September 2008

NICRA Convention
Just a reminder that the 2008 NICRA conference is going to be November 12 - 15 in St. Peterburg, Florida. Early registration is due by September 15 and the last day to register before the event is October 24.

Carton Minimums
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream would like to restate our system when it comes to order minimums. We set our minimums to cover the costs associated with deliveries. We understand that it becomes difficult to meet the minimums at certain times of the year. This has been an issue with many people in the past so we have decided to update our policy.

If you find that you are unable to meet your minimum, we will deliver with a small delivery charge. The policy will be as follows: for each carton that you are below your minimum, you will be charged $7. Supplies will not be included in order to meet your minimum. For example, if you have a 10 carton minimum and only need 6 cartons, you will be charged $28 (4 cartons X $7).

If you have questions about what your minimum is please contact us and we will happily discuss it with you. As always if you are unable to meet a delivery requirement you are more than welcome to stop by our plant during normal business hours to pick up any ice cream or supplies that you may need.

Pricing Update
We’ve adjusted our gross profit information to include our new pricing structure. We’d recommend that you evaluate your current cost structure as you look at how the 2008 season has been and how you will prepare for the 2009 season.

An updated gross profit spreadsheet can be found through our extranet. If you would like to have the updated information emailed to you as well please feel free to contact us.

Going Nuts for Almonds
Shelling out for a bag of almonds might not be a bad idea if you need to lower your cholesterol-lowing food; studies also show that they can reduce the risk of heart disease.

One ounce of almonds, about 25 nuts, contains 164 calories and 1.10 grams of saturated fat. That same ounce is also a good source of protein, potassium, vitamin E and magnesium, and has no
cholesterol.

Almond Lore
Almonds were key to the world’s first “to go” snack. Ancient desert nomads combined almonds with chipped dates, bits of pistachios, sesame oil and breadcumbs and rolled them into balls. The concoctions traveled well.

King Tut apparently knew the
nutritional value of almonds.
Several handfuls of them accompanied him into the tomb, perhaps to nourish him on his postlife journey.

“Going Nuts For Almonds” NICRA Bulletin July 2008 Pg 16.

Monthly Statements
Monthly statements are now available by email for anyone interested. If you would like to help us conserve paper and be more eco-friendly, please call Corey at 800.466.8043 so that we can get you setup with our new system.

Niche Building
Coming up with a sustainable business concept is more than just
having an off the wall store. Creating a niche is combining your unique
location with a design that will target a specific market and be designed to attract and service them.

It is impossible to target everyone, pick a select group of people, whether it is kids, families, tourists, etc. and build a value-added business that they would enjoy. What is value-added? It is creating an
atmosphere in which the customer is
going to buy your products not based on price but based on exceptional treatment. Giving each customer a single person to deal with or making sure that everyone understands that customer service is everyone’s responsibility. As you consider the core values of your store or plan, remember to avoid values that you alone want, let your customers
help you determine what your values should be.

Once you have your target market in mind, take a step back and look at your location. Is your store setup to physically serve your market and be user friendly? Creating a location that services your customers will encourage them to come back time and time again.

Most importantly as you look at how your store and business are
designed, think about what gets you excited. Make sure that your
enthusiasm shows because it will carry through to your employees, your service, and your customers

Promotional Dates
In the next couple of months we can look forward to National Grandparents Day on September 7th,
National Wife Appreciation Day on September 20, National Keep Kids Creative Week from September 21st through the 27th, and birthday of the Ice Cream Cone (1903) and Family Day on the September 22nd.

October 18th is going to be Sweetest Day, October 22nd is National Nut Day, Mother-in-Law day on October 26th. As always Halloween is October 31st.

Cleaning Suggestions
As the summer winds down we would recommend using your
extra staff to take care of the
detailed cleaning needs that the rush of the season can bring. Remember to check behind and underneath all of your equipment (i.e. malt
machines, hot fudge warmers, cone holders, etc) for the dirt we tend to forget about.

If you haven’t cleaned your
compressor yet, make sure it gets done before the end of the summer,
especially if you are preparing to close up shop for the season. Take a look at your inventory and create a plan so that you won’t be
sitting on product over the slower part of the winter.

