Tag: frozen yogurt mix

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The Rise of FroYo and the Decline of Ice Cream

Check out this video and article on Yahoo! Finance about the decline of ice cream and the rise of frozen yogurt.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/decline-american-treat-140930869.html

Here are a few highlights:

  • The number of frozen yogurt shops increased by 24% between 2011 to 2012, while the number of ice cream shops declined.
  • Ice cream sales are on track to hit their lowest levels since the mid 1990s.
  • Consumers are leaving ice cream because of health reasons and because it hasn’t kept up with the more innovate and fun vibe of frozen yogurt.

 

 

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Frozen Yogurt Toppings

Toppings are a critical part of frozen yogurt shop operations. They play a big role in customer satisfaction, but if not managed closely you an actually lose money on your toppings. You should try to be below 30 cents per ounce on your average toppings cost. If you can get down towards 23-25 cents per ounce you are doing great.

Be careful of expensive toppings that are very light, like whipped cream. Here are a couple of tricks to manage the more expensive toppings.:

  1. Put the most expensive toppings the farthest away from the last soft-serve machine so customers fill their cup on the less expensive toppings.
  2. Put the most expensive toppings at the back of the toppings bar so they are a little harder to reach.
  3. Use smaller serving spoons for the more expensive toppings.

Also, with fresh toppings, such as fruits, you should rotate the toppings to ensure that you always have fresh product in the toppings bar. If you have any problem with fruit flies contact us to purchase Fruit Fly Strips that will take care of the problem.

Here are suggested list of toppings. You can find recommendations for toppings supplies on our Equipment & Supplies page.

Dry Toppings

  • almonds
  • butterfinger
  • cap’n crunch
  • carob chips
  • cocoa pebbles
  • coconut flakes
  • fruity pebbles
  • graham cracker crumbs
  • gummi bears
  • heath toffee
  • jelly bellies
  • kit kat
  • m&m’s
  • peanut m&m’s
  • mini caramel cups
  • chocolate chips
  • mini peanut butter cups
  • nestlé crunch
  • non-fat granola
  • old fashioned granola
  • oreo cookies
  • peanuts
  • pecans
  • peanut butter chips
  • reese’s peanut butter cups
  • snow caps
  • chocolate sprinkles
  • rainbow sprinkles
  • thin mint cookies
  • twix
  • walnuts
  • yogurt chips

Fresh Toppings

  • strawberries
  • raspberries
  • blackberries
  • blueberries
  • peaches
  • mangos
  • kiwi
  • pineapple
  • bananas
  • cinnamon apples
  • mochi
  • cookie dough
  • fudge brownies
  • fat-free brownies
  • cheesecake bits

Hot Toppings

  • hot fudge
  • caramel sauce
  • non fat / no sugar-added fudge

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Frozen Yogurt Recipe Ideas

We have some great flavor recipes/combinations that will keep your customers coming back time and time again. We all have our “go to” best selling flavors that we don’t want to change, but you never know when a bold and unique new flavor idea could become your signature product. The beauty of Nanci’s mixes is you can keep it very easy and simple or you can make artisan products with your own creativity.

The key to these recipes is the using the “Blender Method” described below.

Blender Method

  1. Prepare the base mix as normal in a large bucket.FOOD PEANUTBUTTER 2 KC
  2. Fill a blender half way with prepared base mix.
  3. Add the extra additive (fresh peanut butter, Nutella or fruit) into the blender and blend throughly. There shouldn’t be any large particles.
  4. Stir the concentrated base mix from the blender back into the rest of the base mix in the bucket.
  5. Take a quick taste to make sure its the right strength and then pour into your soft-serve machine.

Recipe suggestions:

 

Peanut Butter using REAL peanut butter and Nanci’s peanut butter flavor concentrate

  • Use Nanci’s vanilla base mix.
  • Add 5 oz of Nanci’s Peanut Butter flavoring and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of real peanut butter using the Blender Method.Nutella

Nutella

  • Use Nanci’s vanilla base mix.
  • Add one large container (26.5 oz) of Nutella using the Blender Method.
  • You can also make Peanut Butter Nutella by adding 1/4 cup of peanut butter with the Nutella.

Fresh fruit

  • Use Nanci’s plain tart base, premium tart base, or vanilla base mix.
  • Add about 1 1/2 cups of fresh fruit using the Blender Method.
  • Be sure to blend throughly to avoid any large particles. You may want to strain the mix for seeds.

Peanut Butter Cupstrawberies

  • Use Nanci’s vanilla base mix.
  • Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of real peanut butter using the Blender Method.

With all these recipes, stir the hopper regularly. After serving the flavor, be sure to clean the machines throughly to remove any seeds or particles.

New flavor combination ideas:

– Peanut Butter & Jelly (combine 1/2 peanut butter flavoring and 1/2 strawberry or raspberry flavoring)
– Snickers (combine salted caramel and peanut butter in either the vanilla or chocolate base)
– Coconut Taro (combine 2/3 taro and 1/3 coconut)

Try it for yourself and let us know how it goes!

