Desert "Cool" Foods, Inc.

The absolute leader in the soft serve, smoothie, and shake frozen dessert business!

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Can you explain to me why I get a soft serve mix headache when I enjoy a soft serve mix cone?

I would be happy to give you information on this topic. When enjoying a soft serve mix cone, if you consume the product too fast and a large amount of soft serve mix contacts the palate quickly during consumption, one can experience what is referred to as an ice cream headache or brain freeze.

There are different opinions in the medical community as to why. Many agree it is generally related to the constriction of blood vessels passing close to the surface of the palate on their way to the brain.

So, enjoy our FreezePoint® premium soft serve mix by eating it slowly and savoring the excellent flavor, taste and texture!

Can I use FreezePoint® Gourmet to blend frozen coffee drinks in my blender?

The answer is YES! And the good news is you can save A LOT OF MONEY!

If you can meet our minimum as a manufacturer, we can save you over $3.00-$4.00 per pound on mix. If you look on the internet you will find blended mocha mix for $18.99 for a 3.5-pound bag. The equivalent of FreezePoint® Gourmet Vanilla Base would be $7.28 for a 3.5-pound bag. You will also find on the internet a case of blended mocha mix for $110.95 for 17.5-pound case. The equivalent of FreezePoint® Gourmet Vanilla Base would be $36.40 for 17.5-pound case.

FreezePoint® Gourmet Vanilla Base comes packed 12×3 pounds per case. All you have to do is use our mix as a base and add your own coffee into the blender. We can provide you with an easy recipe.

Do you think it is worth saving $3.00-$4.00 per pound and use your own coffee?

Let’s do some math. If you use 10 pounds of mix per day, 360 days per year (hopefully you take major holidays off), your savings would be $30.00 to $40.00 dollars per day or $10,800 to $14,400 per year. Minus the cost of your own coffee.

I’ll let you do the math from here!! FreezePoint® Gourmet.

I recently had a soft serve mix cone at a salad bar from a major food chain. The product was terrible. It had no flavor, it had ice crystals and was flat-out awful!!! I asked the manager what the soft serve mix product was and why it was icy and without flavor. I was told it was a product from a major food service distributor and it was a powder soft serve mix. They would not tell me the brand. Your company sells powder mix — is it any good?

I’m happy to address your question.  I have been in this industry for 37 years.  I have been around many soft serve mix products.  Let’s say I have seen some exceptional products and some products that are manufactured as inexpensively as possible for maximum profitability.  I recently tasted a major brand in a salad bar chain, too. I did a blind taste test and could not tell the difference between the vanilla and chocolate.

It sounds to me that what you could have experienced was a soft serve mix product that had a minimum amount of artificial flavor and color (which is used to make the product look rich) and a minimum amount of creamer (to give the product some texture and mouthfeel).  It is my opinion that major foodservice companies (and you can see these brands pop up on the web — just search soft serve mix) use the minimum amount of ingredients to function as soft serve with intent for maximum profitability.  Many major foodservice companies have significant expenses to get their product to market. These companies work through brokers and usually have to pay a 5% commission for their service. Also, major foodservice distributors request money for “marketing programs” and companies can be paying the local distributor 2-5% income of the cost of the product, the distributor’s corporate office can be paid an additional fee 2-5%. These are estimates and could be lower or higher but, in my experience, these are typical. The chain account business is extremely competitive so a manufacturer sells at a significant discount off list price. So the net effect is a major brand can have up to 15% or greater margin right off their list price before they negotiate a price for the chain account.

With that said, DCFI manufactures powder add water mixes with natural flavor, no artificial color and exceptional creamers — for excellent mouthfeel and a pleasant soft serve experience.  FreezePoint® Gourmet soft serve mix recently won an award for the quality of our soft serve mix product.  Great flavor, exceptional texture and mouthfeel means you will know what flavor you are eating.

Our tag line is Taste the Flavor™.  Desert “Cool” Foods, Inc. was started 20 years ago with the goal of providing exceptional soft serve mix products to our customers so they can build their business with repeat customers.  I grew up eating soft serve mix as a kid in NYC and NJ.  Every cone was a pure joy!  We manufacture our soft serve mix so kids and adults can have the same experience.