Election Promotion
In the month of September we are running a presidential promotion in our company-owned retail stores. Each party and their candidate have selected an ice cream flavor to represent them and customers coming to our stores vote on the flavors.

The day after the election, whichever candidate has been voted in as the new president will have a special run in our stores associated with the ice cream picked by their party. We are currently talking about running $1 single scoops for the winning flavor.

We have also encouraged the candidate parties to come out to our stores to help with voter registration and to help encourage more people to vote.

As of the printing of the newsletter, we actually have Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party scheduled to stop into our State Street store location

Training From Us and You
How do you feel about the current level of training of your employees or even yourself? As we move into the fall now is the perfect time to call us up and schedule a time for us to come out to your wonderful locations to train any staff. Any owner or manager that hasn’t gone through our in-town training is also more than welcome to schedule a time to come down to Madison to experience our own locations.

Our trainings include product and equipment maintenance, scoop procedures to maximize profits and minimize loss, and the creation of the different menu items in our training manual. If you would like to schedule a training please call
Sarah at 800.466.8043.

As you look at training your own employees we would also recommend keeping the following ideals in mind;

Setting clear goals and expectations: Describe in very precise terms what will be done, when it must be done by, and how you will measure their performance while completeing the training exercise.

Present regular feedback:
All employees yearn for constant feedback and assurances that they are doing a good job. By giving constant feedback not only are you creating a better relationship with your employees, you are increasing their self-esteem and increasing their willingness to take on more.

Focus on teamwork:
Encouraging your employees to work together as a team is huge. It will create an atmosphere of
communication, flexability, confidence and fun. Their attitudes can be
infectous and if they are having fun working with each other, your
customers will enjoy the experience of being served by them.

Finally, make sure that your individual employees learn with each new
assignment or training session. Take the time to be hands on and proactive with your trainings and tailor them to individual employees if necessary. Everyone learns and
remembers in different ways and you want to make sure everyone walks away from any training with a positive attitude.

Fundraisers
Our Midvale location recently sponsored a Ronald McDonald House of Madison fundraiser called “Konez for Kidz”. Raising over $1200, the store sold blank pictures of cones and sundaes for $1 and $2 respectively. People were able to buy the pictures, color them, and then we hung them throughout our store for everyone to see. After the event, we brought ice cream to the American Family Children’s Hospital patients and the Ronald McDonald House - Madison House guests.

Afterwards we chose a winner from every 10 entries and they received free ice cream as well.

This was a great marketing tool for us, using minimal cost of materials (the cost of paper and ink to print the pictures, and the tape to hang them throughout the store), and capitalizing on current customers, we were able to raise a good amount of money for an excellent cause and also promote our store and company.

Fundraisers like these are great ways to show your support for the community and they can help you build a great rapport with the customers that come through your store.

Extranet Update
We have updated the customer only portion of our website to include new information from us. You can find new copies of our gross profit information, equipment spec sheets, new posters and more.

This is all available to you through our website just by clicking on the “extranet” link at the top of the page. After that you’ll just need to enter your username and password.

If you don’t have access yet or would like us to refresh you on how to use it, please give us a call (800.466.8043) or send us an email (info@chocolateshoppeiceream.com) and we will get all of the information out to you.

Greetings!
Welcome back to another installment of the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Newsletter! We hope that the season has treated you well as we wind down into the fall. Sarah Moore, Customer Specialist and resident expert is back from her maternity leave and ready to get back out there. We are currently trying to plan for the time to drop in to see how everyone is doing in person and performing a seasonal questionnaire.

As September rolls around you can expect a change in our office hours. We will be moving them from 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Monday - Thursday to 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday - Thursday. Fridays are going to move from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. If you call before or after those times you can still place an order or message on our answering service and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

New Posters
We will have all new posters available for viewing on the extranet. We can also keep an updated list of posters available in our office so that if you ask they can tell you the items available. We also intend to send e-mails about poster availability. If you would like to see a particular poster, we will be happy to send it to you at the charge of $1 plus tax.

