Food Safety Resources At Your Fingertips
Lessons Learned in the Frozen Dessert Industry
The Official Publication Of The North American Ice Cream Association
How to Incorporate User-Generated Content into Your Brand’s Instagram Feed
April 2022
THE BULLETIN
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR In my conversations with many of our members, many are already well and truly on their way to a very successful season.I know those who are working on early promotions such as school donations and other programs are already waist deep in customers which is great to hear. As the months go by, sometimes I fail to acknowledge our new members that join the association monthly. You breathe a great amount of invigoration and life into the association, and we couldn’t be happier to have you on board. If you are a new member and haven’t made connections on our members only Facebook page, then drop us a short post, tell us a little about yourself so we can get to know you a little better. I know right now you are probably thinking about what’s happening in the next weeks and months, but the office and many of our committees are feverishly working on the program and activities for the convention this year. It is in Fort Worth Texas, on the seventh eighth and ninth of November. However, don’t start booking your flights just yet. On the heels of our very successful pre-convention food safety workshop, this year we are also hosting a pre-convention Boot Camp for those wanting to get into the industry, or who are just fresh to the frozen dessert business. Both the food safety course and the Boot Camp will happen on Saturday, 6 November at the Fort Worth convention center. These activities certainly bring a value add to the event and further details will be posted in the coming month or so. I also want to put i’ll bug you into your ear about the overall theme of the event. Being in Fort Worth and home to the longhorn steers, our supplier party and other events will certainly have a western or cowboy/cowgirl feel. The office has been inundated with requests like mechanical bulls, best hat Competition and a whole slew of rodeo themed events. We love the creativity, but logistically some of these are hard to pull off. Regardless, the convention committee is putting together a event like none other. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better than Orlando, strap yourself in for one of the best conventions in association history this year. Early bird registration and accommodation links will be available June 1. As always if you have any questions about your membership, the show or any other element of your business, Drop us a line through the email or call the office. We love talking to our members.
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Steve Christensen Executive Director
Welcome to The North American Ice Cream Association Terra's Ice Cream Cafe Vienna, Virginia
Noire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Glamourview Creamery Walkersville, Maryland
Countryside Cones
Suffield Ice Cream Suffield, Connecticut Howdy Homemade Ice Cream Lubbock, Texas
C's Custard D-Lite Orchard Park, New York Jason Dotson Tacoma, Washington Luxury Tax Promotions LLC Chesapeake, Virginia
BlueGeez Limited La Resource South, West Indies Wicked Is Elk Horn, Iowa Deters St. Charles, Missouri Idaho Milk Products Jerome, Idaho The Main Scoop Mahomet, Illinois
Don't Miss a Beat Confirm your contact detials on your membership profile are correct to ensure you keep up to date will all things Ice Cream
CLICK HERE FOOD SAFETY SUPPORT HOT-LINE FOR
SMALL/ARTI SAN DAI RY PROCESSORS Not sure where to start? Our network of food safety experts from Universities across the US are here to help you take the next step by providing free one-on-one plan consultation and review.
315-787-2600 Dairyfoodsafetycoach@cornell.edu
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Food Safety Corner Food Safety Resources At Your Fingertips Sometimes you just need to know how to find the right person to help you. Whether just starting out, expanding your production, or refining established programs, a simple click on this new interactive map of dairy food safety resources can help you to find people and organizations locally, regionally, and nationally who can assist you. The Map is part of an on-going partnership between the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, North American Ice Cream Association, International Dairy Foods Association, and food safety experts from universities across the country who created www.safeicecream.org as a onestop place for everything related to ice cream food safety.
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On this website you’ll find additional online food safety courses, workshops, templates, and tips. So be sure to bookmark www.safeicecream.org and keep coming back for more information and support to help you grow your business safely.
