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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 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 April 5th, 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!
By Michael Applen, on February 23rd, 2010
UMG and Flamenco Organic Coffee Company are ecstatic to now have our own hot cup! These beautiful cups are now in stock at UMG and are ready to be ordered today.

These International Paper hot cups come in 12oz, 16oz, and 20oz, have a universal lid for all three sizes, and their patent-pending Thermashield™ technology, combined with the overall durable construction of our cup provides better insulating performance than any other paper hot cup in the industry.
(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
By Kevin Selig, on February 5th, 2010
Wisconsin Food Expo Milwaukee, WI; March 8th through the 10th, 2010 - Booth 748
Ah yes, the show season is soon to be upon us. For starters, Upper Midwest Gourmet will be showing off our duds again this year in Milwaukee Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Restaurant Associations annual Expo to be held at the Airline Center in downtown Milwaukee on March 8th trough the 10th (Mon-Wed). Go to www.wirestaurant.org/expo/ for more details on this show and to register. As in the past years, UMG has a boat load of FREE PASSES for Wednesday the 10th, the last day of the show. Please contact us direct at 612-728-7208 or contact Kevin direct at 612-250-8277 or Kevin@umgcoffee.com and we will mail you the tickets. You will need to register them once you have the ticket code. This can be done the day of the show at the door. This year we will be highlighting our new line of Ce Organic and Fair Trade, all natural flavoring syrups, our new International Paper Insulated Hold & Go Hot cups, Angela Marie’s Mega Marshmallow Munchies crisp rice bars, Pacific Foods Organic Simply coffee & tea ready to drink products, Deep River all natural chips and snacks, and our new Flamenco Organic Coffee Direct coffees. We will also have a new espresso machine on hand for your review, use and sampling of our espressos.
This is one of those shows that our staff ALWAYS looks forward to because of the amount of you that take the time to visit with us there and the many new customers we are lucky enough to meet each year. Of the many food & coffee shows that we show at, this has always been the best run and most fun to attend so I encourage you to try to make it if you can, you will not be disappointed!
Coffee Fest Minneapolis, MN, June 04 – 06, 2010
We are very excited to announce that the folks at Coffee Fest have scheduled one of their 2010 show right here in Minneapolis this year in June. Coffee Fest is still one of the better coffee focused shows in the industry so we expect nothing less at this show. We among many other local, regional and international companies will be showing. This Upper Midwest region of the country is finally getting the recognition we have so rightfully earned in the coffee world so this show should be full of useful information for any café owner in this market. As more details come in, we will continue to pass them on to you so please stay tuned or go directly to www.coffeefest.com for more details and to register for this show.
We always love to see our customers at every show we attend so please do come and say hello at one or both of these shows. Upper Midwest Gourmet will also be announcing our annual picnic/open house very soon so please stay tuned for that date to be made.
We thank you all for your continued support and patronage. We are nothing without our great customers and we are driven by your support to continue to improve our services and offerings to you!
See you at the shows!
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 December 28th, 2009
Check out UMG and Flamenco Organic’s own, Charles Roberson, hanging out with some of the Vikings O-Line, Pat and Kevin Williams, over the Holidays!

Who else thinks Charles should be trying out for the Vikes next year?
By Michael Applen, on December 1st, 2009

First of all, thank you to everyone that came and voted for Flamenco Organic Coffee Company at the 20th Annual Calhoun Coffeefest!
Flamenco Organic Coffee Company is very proud to announce that AGAIN we WON 1st place decaf coffee and also 1st place specialty coffee at this years Calhoun Coffee Fest!

Flamenco’s own – Beans & Beards!
We love taking part in the Calhoun annual coffee festival in Minneapolis every year and are ecstatic about our 1st place finishes in the coffee competition. The festival is a great cause (raises enough money in one day to feed 20,000 homeless people) that showcases Minnesota’s top coffee roasters.
Here are the results: http://www.calhouncoffeefest.com/vendors.php
Feel free to Contact Us for more information or Order Yours today.
If you are a customer that is already ordering, there is a good possibility that a sample of the winning coffees will be in your next order.
Happy Holidays!
By Michael Applen, on October 12th, 2009
With snow already on the ground around most of the Midwest we decided to run a promotion on some great products that are sure to warm up you and your customers in these chilly months ahead.
During the rest of this month (October 2009), UMG will be offering a FREE box of Marshmallow Munchies (12 count box) (Rice Crispy Treats) with the purchase of (1) case of either the:
- Innovative Beverage Company/Mocafe – Azteca De Oro Original (Bulk) (4×3 lb) Same great product, new lighter bags, no higher price!
- Ghirardelli ”Double Chocolate” Premium Hot Cocoa (Bulk) (4×2 lb) Just Mix with Water!
- Big Train Hot Cocoa (Bulk) (4×3.5lb)
- Enlightened “Spicy” Chai (Bulk) (5x3lb) Just Mix or Froth with Water! No Trans Fat.
BUY or or or 
GET FREE!
Please make sure to mention promotion when ordering.
Also, there is no limit on this special. If you buy a case of each product, you get 4 FREE boxes of the Marshmallow Munchies!
(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
By David Chall, on October 8th, 2009
Great news everyone. We’ve imported a very small number of Fabbri’s Scarpato Panettone with Amarena Cherries for the Holidays. The freighter is due to dock in New Jersey next week and the timing couldn’t be better. The Scarpato Panettone is attractively packaged in a microfiber peach skin bag and includes an Amarena Fabbri spoon, a fantastic holiday item!
 
Pack Size is 6 x 1 kg Panettone per case. I don’t have many of these coming so please reserve yours today. Once they’re gone, it will be another year before we have more.
Don’t forget, as usual we have Fabbri’s Famous Amarena Cherries and Babas in small and large gift jars. We also have large tins of Amarena Cherries for your baking, pastry & desert making needs:
The Holidays are upon us. If you want to make money on them, now is the time to place your orders. Call us today for these and all our other great gift items before it’s too late.
Cheers, David

By Michael Applen, on October 7th, 2009
Please click below for an updated Flamenco Offerings List – Fall 2009

Thanks again to all of you that love your Fair Trade Organic coffees from Flamenco Organic Coffee Company.
Feel free to Contact Us for more information or Order Yours today!
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 August 10th, 2009

Upper Midwest Gourmet is very excited to now offer and stock the awesome Enlightened Beverages, Frappes, and Chai’s!

Enlightened Beverages is the proud creator of “The Original Cookie Dough Frappe”!
You gotta try it! It’s amazingly good!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
By Michael Applen, on July 28th, 2009

Upper Midwest Gourmet now distributes Dispense-Rite line of quality dispensing systems and solutions.
Projecting a clean, quality image is part of any succesful food service program!

Dispense-Rite dispensing systems keep your serving areas organized by giving a uniform appearance to the storage of cups, lids, straws, and condiments.

Dispense-Rite provides perfect cafe solutions for flavoring syrups, java jackets, cold domed lids, and more!

Dispense-Rite even has gelato and ice-cream cone holders!
These are special order items that require a 3-4 day lead time, so please let us know what dispensers seem right for you.
(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)
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