Author: Nanci's

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Online Order Form

Ordering just got easier! Nanci’s now has an online order form to help make it easier to place your orders. You can find it here: /nancis-order-form/

Our online form does not include a payment portal, so you will still provide your billing information directly to us.

Once you submit an order online, we’ll contact you to confirm the order. We’d appreciate any feedback on how we can improve this tool or provide other useful tools to make things easier for you.

You can still place orders by phone (1-800-788-0808) or by email (info@nancis.com).

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New Profit Calculator

We have relaunched our new and improved Frozen Yogurt Profit Calculator. You can access the Profit Calculator here: /resources/profit-calculator-2/.The results will now display immediately upon submission. You can also change your inputs and try multiple scenarios. Feel free to call us to discuss the profit model or to talk about how you can structure your business to be more profitable.

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Friday Fun: The Most Popular Brands by State

Branding is powerful! Every consumer-facing company fights to gain brand recognition and consumer mind-share. As a frozen yogurt store owner, you want people to think of your brand first when asked looking for frozen yogurt. Here is a fun article and map that shows the most famous brands for each of the 50 U.S. states.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/corporate-states-america-map-shows-each-states-most-famous-brand-150794

brand-map-hed-2013
Courtesy of steve-lovelace.com and AdWeek.com

 

 

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New “Just Add Water” Mixes

Many powder frozen yogurt mixes require milk and/or fresh yogurt in order to make a smooth, creamy frozen yogurt product. We feel that when you have to add milk, you lose many of the advantages of the powder — like cost savings and not needed to refrigerate the mix.

For the last 6 months we’ve been working create a just-add-water mix to rule them all. We had two goals in mind when we started this process: 1) eliminate the need for customers to add milk, and 2) create mixes that stay smooth and creamy even after several days in the machine.

We feel that we’ve achieved both our goals — while still keeping the same great taste our customers love!

We’ve made upgrades to the following products:

  • Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Base Mix
  • Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Base Mix
  • Plain Tart Frozen Yogurt Base Mix
  • Stevia Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Base Mix (no sugar added)
  • Stevia Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Base Mix (no sugar added)

Read below for more details on the “Just Add Water” Mix and our new High-Yield Stevia Mixes.

New “Just Add Water” Mix

The most exciting part about Nanci’s new mixes is that you only need to add water! The base mixes already include milk, yogurt powder, probiotics and all the ingredients needed to make creamy frozen yogurt.

We still recommend adding air into the mix using the machine’s air tubes. Click here to read more about adding air.

Many shops have previously been adding milk to the base mix. In our testing, adding milk to the new base mixes can actually make them too thick. Plus, just adding water will result in significant cost and operational savings. Most importantly, they taste every bit as good as our original mixes made with milk.

New High-Yield Stevia Mix

Our new Stevia-sweetened mixes, both Vanilla and Chocolate, are also now High-Yield mixes. So instead of using 2 gallons (8 quarts/7.5 liters), you should use 2.5 gallons (10 quarts/9.5 liters). The final yield per bag is 3 gallons of mix. You may also need to add an additional 1-2 ounces of flavoring with the higher yield.

If you don’t use the increased amount of water, you may find that the mix is too thick and won’t feed into your machine.

Also, for the Stevia Mixes be sure to only add water and not milk. This is important for the consistency and also to keep the total sugar count low. Milk has naturally occurring sugar that will increase the amount of sugar per serving.

The previous Stevia mixes had to be mixed with warm water, but the new mixes can be added to any temperature water and they will dissolve fine.

Cost Savings with New Mixes

By only needing water, our mixes can provide you a significant cost savings. Here is an example scenario for a typical store on the East Coast, USA.

Previous Base Mix (with half milk and half water)
Cost per Gallon of Mix: $9.80
Cost per Ounce: $0.068

New Just Add Water Base Mix
Cost per Gallon of Mix: $8.40
Cost per Ounce: $0.058

For the Stevia Mixes there are even greater savings. Here is another example comparing the previous Stevia Vanilla and the new Stevia Vanilla (both made with water):

Previous Stevia Vanilla
Cost per Gallon of Mix: $9.20
Cost per Ounce: $0.064

New High-Yield Stevia Vanilla
Cost per Gallon of Mix: $7.67
Cost per Ounce$0.051

For questions about our new mixes email us at info@nancis.com or call 1-800-788-0808.

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Great article about Just Salad, a loyal Nanci’s customer

Check out this great article about Just Salad that was printed in Food & Drink Magazine:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/phoenix/fd_2013spring/index.php#/122

Just Salad is a fun, quick service concept around the Manhattan area with healthy and natural food choices. They’ve been a Nanci’s customer since 2007, serving our Original Plain Tart Frozen Yogurt.