Tim Stubbs , Senior Vice President, Food Safety and Product Research
Have you checked out our online training resources? CLICK HERE TO SIGN IN AND GET STARTED
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Lessons Learned in the Frozen Dessert Industry This past Superbowl Sunday I was putting the finishing touches on my risotto when I got the call every new store owner dreads. “Three people have called off and we need you in the store.” It has been about fifteen years since I last worked a shift scooping or swirling frozen dessert products. Boy-oboy I was rusty. As we were battling a sixty person line with the few crew members who came in, I began to reflect back on the lessons I have learned throughout my time in the industry. I have been on the supplier side of our industry for the last ten years now. I have been in the service industry since I was 14 years old. and while I no longer am in the trenches scooping or swirling I do speak to about fifty store owners, chefs, and managers a week. Hopefully some of these lessons or thoughts will save you some time, talent, or treasure in your frozen dessert entrepreneurship. Some trends last and some do not. Choose wisely. Trends are cyclical. When I was coming up in the 90’s the adults thought it odd we rocked bell bottoms and tie dye; and now when I see kids rocking 1990s style I begin questioning my place on the planet. Or in our industry the yogourt boom of the late 1980s and then again in the early 2000’s. A sweet frozen dessert treat can be timeless. I encourage store owners to consider fads and trends in their specials and some of the flavorings but to be careful in what new
product line you adopt. Whether adding rolled ice cream or fancy monster shakes, it can be hard to know what is more than just a “TikTok moment” versus what has staying power and can help your bottom line. This is where an organization like our association can assist greatly. There is no shortage of opinions in our industry. Just make sure you take them all with a grain of salt. Just like your ice cream it will be better with that dash of salt. Drive Thru and To go matters, but how you prepare and hold these items is key I had a client recently who wanted to buy a Global (formerly Kelvinator) ULG50 double glass door merchandiser for his pints. This unit can go to -20F and has larger fans for more air flow. I asked him why he wanted such an expensive piece of equipment instead of just buying a normal -8 freezer from True and saving a few grand. The client’s answer was “I’ve tried the cheap way and now I want to do it right, my pints stay colder and have a better quality and shelf life.” In the world of portable and to go there are many options and innovations from pint filler doors, to novelties, and more. Being strategic on this topic will pay off in the end. Another recent customer recently opened a drive thru Mangonada concept using a soft serve machine. He paid for the soft serve machine in two months of sales. But this was not his first, second, or even 8th store.
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He had done his research and waited for the right moment and the right building. He knew he wanted a drive thru (most people will agree it can add an easy twenty percent in sales). but he waited for the right place and did not force it. Drive thrus are amazing but they can require a lot of red tape and extra planning. The advice I get time and again from multi unit operators is wait for the right spot and don’t force it. Food trucks are hard. Keep in mind the generator and combating overheating before you even begin design. Repeat after me. “Amps times volts equals your base watts' ' – excellent! You now know the most valuable piece of information for combining your equipment and the generator. Let’s pretend our machine is 220v and draws 30 amps. Because of locked rotor amps and start up amps it is important to multiply your base watts by three (some folks will say 2.5 will work) . So 220x30=6,600x3= 19,800. That means just for a single head soft serve machine or a smaller batch freezer you would need at least 20KW generator just for the machine alone. The lesson here is you either buy the biggest generator you can afford and then get the most machine you can that will match that power, or you buy a machine and then end up having to buy whatever generator it needs (which on a high volume machine that can quickly reach 35KW). Food trucks are hot and your machinery will most likely be air-cooled so they will be adding more heat. Thinking early on about machine placement, min split AC units, and ducting out the condenser heat or where the intake is on the machine. No matter what any manufacturer says, keeping your ambient temp below 85F is going to make everything on your equipment work smoother. From the compressor, to the
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condenser fans, to the contactors and relays. It can be done but you have to be thoughtful from the beginning on equipment placement. Many times food truck builders have never dealt with ice cream machines and the power and BTU’s they consume. Suppliers who are focused on the frozen dessert industry and always going to have more knowledge and depth of support than folks that sell a little bit of everything Another call I get regularly goes something like this “Hiya I bought this machine from Kevin’s Local Restaurant Supply Company. They said it was a soft serve machine but it actually is a frozen drink machine, what do I do?” or “My food rep says this is the best mix or flavor, but it's just not working well in my ice cream.” Many times suppliers who sell a little bit of everything be it equipment or supplies just do not understand the intricacies of this business or have the experience to save you money and time. Sometimes it pays to go with companies that specialize in your industry and have experience and connections to get you what you need. Your recipe maybe isn’t that really unique and most things have already been done before. Many times folks might overestimate how unique or special their product is. There is good, better, and great ice cream or frozen desserts out there with varying degrees of quality. But overall I think at certain points there are diminishing returns once you hit a level of quality. Scraping that vanilla bean in the back to make the perfect vanilla could be replaced with two hours of marketing and HR work that could make your business run more smoothly and get more customers in the door. Yes the Willy Wonka stuff is fun, but does it make you profitable?