We encourage you to ask your favorite shop to stock FreezePoint® Gourmet for soft serve mix, shakes or smoothies.

Soft serve should be fun and flavorful — not a cheap imitation with maximum profitability as the main goal and paying significant dollars to distributors to get your product to market.

Desert “Cool” Foods, Inc. will sell direct to shop owners in the United States who can meet minimum requirements. That means for a store owner who works long hours, there will be more profitability for their business — and customers who will come back again and again!

 

Taste The Flavor!™

Soft Serve Mix At It’s Best™

FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix!!!

I am looking for a vegan soft serve mix. Can you inform me what I might expect if I were to implement a vegan soft serve into our business?

I would be happy to address your question. As a former shop owner myself, the first consideration is how many machines do you have and how many flavors/products of soft serve can you offer?

When I was running a soft serve dessert yogurt shop, we received all types of requests for different products and different flavors. Some customers wanted a low carb product, one or two customers would want a banana yogurt. “When are you going to run the strawberry cheesecake?” “I need a no sugar added product, what date will you be running it?”

The absolute bottom line that every shop owner has to determine is how many machines do I have and what are the high volume products and flavors that will sustain my business and keep us profitable?

Selling two servings of banana frozen yogurt a week does not justify running the product, in my experience.

It is my experience that you will never be able to please every customer that walks in the door based on their flavor preference, product preference and dietary needs.

You need to determine who the customer base is that you are serving that will continuously come to your shop to enjoy the products you’re serving and be repeat customers.

So, my recommendation is to use your machines wisely to meet the demands of the volume business that you want to obtain.

If you want to try and meet the needs of a customer that does not justify using one of your machines, you can always offer a blender smoothie with their desired request. There still might be some restrictions on this depending on how many requests you receive and what the minimum amount of product is that you need to purchase from your supplier.

So, back to your original question: If you have a customer base that is large enough to justify using a machine to run a vegan soft serve mix, implementing this product could make great business sense. To assist in your decision-making process, you might want to offer a sign-up sheet in your shop for 2-4 weeks to collect names of those customers who would purchase a vegan soft serve.

I hope this gives you some insight into the product selection for your business.

Best to you and your business,

Walter

Can you explain the difference between hard pack ice cream and soft serve?

Ice cream: The FDA requires ice cream to contain at least 10 percent milk fat, and less than 1.4 percent egg yolk solids (more eggs create frozen custard). All frozen dairy desserts have air whipped into them, but the FDA says ice cream must weigh a minimum of 4.5 pounds per gallon — which would be close to 50% air in the product called overrun.  Premium ice cream usually has less air which adds to the mouth feel and richness of the product and eating experience.

Soft serve: Soft serve generally contains 3 to 6 percent fat.  Most soft serve runs at 35% air (overrun) which helps to fluff the product.  This amount of overrun would come from a gravity machine where the product loads into the top of the machine called the hopper.  There are pump machines which load product from the bottom and can pump higher amounts of air (overrun 60-70%).

A soft serve cone with 4 oz of actual product would look like a 5.4 oz cone by volume at 35% air/overrun.  That same cone at 70% air/overrun would look like a 6.8 oz cone.

Conclusion: Bigger is not better, you are just eating more air depending on the operator’s equipment and the setting of air/overrun.

After 35 years in the business, I think 35% is the best setting on a soft serve cone.

Why Should I use FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix?

I’m happy to give you several great reasons. Read on…!

FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix

When it comes to selecting a soft serve mix, customers tell us that FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix out performs all powder add water mixes on the market today. FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix has also outperformed many liquid ready-to-use products in taste testing and product cuttings with the end results being business “Awarded” to Desert “Cool” Foods Inc.

FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix Features

  • FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix provides excellent mouth feel with a creamy texture that can’t be beat.
  • FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix delivers superior flavor over cheap competitors. We challenge you to this test: Taste a competitive powder mix without looking at the product? Try and tell what flavor it is. Do you taste any flavor? Now do a taste test of FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix and see what you think!
  • FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix has an excellent melt point when run at the proper temperature.
  • FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix adds less than 3 cents to the cost of a 4-ounce cone over cheap brands.  If you want your customers to come back, serve FreezePoint® Gourmet Soft Serve Mix.

