Today, inde­pen­dent cof­fee shops and cafés face more com­pe­ti­tion then ever. Specialty cof­fee shop growth has exploded world­wide and large chains con­tinue to grow. With mount­ing pres­sure from all sides, cafés and cof­fee shops must find inno­v­a­tive ways to stand out from the crowd, while still man­ag­ing to make a profit. Some busi­ness own­ers have achieved this feat through the inclu­sion of frozen bev­er­ages on their menu, and there are many com­pelling rea­sons why other café and cof­fee shop own­ers should fol­low suit. In fact, accord­ing to Jane Peart Brand Director of Torani, “Smoothie sales con­tinue to climb, and the $2 bil­lion cat­e­gory is pro­jected to increase another 25% over the next three years.” Furthermore, Michael Rubin of Cappuccine explains, “(frozen bev­er­ages) offer the high­est profit in dol­lars ‘per drink sold’ over all other drinks sold within Specialty Coffee.”

If you decide to offer frozen bev­er­ages you will need to choose which equip­ment you will use to make or dis­pense your prod­uct. Other than sim­ple brand choices, a busi­ness owner must first decide whether they want to make indi­vid­ual drinks to order using a blender, or have pre-made drinks on hand with a dis­penser. Both options have their advan­tages, and your choice will largely depend on your busi­ness’ unique needs. A frozen bev­er­age dis­penser can be great for fast-paced busi­nesses that don’t have the time or staff to mix drinks on an indi­vid­ual basis. Speaking to the con­ve­nience of the dis­penser approach, Kelli Stade of Taylor remarked, “Using frozen bev­er­age dis­pens­ing equip­ment instead of blend­ing offers speed of ser­vice, reduced labor, con­sis­tent prod­uct, and less noise in the store environment.”

However, for busi­ness own­ers who do have ade­quate time and staff, blend­ing frozen bev­er­ages on the spot can give greater flex­i­bil­ity to the busi­ness and the cus­tomer. With made-to-order bev­er­ages the cus­tomer can tai­lor drinks to their spe­cific tastes, which many cus­tomers have come to expect in our “have it your way” soci­ety. Bill Haugh, CEO and Owner of Dr. Smoothie Brands remarks, “In today’s mar­ket­place, many con­sumers are now look­ing for health­ier meal options and drink options as part of their way of life. Low-Fat, Low Sugar, Organic, Natural, ‘Not This’ or ‘That’ are all words or phrases that con­sumers tend to be drawn to and are look­ing for in the prod­ucts they pur­chase.” Businesses can offer all of these options to con­sumers by intro­duc­ing custom-made frozen bev­er­ages to their menus. For instance, Michael Rubin of Cappuccine says of their prod­uct line, “we offer between 30 and 40 fla­vors … that vary from lac­tose free, to no hydro­genated oils. We offer no-sugar added fla­vors that are made with Splenda™. All of our fla­vors have 0 grams Trans fats and use no high fruc­tose corn syrup solids.” It is easy to see how frozen bev­er­ages can be a great way to ful­fill grow­ing cus­tomer demands.

Choosing to blend drinks in-house often comes with two major con­cerns: noise and con­sis­tency. Fortunately com­mer­cial blenders today are light years away from the rudi­men­tary devices of the past, and there are a vari­ety of options avail­able for those want­ing to ensure a con­sis­tent prod­uct with min­i­mal noise pol­lu­tion. One fron­trun­ner in both of these cat­e­gories is The Quiet One from Vitamix. Anthony Ciepel, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Vitamix, has this to say about the device: “The Quiet One is a pow­er­ful, pre­mium blender designed to main­tain an atmos­phere for cof­fee shops or any front-of-the-house-environment… (it) oper­ates at an amaz­ing 18 deci­bels below its clos­est com­peti­tor on one of the most demand­ing recipes – the milk­shake.” Regardless, when pur­chas­ing equip­ment it is impor­tant to remem­ber that sav­ing money upfront can often lead to los­ing money in the future. If you can afford to, then it is often wise to buy high qual­ity equip­ment from the begin­ning. This usu­ally trans­lates to less repair and replace­ment costs in the future.

While there are many things that make frozen bev­er­ages attrac­tive to today’s busi­ness owner, often the most com­pelling rea­sons can be summed up as: high returns and low imple­men­ta­tion costs. There are a huge vari­ety of low-cost frozen bev­er­age mixes avail­able that are inex­pen­sive to offer and serve, but sell at prices com­pa­ra­ble to, or greater than, spe­cialty cof­fee drinks. Sara Sotoohi of Big Train says, “At an incre­men­tal profit of $2.75 per drink and vir­tu­ally no waste, sell­ing frozen blended drinks makes sense for everyone.”

