Takeaways from Louisville Coffee Fest 2023
I just got back from Louisville Coffee Fest and what a great time we had at the show. Thousands of people from all over the country flocked to the Kentucky International Convention Center for a weekend of coffee and coffee related products. This convention is an industry specific show. That means there were roasters, merchandisers, suppliers, food, cups/sleeves, and much more. Basically, if you need or ae looking for something for your business, it was there. From my conversations with the attendees I came away with 3 things that were brought up in our conversations.
Ordering Product Issues
One thing I heard repeatedly was that business owners struggled at times to find their products because their supplier was out of stock. They had to rush around to find products from different distributors (like Amazon) to make sure they didn’t run out and could continue to serve their customers. The more critical the products the more crucial it is that you have a reliable source when ordering your products. If you’re getting short on cups, as an example, you can probably stretch a day or 2 without any real impact. If you run out of a few syrups or a certain coffee bean, the impact is felt more. With Frozenta, our products are always in stock and ready to ship. Since we ship for free with no minimum requirements, you can order as many times as you need for free. This prevents any issues that might arise in terms of running out of products. You never have to worry about that with us.
Space/Menu Flexibility
I also had a lot of conversations about different menu options. Having a bigger menu that appeals to more people will attract new customers. This issue most businesses have, based on our conversations at Coffee Fest, is they have limited space and therefore must be picky on what drinks they put on the menu. It is an understandable issue to have. If you look at frozen drinks as an example, most companies have different flavored powders for different drinks. If you have a frozen caramel mocha and you sell a peanut butter/chocolate frozen mocha you need to have space/storage for your caramel, chocolate, and peanut butter base powders. That’s storing 3 powders and only making 2 drinks!
With Frozenta’s Polar Powder we eliminate all of that. We free up space while allowing you to grow your menu to almost limitless options. Our Polar Powder is a universal base powder for all of your Frozen drinks. Did your customer just order a frozen caramel mocha, chocolate mocha, and a white pumpkin mocha. The only product you need to make all 3 is Polar Powder. The recipe stays the same for every drink and you just add your sauce/syrup of choice. Polar Powder frees up valuable counter space, makes training easier, and allows you and your staff to be as creative as possible in making up different drink combinations.
Price, Price, Price
We all know that in business it is location, location, location but what comes after you’ve secured the best location? Price! The prices you pay for supplies, products, staff, etc. play a big factor in how you can operate and grow your business. Lots of Coffee Fest attendees that stopped by the Frozenta booth talked with me about their need to keep costs low so they can keep their doors open and have staff around to help them run the business. Your COGS (Cost Of Goods Sold) can’t be overstated in this discussion.
Let’s take the first two takeaways as our examples. When you place a supply/product order, it must get to you somehow. You pay a shipping charge for every order and if you want to get free shipping you must make sure you spend the minimum amount that the distributor requires. In the second example, you are ordering 4-5 different powders at a time to make the drinks on your menu. What if you run out of one powder before the others? Do you have to pay more to replace the one powder? With Polar Powder, we beat most of our competitors by 30% (for the same product weight) and we ship it for free.
- We save you money on shipping by always shipping free (with no minimums).
- We save you at least 30% on ordering by only having to order 1 powder (not 5) to make every drink on your menu.
- Your COGS go down as the profits in your drinks increase.
Frozenta’s has been around since 2011 and we have a long track record of providing great products, at a great price for all our customers. Everyone I spoke with in Louisville during Coffee Fest got a free sample kit to try it for themselves. I would love to extend that offer to you as well. Try it before you buy it with no strings attached. I just ask for your honest feedback on our products. We are committed to creating products that have our customers and, in turn, their customers loving what they drink! To get your free Micha Sample Kit just do the following:
- Create an account (https://frozenta.com/account/register)
- Add the Sample Kit to your cart
- Use the code “Takeaways” at checkout
- Enjoy
The sample kit will allow you to make roughly 8-16oz drinks. You can make a frozen mocha right out of the box but I encourage you to experiment with the polar powder and get creative so you can see how flexible and amazing the product really is.