Upper Midwest Gourmet

We would really like to thank everyone that visited our booth at the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo this year in Milwaukee. We were very happy to be a part of this expo for our 16th or 17th year. Who can keep track anymore…

This, again, was a success and we owe it all to our customers, new and old. Here are some of the products we showcased and received most feedback on:

• Flamenco Organic Coffees and Espresso- per usual our wide array of micro-roasted Organic, Fair Trade, and Direct Trade coffees were very popular. The Nicaraguan Rio Coco and the Minnesota Mudd Blend were both talked about a bunch, but the Papua New Guinea, the Ethiopian Dara, and the Kona coffee (especially out of the Bunn Trifecta) were holding their own as well. The Matador Espresso Blend was also being pulled from the Casadio 2-group Espresso Machine and tasting just as sweet and smooth as ever!

• Amoretti Martini Mixes- yes, we are now carrying a martini mix line, and yes, it is awesome! David was making martini’s all show and everyone loved them. We will be bringing in the Apple, Blueberry, Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop, Mango, Mojito, Passion Fruit, Pomegranate, and Raspberry flavors, with more coming soon. They are super easy to make, made with the finest ingredients, and very reasonably priced.

• Umpqua Oats Oatmeal- this product never ceases to amaze us! We knew we liked this oatmeal when we first tried it, but never imagined how fast our customers would agree. It is one of the quickest products to take off for us and works perfectly for cafes to get that extra sale with your morning rush customer. These oatmeals are nutritious, delicious, and fast to make and with eight flavors including the “Not Guilty” which is salt and sugar free, who can go wrong?

• Cappuccine Red Velvet Frappe Mix- not only did this product win 2010 “best new beverage” at Seattle Coffee Fest, it continues to emerge as the next “must have” flavor at every cafe. We see a lot of new flavor ideas for blended beverages in our industry, but none have had the steam that the Red Velvet Cupcake frappe is making. It only helps the cause that Cappuccine has their own EXCLUSIVE Whipped Cream Cheese topping recipe on their website that completes this delightfully different cupcake in a cup.

• Fabbri 1905 Pastry Ingredients from Italy- delipastes aren’t just for gelato anymore. Tom Trieschmann from Fabbri has been helping us learn about all the amazing pastry applications for many of the products we carry and have only used for ice cream and gelato in the past. Tom personally sampled out the famous “Amarena” cherry of Italy that Fabbri is known for and started the company over 100 years ago. These Fabbri Amarena cherries are sour and intense and are like nothing you have ever tried before!

• David Rio Chai- this is a brand new product for us that we just had to bring in after sampling. We have known for years that David Rio Chai’s had a great reputation, but it wasn’t until we made some ourselves that we really understood just how good it really is. There are eight amazing flavors including Tiger Spice Chai, Elephant Vanilla, and Tortoise Green Tea. This chai is easy to prepare hot, iced, or blended, it is Kosher Certified, Gluten Free, and has No Hydrogenated Oils or Trans Fats.

• International Paper Hold & Go “Flamenco” Design, Insulated Hot Cups- these cups are the ultimate hot cup in the industry. It was hard not to spot a Flamenco hot cup in someone’s hand when walking the show. With so many people trying our coffees and espressos you wouldn’t have to look far to see the beautiful dancer silhouette. Even many of the presenters and speakers at the show could be seen sipping from our snazzy cups during their presentations! These cups are part of the “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” which promotes sustainable forest management and is something we feel is very important. Not only are they double-walled which means no sleeve is needed, but the lids are universal meaning the same lid fits the 12oz, 16oz, and 20oz cups!

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

Upper Midwest Gourmet and Flamenco Organic Coffee Company will be in booth 748 for the 2011 WI Restaurant Show.

Where: Frontier Airlines Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Booth 748)

When: March 21st-23rd (11am-5pm Monday, 10am-5pm Tuesday, 10am-3pm Wednesday)

Here is a link to the show for more information: WI RESTAURANT EXPO

See you there!

Upper Midwest Gourmet now has a Facebook Page!

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?

Yes, it is finally that time of year again to evaluate coffees from all of Minnesota’s roasteries and vote for your favorite. Please come out to Calhoun Coffee Festival at Calhoun Square in Uptown Minneapolis on November 20th, 2010 from 10am to 3pm to help support Second Harvest Heartland and vote for the best coffee in the Twin Cities! Flamenco Organic is proud to be a part of this great event every year and can’t wait to see all of our fans out in full force. Feel free to contact us for more information, thanks for your support.

Next time you are making your way from the Twin Cities down to Rochester or if you are just enjoying Southern Minnesota make sure to stop in Pine Island at the Better Brew Coffeehouse! They are preparing the best coffee drinks in their area and are always happy to meet someone new.

If it is high quality ingredients prepared perfectly that makes you happy, then this cafe is sure to put a huge smile on your face.

The owner, Marie, along with her other awesome ladies on her staff, know what they are doing and take pride in every drink, baked good, or meal that they create. They care about being organic, fair-trade, and eco-concious which is right up UMG’s alley. If you want a great experience with some yummy treats then you need to go to Better Brew Coffeehouse today!

Better Brew Coffeehouse
Owner/Manager: Marie Hlava
301 North Main St.
Pine Island, MN 55936

507-356-2100

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.)

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,

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.)

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:

Fabbri Workshop

Donna’s pics from Fabbri Seminar

If this looks like something you want for your business or if you have questions please Contact Us.

Thanks again!

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!

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!

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 30^th @ 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.

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