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Daily Opening Procedures

Every frozen yogurt operator asks how they can make fantastic and consistent frozen yogurt. They want their product to come out of the machine with the same creamy, smooth texture every day. The key to achieving this is doing two daily procedures every morning before opening.

Prime the MachineYogurtInCup

Priming the machine refreshes the product in the freezing cylinder and hopper. Here are the steps:

  1. With the machine on Standby (or Overnight) Mode, remove the air tube (carburetor tube) from the hopper.
  2. Stir the mix in the hopper with a small whisk.
  3. Dispense 1-2 quarts of liquid mix from the machine (by pulling the handle on the front).
  4. Pour the mix back into the hopper and stir with a whisk.

The machine is now primed and ready to have the air set.

Set the Air

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 35% air.

One very important piece on the machine is the carburetor tube or air tube. The air 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 air 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 steps to set the air:

  1. After you’ve primed the machine, insert the air tube with the feed hole at the top of the tube (sticking out of the mix) to stop the product from flowing into the freezing cylinder.
  2. Keeping the intake closed, dispense 8-10 ounces of frozen yogurt into a clean cup. This product can be put back into the hopper.
  3. Turn on the soft-serve machine and wait for it to freeze down and for the motor turn off.
  4. Once the motor turns off and the product is frozen, open the air intake either by flipping the air tube around so the feed hole is now at the bottom (submerged in the mix) or sliding the sleeve on the tube (depending on your style of air tube).
  5. 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. You can repeat this process as needed.
Another important factor in dispensing a great product is the temperature of the frozen yogurt coming out of the machine. Nanci’s regular mixes are best served at 17 degrees F, and the stevia and non-dairy mixes are best served at 24-25 degrees F.
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Review of Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt

Check out this review of our frozen yogurt mixes by The Frozen Yogurt Review website. This is a neutral third party that wrote this review — we have no affiliation or connection to them.

You can read the full review on their website at: http://www.thefrozenyogurtreview.com/2014/03/12/review-nancis-frozen-yogurt-mix/

Review of Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt by TheFrozenYogurtReview.com

“Whenever I go into a frozen yogurt store I am curious to see what type of frozen yogurt mix they use.  Last month I had a delicious mix of chocolate and low fat vanilla. The yogurt tasted perfect! It was creamy, cold, and had a delicious clean and rich flavor.  It was not too sweet and it also did not leave a poor aftertaste. I asked the cashier what product they used and she told me Nanci’s. This young lady was very helpful and gave me a little bit of background on Nanci’s frozen yogurt mix. She shared that the customers have always complimented on the stores flavors and that she has not heard of any of their customers being unhappy with the frozen yogurt product.

“I believed it. My cup of fro-yo was delicious. The chocolate was dreamy and the vanilla was velvety! I wanted to share my experience with you guys because the one thing that left me shocked is that Nanci’s frozen yogurt is a dry powder mix!! Dry powder mix? Yes it is a powder base and all you need to do is add water!!! I thought this was amazing that a powder base mix could taste so creamy, milky, and fluffy!

“After talking to the store employees about the frozen yogurt mix they used I went home and did a little research and contacted Nanci’s. I emailed the owner and he got back to me right away which showed me professionalism and dedication to his company. He was more than happy to give me information on his frozen yogurt mix so that I could share it with The Frozen Yogurt Review readers.”

 

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Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt Announces PowerPro Active Cultures

Phoenix, Ariz. — Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt announced its new line of branded probiotic frozen yogurt mix with PowerPro Active Cultures. As an industry leader in providing shelf-stable, powder frozen yogurt mixes, Nanci’s has set a new standard for premium frozen yogurt, with superior taste, texture, flavor, and health benefits.

PowerPro Active Cultures uses micro-encapsulated probiotics, which keep the cultures active and protected in the dry form and in extreme heat. Unlike most probiotics that die at room temperature, PowerPro Active Cultures can be stored at room temperature for more than a year and still deliver the powerful probiotic benefits to frozen yogurt consumers.

Studies have shown that PowerPro Active Cultures deliver more live cells than other probiotic cultures on the market. PowerPro Active Cultures has a higher survival rate through the body’s intestines compared to most other live yogurt cultures.

“Our goal is to provide frozen yogurt store operators with products that are easy to use, taste great, and delivery real health benefits,” said Nanci’s CEO John Wudel. “PowerPro Active Cultures is a critical piece in achieving that goal. As an example, the intestinal tract contains 70% of the body’s immune system, which is why probiotics like PowerPro Active Cultures are so important for good health.”

About Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt

Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt is a manufacturer and international wholesaler of soft-serve mixes including Frozen Yogurt, Fruit Freezer Sorbet, Non-Dairy Soft Serve, No Sugar Added mixes, Smoothie base mix, Granita mixes and more than 100 flavors. Based in the western United States, the family owned company has been in business since 1979, when the first line of healthy dessert products entered the market. For more information, please visit /

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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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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.