Travel Green Wisconsin
What is it? Travel Green Wisconsin is a fairly new organization that helps Wisconsin businesses evaluate, set goals, and take action into reducing their environmental impact and create sustainable business practices. A few of the items that they look at when they talk about becoming certified are issues such as education (customers and employees), waste reduction and recycling, water conservation, wildlife conservation and management, and local community benefits to name the majority of them.
What does it mean for us? This is a great tool that will allow companies to assess and fix many concerns that we might not usually consider on a day to day basis as making an impact on our environment and communities. The secondary benefit is the great marketing tool that is built in to the certification. Not only will you appeal to a green consumer, but you will also get your business listed on the Travel Green Wisconsin website so that tourists that are green conscious can actually find you and make it a point to help support your establishment.
There is a fee associated with the certification, but it is widely based on the size of your company and the number of employees that you currently have. For more information you can check out their website
www.TravelGreenWisconsin.com.

Promotional Dates
Here are some interesting promotional days to look forward to in the upcoming months:
National Strawberry Sundae Day on July 7, Ice Cream Soda Day on July 20, and National Ice Cream Day on July 21, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day on July 23, and Hot Fudge Sundae Day on July 25.
In August we can look forward to National Root Beer Float Day on August 6, National Banana Split Day on August 10, Banana Lover’s Day on August 27, and Eat Outside Day on August 31.

Seasonal Cleaning
Have you cleaned your compressor yet this year? If so, good job!!! If not, this is probably a good time to do it. Now that the temperature is getting hot outside and our equipment is running longer and hotter, a dirty compressor can lead to a dead compressor which will be more headache and heartache than is necessary.
To clean your compressor it is best if you have: a Phillips screwdriver, a brush, an air compressor or a can of condensed air, a pail of soapy water, cloth towels, and some patience.
You will need to turn your freezer off then unscrew any outer screws by the grates of your compressor and remove the grate. Then you should be able to slide out your compressor on the tray it is on or with older models just leave it where it is.
You should then use the air compressor or compressed air to blow off as much dust as possible. This will be a messy job if it has not been done in a while. After you have removed as much dust as possible, take your cloth and get it wet in the water and begin wiping down as many reachable parts as possible.
After you are finished, slide the compressor back into place and re-attach the grate. As energy prices will probably continue to rise throughout the summer and fall, this cleaning will hopefully save the life of your compressor and your electric bills.

National Ice Cream Month
National Ice Cream Month is celebrated by the US every July. This month was designated as national ice cream month by Ronald Reagan in 1984. He also appointed the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States (90% of the nation’s population consumes ice cream) and stated that these two events should be observed with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

The International Ice Cream Association (IICA) also encourages all retailers and consumers to celebrate July as National Ice Cream Month and National Ice Cream Day. This is because the ice cream industry provides thousands of jobs for its United States citizens and generates annually in sales approximately 20 billion dollars.
The economic well-being of the nation’s dairy industry relies heavily on the sale of ice cream. This is because about 9% of all the milk produced by dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream.

Placing Orders
We need to restate the fact that we need to have orders placed by 11am the day before your delivery. When orders are not in on time, it affects our scheduling of routes, picking of orders, and scheduling of employees. If you reach our office and the line is busy, please leave your order on the voicemail and we will happily return the call to let you know we received it. If your store is not open at the time that your order is due, please make sure we have an alternate number to reach you; your order was called in the day or night before; or you have faxed your order to our office.

New Additions
We have added a new person to our customer specialist team! This position has been filled by Pete Sholts. He has been with our team since May and is currently getting himself caught up to speed on all of our products and services.
Pete’s background includes commercial print experience running large format sheet-fed presses and a small stint at Circuit City as a sales associate before Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream scooped him up. Pete decided that he would love to join the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company team because he enjoys the people and thought this would be a fun but challenging position. Pete looks forward to the opportunity of meeting all of our customers. Pete also let slip that his favorite treat is a Strawberry-Banana milkshake.
We also are happy to announce that Sarah Moore and her husband, Chad, recently welcomed the addition of their first child, Nolan Alexander Moore! He was born June 3rd at 12:38 p.m. at 6 lb. 2 oz. and put up a pay-per-view worthy fight with an amazing 42 hours of labor!

Don't Get Burned By Inadequate Insurance
Here is an interesting article that we found in a recent Wisconsin Restaurateur magazine concerning insurance and product liabilities. With all of the damages caused by natural disasters like tornadoes, flooding, and snow damage we thought that it would be a good idea to make sure that our customers are protected.