Can you help me with the concept of food cost? I’m opening a shop and want to make sure I’m profitable in what I’m doing.

Sure.  I’m happy to assist you.

One of the great things about being in the soft serve business is that it has a low food cost and high profit margin.

We do not recommend buying the cheapest soft serve mix on the market because the overall food cost difference between a low-end product and one of quality is not that great.

For general purposes, let’s say you are paying $5 a gallon for your soft serve mix. We always calculate product by weight. Some companies will play with their overrun numbers from the machine to make their product look less expensive than it actually is per ounce. You cannot misrepresent cost when you use weight calculations. So we’ll go with 144 weight ounces in a gallon which is the industry standard.

$5 per gallon / 144 weight oz. equals 3.5 cents per weight ounce.  So a 4 oz. cone would cost you $0.14 to serve minus the cost of your cup, spoon, cone or napkin.

If you have a gravity machine with a typical 35% over run, your 4 oz. cone by weight will have the appearance of 5.4 oz. of volume on the cone.

If you sell that cone for a $1.50, you then set up a fraction. Your product cost is $0.14 and your sell price is a $1.50 – so, $0.14/$1.50=$0.09.  Therefore, the food cost on your product is 9%.  Which means you make $0.91 on every dollar you sell as profit, or a $1.37 profit on that serving –  .91 x $1.50 = $1.37.

Remember – you have to add in the cost of your cone, cup, etc.

There you have it: that’s the basic concept of food cost. As a general guideline, you’d like to keep your overall food cost below 30% on any item you sell. So, you can see, the soft serve business is very profitable as an item to sell in your store.

Can you give me some general info about heat treatment soft serve machines?

You bet. Here is some general information about the topic. You should always consult your equipment manual for operational procedures.

Heat treatment soft serve machines provide a daily heating and cooling cycle to safely maintain product for an extended time period without breaking the equipment down and cleaning. Consult your equipment manual for recommended time periods for equipment cleaning.

In the HEAT cycle, the mix temperature in the hopper and freezing cylinder must be raised to 151°F (66.1°C) within 90 minutes. When the heating phase is complete, the freezer goes into the holding phase of the cycle. The holding phase will keep the temperature above 151°F (66.1°C) for a minimum of 35 minutes. The final phase of the heat treatment cycle is the cooling phase. The freezer must cool the mix below 41°F (5°C) within 90 minutes.

What makes Desert “Cool” Foods, Inc. (DCFI) different from other companies and, specifically, other powder add water companies?

Excellent question!

  • DCFI is a family-owned and operated business. As President & CEO, I have 35 years of experience in this industry. I have worked on every level from a store operator at the counter to CEO and everything in between. I will personally address any concerns you have about the success of your business.
  • All we do are specialty frozen desserts and beverages. If you look at other powder-add water frozen dessert competitors, the two largest have entire lines of products unrelated to your core business., i.e., your income. We specialize in your business, frozen desserts and beverages. Put your trust in a specialist!
  • Let’s talk about doing business the old fashion way. Major food service companies will set up multiple broad line distributors in most markets to compete with you along with other specialty distributors. This is a common business practice. Where does that put you as a specialty distributor or an entrepreneur trying to build your business? When DCFI sets up a distributor in a market, you are our representation. All business opportunities are given to you as a first opportunity. See how that works for you with most other companies!
  • As CEO, I assess the value of our company by the satisfaction level of our customers. We do not base the valuation of our company on our stock price or a dividend being paid.
  • Many of our customers have been through the corporate maze when purchasing products. DCFI’s strength is in our excellent product/price value and our speed and agility that we serve our customers. Most production plants are run on a cement-like 30-day schedule. DCFI has been known to have a production change in mid shift to accommodate a customer in distress.
  • Lastly, if you have a concern on how you can run a better business using our product line, contact me directly and we can set an appointment to address your concern at a no charge consultation with an expert of 35+ years.

Be cool this summer – Desert “Cool”!