JustSaladLogo

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Shipping Blankets to Hurricane Sandy Victims

The team at Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt helped ship hundreds of blankets, beanies, and scarves to families affected by Hurricane Sandy in New York.

 

In the Spirit of MLK Day – the National Day of Service – we’d like to let you know about a fun project the team at Nanci’s was able to help with.

For the last several months, Steve and Liz Porter have been making and collecting quilts, beanies, and scarves for victims of Hurricane Sandy in Broad Channel, NY.

Broad Channel is a small neighborhood in the borough of Queens and is often referred to as the “Venice” of New York. Because the neighborhood is surrounded by water, it sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Sandy. Even weeks after the terrible storm, the residents are still trying to put their lives back together.

Through incredible grassroots efforts, the Porters have had people all over the nation pitch in to make 1000 blankets and 680 beanies and scarves. A few weeks ago, the Porters had the blankets all ready to go but no way to get them from Mesa, AZ to New York. The team at Nanci’s was happy to donate the shipping! We palletized the boxes and sent them on their way to the families in Broad Channel.

We had several customers with frozen yogurt shops and restaurants who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Throughout the storm and after, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them as they rebuild their lives.

Thanks to the Porters for their great work and for letting us be a part of it. You can read more on Liz Porters blog at: http://e3liz.blogspot.com/ or on the Broach Channel Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Broad-Channel-Rebuilds/394751640601237?fref=ts

Every little bit of help of service that we can do matters!

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Mother Teresa

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November Flavor Deals

Flavor Deal of the Month One of the things that makes Nanci’s unique is our wide variety of flavors. We have more than 100 flavors and 250 possible flavor combinations…have you tried them all?

For the rest of November you can get 25% off any of these three great flavors:
  • Concord Grape
  • Toasted Coconut
  • Gingerbread

Available in Gallon or Half Gallon sizes. While supplies last.

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The Secret Ingredient for Amazing Frozen Yogurt

Close your office door and make sure no one is listening because I’m about to share with you the secret to making amazing frozen yogurt…ready…here it is…AIR. That’s right – one of the key components of smooth and creamy frozen yogurt is to have air or overrun in the product. If the product comes out icy and dense that means there isn’t enough air in the mix. This is especially important with natural frozen yogurt mixes.

All frozen yogurt machines have a hopper and freezing cylinder. The hopper is where you pour the mix, and the freezing cylinder is the horizontal empty cylinder behind the handles where the mix is frozen and the air is whipped into it. Inside the freezing cylinder there should be at least 30-40% air. This gives room for the product to expand and create a nice, creamy consistency.

Getting air into the product will depend on the type of soft-serve machine you have. Here is a quick breakdown. For more detailed instructions and help contact us at 1-800-788-0808 or info@nancis.com. You can also visit our Training Page for a howto video on adding air into the product.

Pressurized or Pump Soft-Serve Machine

These machines pump the product into the freezing cylinder with the exact amount of air you want – up to 100% air. Pump machines allow for you to set the precise amount of air. Consult the operators manual for your machine to find out how to adjust these settings.

Gravity Soft-Serve Machines

With gravity machines, the mix is poured into a hopper on the top of the machine and gravity pulls the mix into the freezing cylinder. On a gravity machines you need to manually set the air, for a maximum of 45% air.

One very important piece on the machine is the carburetor tube or air tube. The carburetor tube is a skinny tube – usually stainless steel – that you insert into the intake hole in the bottom of the hopper. Once inserted, the top of the tube sticks up out of the product allowing air to get down into the product. All carburetor tubes have some way to shut off the product intake – either by flipping the tube over or by closing off the intake hole using a sleeve that fits around the tube.

Here are the 6 steps:

  1. Pour the frozen yogurt mix into the hopper without the carburetor tube and wait for the bubbling from the intake hole to stop. The freezing cylinder is now full.
  2. Insert the carburetor tube to stop the product from flowing into the freezing cylinder.
  3. Turn on the soft-serve machine and wait for it to freeze down and shut off.
  4. Keeping the intake closed, dispense 8-10 ounces of frozen yogurt into a clean cup. This product can be put back into the hopper.
  5. Wait for the machine to cycle off then open the air intake either by flipping the tube around or sliding the sleeve on the tube.
  6. The overrun is now set and the product should come out smooth and creamy. As long as you leave the air tube in place it will stay this way.
Another important factor in dispensing a great product is the temperature on the frozen yogurt coming out of the machine. Nanci’s mixes are best served at 17 degrees F.

If you have any questions, please contact us.