Don’t Get Burned By Inadequate Coverage

In case of a fire, what items on your property would not be covered by your insurance? As restaurant owners often discover, a surprising number of items are left without coverage by typical insurance policies. WRA members have learned belatedly that their policies do not cover any property belonging to others including any leased equipment or items stored for community groups. The lease contracts often state specifically that the restaurant is responsible for replacing the equipment if it is damaged.
A WRA member from LaCrosse recently wrote to WR concerning his experience following a fire in his establishment. “One of the toughest things I have had to deal with since the fire is lawsuits from companies I leased equipment from,” he wrote. “Read the lease and make sure you are aware of all the conditions. Talk to your insurance agent to make sure you are covered in the case of a loss – many policies are written to cover only what you actually own.” Riders are available to supplement standard coverage.
Other recommendations from WRA members who have been through the experience of a fire in their business:
•Do a thorough inventory on a regular basis.
•Read your policies.
•Take photos of valuables in the restaurant.
•Videotape the entire inventory.
•Read your contract for any equipment you lease or use that actually is owned by another party.
•Store valuable documents in a fireproof file box.
•When you add equipment, add coverage.
•Assess your coverage annually.
•Insure for replacement cost if you think you would rebuild.

“Don’t Get Burned By Inadequate Insurance” Wisconsin Restrauratuer May/June 08 Vol 75 No 3 Pg 4.

Extranet
We would just like to remind you that our extranet is now available to all of our wholesale customers and their employees. What is it? It is a great database to look for items like posters, product tags, operating lists, and more. We’ve also included two awesome tools; the gross profit spreadsheet and message boards. This is all available to you through our website just by clicking on the “extranet” link at the top of the page.
Our goal with this project is to put a lot of our information at your fingertips. We want a store-to-store support network that will allow wholesale customers to bounce ideas off each other and discuss any problems that anyone might be experiencing.
If don’t have access yet or would like us to refresh you on how to use it, please give us a call or send us an email and we will get all of the information out to you.

Billing Questions
Billing is done after we receive the paperwork back from your delivery unless it has been specified to be sent with your order. If you would like any changes to when you receive your bill or where you receive your bill, please contact Corey at 800-466-8043 or info@chocolateshoppeicecream.com. Terms for Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream are 15 days from the date that you were billed. Please remember to follow this.

Returns
When you need to return anything, we need to make sure our office is properly notified before anything can be picked up. If we do not have the proper paperwork, the drivers cannot guarantee that your return will be properly processed!

Flavor Updates
During the last few months we have reorganized our inventory and the following flavors have been involved in the change ups.
Our ice cream flavors that have been discontinued are:
1. Bear Tracks
2. Brownie Explosion
3. Bubble Gum
4. Mint Oreo
5. Mocha Chip
6. Triple Morning Mocha
Madness

The new flavors that we’ve added to our impressive line-up include:
1. Blue Raspberry Italian Ice
2. Oreo Yogurt- Non-fat vanilla yogurt with gobs of Oreo cookies.
3. Peanut Butter Cup Yogurt- Non-fat vanilla yogurt with chunks of peanut butter cups
4. Zanzimint- Zanzibar ice cream swirled with mint ice cream.
5. Ultimate Oreo- Oreo crumb ice cream with lots of real Oreos.
6. Yippee Skippee - Peanut butter ice cream, salted caramel ripple, brownies and chocolate covered pretzels.

Look for these new flavors to be released July 21st:
1. Chocolate Galaxy - Chocolate ice cream with caramel ripple, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered malt balls, and brownie chunks!
2. German Chocolate Cake- Chocolate ice cream with coconut, caramel, and pecans.

Greetings!
We hope that everyone has had a great kick off to their year. The spring season seems to have skipped by and thrown us right into summer and hopefully into a profitable season.
Now that you have found your summer groove and have business running smooth, we would like to put a few things out there for you to consider and clue you in on a few additions within the company as well.
Included you are going to find some suggestions on how we can help you stay a step ahead this summer as well as some interesting pieces of information we’ve come across since our last news letter!
If you have questions or would like any information on anything that you find in the newsletter feel free to contact Megan at 608.221.8640 or email us at
info@chocolateshoppeicecream.com.
Sincerely,
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co.