No you cannot just “put in whatever power I need.” About once a day someone tells me that “it’s okay I’ll just have an electrician put in whatever power I need for x or y piece of equipment.” This isn’t the case and it can be a costly mistake. There are many pieces of equipment that require three phase 220v, and if you do not already have three phase service to your box it may be impossible or too expensive to put it in. Always have a certified electrician (that isn’t someone's cousin or uncle) confirm how many amps and what phase of 220V power you have. In many cases you may only have a 200amp panel and you can get rid of 100 amps rather quickly with even the basic equipment needed for a store. Also ask your electrician exactly what the volts are coming in at. 220v is just a name for voltage that usually comes in between 208-230v. If your power is lower or higher than that it may be worth getting a buck booster to make your volts meet that manufacturer's recommendation. Also buying a multimeter and learning how to use it is the first thing I would do as a store owner. Most customers who learn how to use a multimeter end up saving thousands in repair costs. Shipping companies and how to interact with them. At some point in your business career you are going to interact with LTL (less than truckload) shipping companies for equipment and possibly supplies. Here are some rules to live by: Film and photo everything especially when taking off equipment. The insurance process is hard enough with shipping companies. No, they are not going to take it into your store. They will put it at your door step if you are lucky. You are going to need to provide the muscle and tools to get it in. Plan ahead.
Maybe if you are lucky they will call ahead and tell you they are coming. Track your shipment with the Pro number(tracking number) and as you see it get close to your city google that shipping companies local terminal and ask for dispatch. Tell them you would like a call the day they are coming out to you. DO NOT sign that Bill of Lading immediately. If you see any damage make the driver wait and un-crate the equipment to ensure there is no damage. Call the person who sold you the equipment immediately. If the damage is just cosmetic I would mark on the BOL “accepted with damage here and here” Make the driver sign it and call in to dispatch to report the damage as well. Document everything you can and write on the back of the BOL if you have to. There could be internal damage that you do not see. Many times you only have a day or so to try and report that for an insurance claim. Get the machine plugged in asap and test it. If the machine is on its side or crushed I would reject it. Refrigeration equipment is fragile. Bangs and thuds from taking it off the pallet are the quickest way to cause a refrigerant leak. Protect your investment. Buy the equipment you will grow into. Taking the loan or financing for ten or more quarts is sometimes the better business decision. Running a business on a smaller model can be hard. Yes many folks do it, but the concept of starting small and then scaling up can sometimes cut you off at the knees from the jump and not set you up for success. Every week I get a call from folks saying they plan on starting with a 3-6 quart or liter machine, and then once they get going
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they'll buy the large piece. This has worked all over the industry. Many people have done it. It is still not the best way. You end up working at your business instead of on your business. Every hour you are in production is time your business could use you. If you are taking the leap into the business sometimes it makes the most sense to buy the machinery you will grow into. It allows you to scale up quickly, you can lower your labor cost, and most of all you will have time to focus on all the other aspects of your business that only you can do. Water cooled is always better but as water becomes more precious what can you do?
pay for themselves rather quickly. Like anything else it might not be something you do in year one or two, but by year three it would be a goal to add some type of reclamation system. Please feel free to reach out to talk (or argue) about any kind of equipment in the frozen dessert world. Hopefully you have something you can teach me that I can pass on, as we all are “ice cream people helping ice cream people.” Evan Waldt EmerymarkUSA Ice Cream Equipment Specialists
Water cooled machines are quieter, more efficient, use less electricity (both the machine and your AC bill) , and from an ecological standpoint can be greener as our society is good at reusing water and gray water better than much of the standard power in our grid. However there are municipalities who do not like all that water going down the drain and folks who just do not like wasting. While it is an added upfront cost the ROI on water circulation systems such as a water tower, or glycol chiller or condenser can usually
Conenect With Our New Mentorship Program We are looking for mentors for the Association mentor program. Please CLICK HERE to get eligibility details and sign up today!
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How to Incorporate UserGenerated Content into Your Brand’s Instagram Feed Target Market In 2022, social media marketing is important to any business. Social media has become an essential part of many marketing strategies, which is why knowing social media best practices for 2022 is so important . Multiple business practices and marketing strategies can be implemented online through social media platforms to grow profits. These platforms have ongoing trends and changes that help boost online presence such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. For this reason, digital marketing has become a core practice in the field of marketing. When using the best practices, any business can grow in the industry and attract traffic from potential target markets and customers. Here’s a look at social media best practices for 2022 that will help grow your business: Keys to Social Media Best Practices for 2022 Engaging Content First and foremost, the quality of your content is important. It is necessary to know what type of content engages most with your target market. This type of content varies based on each business. There are also content limitations depending on the platform you are using, which may dictate what your content creation and quality look like.
