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GOING ORGANIC
In just the past 8 years, organic food sales have grown by 10.2[1] Billion Dollars! Unlike the fad of frozen yogurt, I believe organic products and all natural ice creams are a genuine trend in the frozen dessert industry. True, frozen yogurt produced in a batch freezer or a soft-serve machine hung around for a number of years, but it was ill fated due to its false promise of being a “healthy dessert for the diet conscious and really good for you.” Nothing could have been further from the truth! Emery Thompson Batch Freezers have the ability to produce any flavor, air content and consistency of organic and all natural ice creams that the store owner can dream up. What exactly does “organic” mean? For our purposes, organic fruits are those grown without pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or hormones. No genetic engineering going on here. The land the crops are grown on must also be certified free of these artificial ingredients for a specific number of years prior to harvesting a crop of “organics.” The net result of going all natural and certified organic is ice cream and sorbets that have a cleaner, fresher taste. It won’t be easy going organic. Emery Thompson is striving to be a leader in this movement, but organic fruits are in short supply and the prices are certainly on the high end of the scale. In the coming months and years I will work to bring you names and addresses of organic suppliers as they relate to our industry. Proof that “going organic” is a trend and not a fad… Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retail chain, is now offering organic fruits and vegetables in all its stores! HOW TO MARKET ORGANIC AND ALL NATURAL
Like I said, going organic (in the short run) won’t be easy. There are a few pockets of all organic ice cream parlors, mainly in northern California and Colorado. This trend will certainly spread. For now, I urge you to start down this healthy (and profitable) path in your own store. You can begin by offering an “organic special of the week.” That is one specific flavor made fresh daily. Serve it like Gelato – fresh from the Emery Thompson batch freezer. Serve it in a cup and promote adding toppings to the ice cream or sorbet. A $3.00 serving of ice cream can jump to $3.50 with the addition of just a couple of spoonfuls of granola. Use organic fruits added right into your ET batch freezer. Remember, fresh organic boysenberries are available somewhere in the world right now! Try to pick unique flavors that the customer can’t find every day and after the “organic special of the week” is over – take it off your menu. Nothing brings customers back like telling them they can’t get that flavor again till this time next year. Going organic costs more! Or how to turn a negative into a positive. Nothing can hurt an ice cream business more than having multiple rate structures. I once saw an ice cream parlor in the Florida Keys that didn’t make their own products. They were buying from two different suppliers. Some flavors cost $1.75 while others cost $2.10. Talk about confusion and ill will to the customer when you tell them their two scoop serving will cost them $3.85 instead of $3.50! With the “organic flavor of the week” we can charge a higher price and the customer won’t feel ill served. Note: this also works for higher cost liquor ice creams. “Viva la difference” Now that you are different from all your competitors, advertise your uniqueness! One of my more famous frozen custard customers in Wisconsin has a web site whose specific purpose is to advertise their “special of the week.” I’m told that their customers flock to the site every Sunday night to see what special concoction they are offering this week. I think that’s a great idea and it keeps your site current. Also, don’t forget the chalk board sign outside the store enticing customers to come on in and try your new organic sorbet, Gelato and ice cream. As this portion of our web site grows (and it most certainly will) please send me names of organic suppliers that you’ve found, flavors that you’ve tried in other stores and of course your own ideas for organic ice creams, sorbets and Gelatos. We’ll print your name and discovery right here. My personal E-mail address is etfreezers@aol.com.
Healthy eating,
Steve Thompson, President Emery Thompson Batch Freezers September 28, 2006 [1] 2006 Nutrition Business Journal
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