(Written on Mike's behalf by Amber, AKA wifey-poo.)
Mike's been working his little tail off and has made some great progress with wholesale. We're really hoping to build our wholesale orders to keep us strong on rainy days and over snowy winters. We've already lined up Bhan Thai - who was already serving Glacier, but now will be our account so they don't have to drive to Boulder anymore. Our second was Patsy's, who has a gelato case in their candy store on 21st street. And Mike just lined up a third that I'm very excited about.
Garden of the Gods Gourmet will now be serving pints of our ice cream in their take-out freezers. They put in their first order today of key lime, tiramisu, vanilla, and coffee. Garden of the Gods Gourmet is a great catering place in Old Colorado City. Mike and I fell in love with it because of their incredible samples and hospitality. We've often made a lunch of their cheese stuffed focaccia or curry chicken salad. And for treats like anniversary or Valentine's dinners, Mike will often treat me with a Garden of the Gods Gourmet spread.
But by far my favorite is their desserts - pear bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce, peach cobbler, tiramisu...Need I say more? And now if you buy one of their desserts or dinner entrees, you can accompany it with a pint of gelato or ice cream. Great job getting the gig, Mike!
Today Mike was on his way to Mr. Biggs, a local entertainment center (bowling alley, laser tag, birthday parties, etc.) to talk to them about using our ice cream. But first he stopped at the bank. He gets to talking to the man in line in front of him, and who should it be but the man who organizes birthday parties for Mr. Biggs! Mike asked him if he'd be interested in serving a birthday cake ice cream, and he was very interested. They traded cards and will be talking soon. Pretty cool, huh?
So three weeks in and three wholesale accounts down. I'm excited to see what the fourth will be!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
2 weeks and going strong
Hello everyone! I've been so busy running the store I've hardly had time to breathe. We launched successfully on July 1st. We've had various equipment malfunctions and other hiccups that we had to iron out, but everything is coming together and it's all settling down into a nice rhythm.
We had the biggest opening ever for a Glacier store, according to Mark, Glacier's founder. And the biggest opening week ever. Our numbers have been exceptionally good, and word is starting to get around town that there's an amazing new ice cream store in town you just have to try. I've seen tons of repeat customers just in these first couple weeks.
We're just doing some of our first promotions, tomorrow we're partnering with a clothing store in our center that is doing a radio event, and we've got some more events coming up. Everyone who's tried our ice cream has been blown away.
We've also done some of our first wholesale sales. A tub or two for a golf tournament (also a promotional event). A number of tubs for a restaurant. There's another major customer in the works, we just have to prove ourselves in a tasting, but I'm confident about the result. We just had the people from Patsy's Candies over today (they have a gelato case in their store), and they were completely blown away by our gelato. They said yes right on the spot. We're knocking socks off left and right.
Our employees are doing a great job and I've had lots of good feedback from customers about them. I'm very happy with who we hired. And we're cranking out the ice cream. Good thing, too, because our customers are devouring it. We're already making as much as an average ice cream store, and we're just starting to build our reputation.
It's been a great beginning. Here's to Glacier, the future #1 ice cream store of the Pikes Peak region!
p.s. On a side note, we're getting our take-out freezer stocked with pints; we made our first batch of cakes; our coffee is delicious and people would no doubt appreciate it even more if they could take their eyes off our gelato for a moment; and we've started stocking some of our side items like candy, tea and coffee to brew at home, and baked goods from the Dutch bakery.
We had the biggest opening ever for a Glacier store, according to Mark, Glacier's founder. And the biggest opening week ever. Our numbers have been exceptionally good, and word is starting to get around town that there's an amazing new ice cream store in town you just have to try. I've seen tons of repeat customers just in these first couple weeks.
We're just doing some of our first promotions, tomorrow we're partnering with a clothing store in our center that is doing a radio event, and we've got some more events coming up. Everyone who's tried our ice cream has been blown away.
We've also done some of our first wholesale sales. A tub or two for a golf tournament (also a promotional event). A number of tubs for a restaurant. There's another major customer in the works, we just have to prove ourselves in a tasting, but I'm confident about the result. We just had the people from Patsy's Candies over today (they have a gelato case in their store), and they were completely blown away by our gelato. They said yes right on the spot. We're knocking socks off left and right.
Our employees are doing a great job and I've had lots of good feedback from customers about them. I'm very happy with who we hired. And we're cranking out the ice cream. Good thing, too, because our customers are devouring it. We're already making as much as an average ice cream store, and we're just starting to build our reputation.
It's been a great beginning. Here's to Glacier, the future #1 ice cream store of the Pikes Peak region!
p.s. On a side note, we're getting our take-out freezer stocked with pints; we made our first batch of cakes; our coffee is delicious and people would no doubt appreciate it even more if they could take their eyes off our gelato for a moment; and we've started stocking some of our side items like candy, tea and coffee to brew at home, and baked goods from the Dutch bakery.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Our Soft Open
Today was it! Our "soft" opening, which turned out to not be very soft at all. We hadn't advertised/marketed that we were open today other than the banner over our store. But it was packed in here all day. We talked to Mark in Boulder, who said our sales on opening day were the best in Glacier history.
We did face a number of challenges along the way - the point of sale systems weren't working for the first two hours we were open. Mike used this as an opportunity to win over new customers by giving away free ice cream cones until the system was up and working.
We had various other equipment glitches, but the staff handled them well, and hopefully the customers still had a great experience.
Because the first day was so huge, we burned through far more gelato than we had planned. So now we're up late making gelato! Good night!
We did face a number of challenges along the way - the point of sale systems weren't working for the first two hours we were open. Mike used this as an opportunity to win over new customers by giving away free ice cream cones until the system was up and working.
We had various other equipment glitches, but the staff handled them well, and hopefully the customers still had a great experience.
Because the first day was so huge, we burned through far more gelato than we had planned. So now we're up late making gelato! Good night!
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