Facebook Content limitations are non-existent for Facebook, however, there are suggestions for what you should or should not post. Facebook is a great platform for all content creators. While longer formatted content is allowed, generally posts with 50 characters or less perform best and receive the most engagement. You should also always include an image or graphic on Facebook posts. If you are posting a video and want high engagement, it should be no longer than 2 minutes. Although 15-second videos get the most start-to-end views. When it comes to hashtags and tags, hashtags should not be used unless you are recognizing something like “#tiptuesday” that you want the follower to use. As for tags, it is always appropriate on all platforms to tag another brand when you are in partnerships or when sharing another brand’s content. Instagram While Instagram is in fact all about the visuals, social media best practices for 2022 include having effective captions and written content. They have a caption limit of 2,200 characters. While you can use the entire space, Instagram will only show the first three lines with the option to read more. You should make your first three lines really count or put the most important information first.
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For Instagram, the use of hashtags in your photo captions/comments/stories is one of the best ways to get new eyes and likes on the visuals. You can include up to 30 hashtags on your post, and up to 10 hashtags on your story. However, peak engagement of hashtags on your post is around 10-11. Hashtags should be included in the caption or added as the first comment to be the most effective.
Another aspect of social media best practices for 2022 is how often you post and when you post. The timing and frequency of your posts are important. There are preferred times for posting on each platform for the most engagement and views. Based on this information you can set goals of how frequently you want to post. You can then plan and organize what content you are posting and when.
Quality over quantity is important for your social media platforms, so make sure you choose a posting schedule that works for your business! Not every frequency recommendation is right for every business, that is where your marketing strategy comes in. Here is a quick guide to the ideal post frequencies for each platform.
Captions are more limited for Twitter, as the character limit is set at 280. For the most engagement, the ideal length of the caption should be 71-100 characters. When creating captions you should be including creative calls to action or CTAs, to drive engagement from your profile. If you are including a link with your call to action, you can use Bitly to shorten your links. Hashtags for Twitter should be 2 or less as any more will actually drop engagement. Pinterest You should be creating your own pins for Pinterest in order to direct traffic back to your website. To use social media best practices for 2022 on Pinterest, use keywords in the description that are relevant to the post when publishing the pins. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a preferred platform when sharing brand storytelling, business intro videos, BTS, infographics, updates, business events, meet the team, FAQs, and industry topics. LinkedIn statuses can be up to 700 characters long for company pages. The best length for engagement is around 100 characters. Frequent Content
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Facebook: It is recommended to post daily to Facebook. You should not post more than 2 times per day. The best times to post are between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Instagram: It is recommended to post visuals 2-3 times a week, no more than once post a day. However, stories can be more frequent. The best times to post are between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, or 11 a.m. Monday thru Friday. Twitter: It is recommended to post once or twice a day. If you have enough content you can post no more than 5 times a day. The best times to post are between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, or 9 a.m, thru 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Pinterest: It is recommended for Pinterest profiles to post at least once a week to your boards. To see the best engagement, you should post new pins daily. The best times to post are between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. or between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays seem to get the most traffic as people tend to use weekend free
time to plan projects which Pinterest is often used for.
LinkedIn: It is recommended to post on LinkedIn daily on weekdays. Weekends are not recommended as it is a platform for professionals. The best times to post are between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. thru 2. p.m.
Scheduling Tools Considering there are numerous social media platforms with different posting schedules, it can become difficult to keep track of posting at the preferred times and days. To alleviate the stress of juggling posting schedules for numerous platforms, you can use automated post scheduling tools. Here at Target Market, we use Sendible. With Sendible you can manage multiple profiles to keep a consistent schedule to grow your audience and reach your frequency goals!
Target Market
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MARKETING CALENDAR APRIL 2022 Daily Holiday
April Fools or All Fools Day: 1 National Fun Day: 1 International Children's Book Day: 2 National Hand Made Day:2 Find A Rainbow Day: 3 Tater Day ( It's Sweet Potatoes) : 4 Vitamin C Day: 4 Gold Star Spouses Day: 5 National Flash Drive Day: 5 Hostess Twinkie Day: 6 Metric System Day: 7 National Beer Day: 7 Link National Unicorn Day: 9 World Circus Day: 9 National Pet Day: 11 National Licorice Day: 12 Scrabble Day: 13 National Pecan Day: 14 Income Tax Pay Day: 15 Herbalist Day: 17 Nabisco Animal Cracker Day: 18 Pinata Day: 18 Bicycle Day: 19 Banana Day: 20 Kindergarten Day: 21 National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day: 21 National Pie Day: 21-23
Earth Day: 22 National Baseball Day: 22 National Jelly Bean Day: 22 National Dance Day: 23 .World Penguin Day: 25 National Pretzel Day: 26 Secretary's Day: 27 National Superhero Day: 28 Arbor Day: 29 Zipper Day: 29 National Bubble Tea Day: 30 National Raisin Day: 30
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MAY 2022 Daily Holidays
Batman Day: 1 U.S. Capitol Police Day: 2 National Teacher Day: 3 Intergalactic Star Wars Day: 4 World Give Day: 4 Dandelion Day: 6-7 Link No Diet Day: 6 Herb Day: 7 National Train Day: 7 Mother's Day: 8 Alphabet Magnet Day: 9 Hostess Cupcake Day: 10 National Nutty Fudge Day: 12 Frog Jumping Day: 13 Hummus Day: 13 National Chocolate Chip Day: 15 Straw Hat Day: 15 Link Mimosa Day: 16 I Love Reeses Day: 18 NASCAR Day: 20 World Bee Day: 20
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National Taffy Day: 23 World Turtle Day: 23 Cookie Monster's Birthday: 25 Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day: 26 National Alligator Day: 29 Hamburger Day: 30 Memorial Day: 30 Mint Julep Day: 30 National Smile Day: 31
A NOTE FOR OUR SUPPLIER MEMBERS
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DISPLAY ADVERTISING Hey there, Supplier Member. Hopefully by now you have seen quite a few changes in the way the association is improving member benefits and communicating with our members. Our main method of communication is still our monthly Bulletin published on the 10th of each month. Up until recently, The Bulletin has struggled to attract advertisers and we have been offering free ads to those supplier members who contributed an article.
