn-oil based cold cups and 100% recyclable napkins on campus. Concordia, Moorhead has focused on five themes: food, water, waste, energy, and transportation and are working as a WHOLE campus to make serious “green” change.
Please check out this great article below about Concordia’s sustainability
Please check out these pictures below from the new Concordia dining facilities


Please check out these pictures below from the UST Appreciation Day 2008

Thank you and please Contact Us if you would like to learn more or would like to get your Business, College, University, or Cafe on board with the Eco and Social movement!

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