Some people might find this counter-intuitive, but we are now going into our off-season for Rollin’ Gelato in the Austin market. We will be back at the farmers’ markets in the fall, but can do special catering events during the summer time if needed in Austin. From mid-May to mid-September we will be operating in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
For the reason we are going into an off-season in Austin
Yes, the temperatures are warm in Austin, and that is when more people in Austin would eat cold deserts (actually, when it is warmer, people all over the world eat more cold deserts…not just in Austin :-). So one would think that we would be ramping up our operations in Austin….duh.
However, we are going into an “off-season” in the Austin market because of how we start in a new market, and that we spend time in two different locations (Austin, Texas and Kalamazoo, Michigan).
We don’t operate a full year in a market the first year we are in a market, but just 10-12 weeks. We get 10-12 weeks of data from our sales and flavor feedback, and then pull-off the market to make adjustments. We then come back strong when we return. This is what we did when we started in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and what we are doing when starting in Austin, Texas.
This is our first year in Austin, and we have 9 weeks of data to now look at and analyze. Normally we get 10-12 weeks of data, however, we were set back 2-3 weeks in Austin because of additional permits we had to obtain from the Travis County health department, which requires a permit for each farmers’ market you operate in: we needed two farmers’ market permits, one for the SoCo Select Farmers’ Market and one for the Texas Farmers’ Market.
Data from our initial 9-weeks
Here is our initial data from our 9 weeks in the Austin market (as part of our transparency value):
- 9 weeks (March 9th – May 6th, 2018)
- 16 days at farmers’ markets (SoCo Farmers’ Market and Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller)
- Sales of $2,074 from 784 four-oz cups
- 10 different flavors tested
Over the next couple of weeks we will be compiling and looking at additional data details, specific to each flavor, to determine how we will come back in the Fall. One of the benefits of testing the market like this is we find out how managers of farmers’ market interact with their vendors (good or bad), how vendors interact with other vendors, and how customers interact with vendors.
Thank you Austin patrons at the Soco Farmers’ Market and the Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller for being receptive to our initial entry into the market with our gelato and sorbet. We look forward to seeing you in the Fall. Until then, feel free to contact us with speciality orders, and follow our activities on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Now to focus on Kalamazoo for the summer
Widad flew up to Michigan to open that market up, which starts this weekend. Now to focus on Kalamazoo, for our 3rd year, and 2nd full season (as we spent 10-12 weeks in 2016 gathering data, and then pulling off the market — just like we are doing for the Austin market).
[ Austin customers: we will be back to Austin during the 4th of July weekend for a catering event. At that time, we can make special pint orders. Once we get closer to July 4th, we will let y’all know the exact dates you can order pints ]