THE GOOD NEWS IS..... We have recently put extra effort into increasing the effectiveness of the Bulletin with the following functions: Full Color Front Cover President and Executive Director Messages Monthly Food Safety Articles Marketing and Event Calendars More Links to articles and online content. This has led to high engagement through open rates and link clicks. With this higher engagement, we are having more inquiries by Supplier Members about advertising to our members again in the Bulletin. For this purpose, we are publishing The Bulletin Advertising rates for 2022.
Frequency rates are based on the total number of insertions used within a twelvemonth period. Space Reservations: 10th of month preceding publication Material Deadline: 15th of month preceding publication.
Please direct any questions to Steve Christensen, Executive Director at the below contact details. 636 778 1822 * Toll Free: 866-303-6960 E-Mail: info@icecreamassociation.org * Web: www.icecreamassociation.org
Association Officers 2022 President Dave Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI Vice President Charlie Wilcox, Marianne’s Ice Cream, Santa Cruz, CA Treasurer Kelly Larson, Sweet Temptations, Grand Haven, MI Secretary Rick Pizzi, Pizzi Farms, Waltham, MA
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Immediate Past President George Xouris, Andia's Ice Cream, Cary, NC Executive Director Steve Christensen, Wildwood, MO Terms Ending Annual Meeting 2022 Charlie Bomboy, Bomboy's Homemade Ice Cream, Havre De Grace, MD Dirk White, The Alaskan Creamery, Sitka, AK Kyle Cameron, Joy Cone Company, Wirtz, PA Rick Pizzi, Pizzi Farm Ice Cream, Waltham, MA Jill Curran, Kimball Farm, Inc., Westford, MA Terms Ending Annual Meeting 2023 Valerie Henrici, Yummies, Warsaw, NY Sue Kloter, Kloter Ice Cream Barn, Ellington, CT Donnie Montgomery, Homestead Creamery, Wirtz, VA Andy Jones, Lloyds of PA, Prince Frederick, MD 2020 SUPPLIER OFFICERS President Evan Waldt, Ice Cream Equipment Spec. Reno, NV Vice President Nichole Theriault, I.Rice & Company, Inc.. Philadelphia, PA Secretary/Treasurer Hank Sweeney, Classic Mix, LLC.. Neenah, WI Chairman Ben Keser, Joy Cone Co., Hermitage, PA COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Executive Committee David Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI
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Nominating Committee George Xouris, Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream, Morrisville, NC Convention Committee Dave Deadman, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Madison, WI Membership Committee Charlie Wilcox, Marianne’s Ice Cream, Santa Cruz, CA Ice Cream Clinic Committee Christine D’Amico, Over the Top, Pleasant Hill IA Scholarship Committee Sue Kloter, Kloter Ice Cream Barn, Ellington, CT NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY The Association is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in all of its endeavors. To that end, we shall not tolerate any words or acts of discrimination, harassment or any inappropriate behavior in general against any person affiliated with the association, including its members and guests, with regard to race, sex, color, creed, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.
This Bulletin is published by: The North American Ice Cream Association PO Box 601 Wildwood, MO 63040 This issue of The Bulletin is now available online at www.icecreamassociation.org. Click on the Members Only button and enter your Username and Password. If you cannot find your Username and Password, call the office at 866-3036960 or send an e-mail to info@theicecreamassociation.org requesting the information.