When choos­ing which frozen bev­er­age mixes to offer, busi­ness own­ers should chiefly pay atten­tion to three things: cost, fla­vor, and ease of use. Regarding fla­vor and ease of use, it is gen­er­ally wise to pre­pare and taste a vari­ety of prod­ucts before select­ing which prod­uct you will offer to your cus­tomers. Some prod­ucts will have fea­tures that make them eas­ier or more dif­fi­cult to use, which are only dis­cov­ered through per­sonal trial and error. For instance, Jane Peart of Torani says of their prod­uct, “Inspired by oper­a­tor insights Torani Fruit Smoothie Mix boasts a color coded jug design, easy grip han­dle, and no-glug pour. Simply pour over ice and blend.” Small design dif­fer­ences such as color or han­dle design can, over time, make a dif­fer­ence in your prof­its, and should there­fore be con­sid­ered when choos­ing a product.

Additionally, the vast array of fla­vors avail­able to busi­ness own­ers is dizzy­ing, and the pos­si­bil­i­ties are truly end­less. Jon Whiteside of Treehouse Brand explains, “By offer­ing Blended Ice drinks, they can cover all aspects of the cus­tomer base, by offer­ing Frappé’s that have cof­fee as well as those that do not, i.e. vanilla, choco­late, cookie dough, etc.“ Speaking to the coffee-based frozen bev­er­ages Phillip Arcidiacono of Caffee Barbera states, “there is an oppor­tu­nity to pro­vide an alter­na­tive for the indi­vid­ual that does not drink ‘hot’ cof­fee but loves the smell (…) and the flavor.”

Regarding cost, there are a large num­ber of cost-effective frozen bev­er­age mixes on the mar­ket that will allow you to save money and offer your cus­tomers deli­cious alter­na­tives to cof­fee. For instance, Ray Welsch of Allegretti’s describes how one prod­uct they offer can trans­late to greater profit for busi­ness own­ers: “Polar Freeze is only $0.50 a scoop. With one scoop per one 16oz. drink, a shot of espresso at your cost, and a few ounces of milk and ice, an easy for­mula can show the low cost of mak­ing Freezes.” Additionally, do not for­get to look at the cost of the entire bev­er­age, not just the cost of the mix. Some mixes require less addi­tional ingre­di­ents, keep­ing the over­all cost low and your prof­its high.

For instance, Sara Sotoohi says: “Big Train offers a com­pet­i­tively low cost per serv­ing for our bev­er­age mixes and smoothie con­cen­trates. Because most of our prod­uct mixes already include cream and milk, there is no need to add milk, sav­ing cost.”

Similarly, Gary Polisano at Caffe D’Vita has this to say about their prod­ucts: “(one) key fea­ture in our smoothie line is the use of water… In today’s tough econ­omy, if an owner/operator can save money by using water instead of milk in the prepa­ra­tion process, then that is an impor­tant fea­ture. Also impor­tant is the time of prepa­ra­tion. By using water it elim­i­nates one more trip to the refrig­er­a­tor for milk or cream.”

Another option to con­sider is the increase in prof­its that can be obtained by offer­ing sup­ple­ments to frozen bev­er­ages. Bill Haugh, CEO and Owner of Dr. Smoothie Brands remarks, “sim­ply offer­ing a scoop of Immune Blend, Energy or any of the sup­ple­ments that Dr. Smoothie offers can make an addi­tional fifty cents to one dol­lar per drink. This becomes a healthy meal replacement.”

To stay com­pet­i­tive in today’s mar­ket, café and cof­fee shop own­ers must appeal to a wide range of tastes and pref­er­ences. With an increas­ingly demand­ing cus­tomer base, those in the cof­fee indus­try can attract a cru­cial demo­graphic by expand­ing their menus to include smooth­ies and frozen bev­er­ages. As Sara Sotoohi of Big Train says, “frozen blended ice drinks have tremen­dous appeal to the 16– 24 year old demo­graphic,” and can thus be an invalu­able tool in attract­ing cus­tomers busi­nesses might oth­er­wise miss out on.

The bot­tom line is, cus­tomers have come to desire and expect frozen bev­er­ages, and as Ray Welsch of Allegretti’s puts it, “To ignore what cus­tomers want is a fail­ure to pro­vide your busi­ness with an oppor­tu­nity for fur­ther success.”