Hello everyone!
While it's still a very challenging season for ice cream shops, we're incredibly grateful and happy that so many people visit us all the way in Yamato-cho.
Recently, many customers have been choosing the Triple option (a menu where you can select three types of ice cream), which is only available at our store. When they do, we discreetly turn up the air conditioning to ensure they don't get cold.
Please enjoy your ice cream with hot coffee or herbal tea.
And this winter, we've had many events since the new year.
January started with a pop-up store at Fukuoka Daimaru Tenjin, followed by "Masahiro Arita's Eye" exhibition at Shiranui Museum for about two months, and from the end of January, Hobonichi's "Winter, Yet Local Ice Cream Festival" has been held for about a month on the 8th floor of Shibuya Parco.
Herbal tea is also offered at this venue, so please take this opportunity to try it.
So, despite it being winter, many people have been enjoying our ice cream.
Even when it's cold, we'll keep striving to make heartwarming ice cream!
Backyard Issues
Apologies for the long introduction, but we are currently renovating the workshop, office, and warehouse, which is where our warm ice cream is born, located about 5 minutes by car from the store. I'd like to share the scale of the necessary warehouse space for a small ice cream shop. I hope it can be of some reference.
Actually, this place was where we sold our products directly soon after the brand was launched.
Even now, I occasionally meet customers who visited this place back then! I'm happy to meet such rare customers who know that era.
At that time, I believe the customers probably came to our residential neighborhood with excitement, wondering what kind of ice cream shop it would be. Some might have been surprised by the style of selling ice cream at the entrance of a house, especially after making an effort to come from afar. But everyone was so kind and would gently say, "What an unexpected place!" I apologize for making our customers feel uneasy (sweat).
The Current Situation of a Small Ice Cream Shop
The backyard, which includes the warehouse, workshop, and office, is about 73 square meters, but even with the current scale, it's getting a bit cramped. When we first started, we had fewer materials and plenty of space, but now there's barely enough room for people to pass each other.
The Battle with Materials
While it may seem like a food service business, it is in fact a manufacturing business. At BLANCO, in addition to store operations, we also conduct online sales and wholesale, as well as a herbal tea business and event equipment, so we likely use a lot more packing materials compared to a typical food service business.
For freezing equipment, we have about five chest freezers.
Shipping boxes, insulation materials, ice cream cups, etc., fill most of the warehouse. About 20 tatami mats are needed for this space.
The Battle with Packing Time
While frozen foods have the advantage of good preservation, they also incur high delivery costs, and the key is how quickly we can pack them to prevent melting and ship them out. I believe securing a workspace is crucial for working faster, more accurately, and more carefully.
Due to the nature of frozen products, we cannot pack them when they are taken out of the freezer. Therefore, we pick items from the freezer each time and pack them, which requires a temporary space to gather the products.
The Battle with Delivery Flow
I believe the ideal flow for transporting products—from picking items from the freezer, to picking cooler packs, to packing, and finally to the delivery vehicle—is a straight line. Therefore, ensuring an efficient delivery route is key.
Considering the above, a backyard of at least 20 to 30 tatami mats would allow us to work more comfortably. ^^
To Solve These Issues
To maintain these ideal conditions, we are currently renovating the backyard.
Studio38 is handling the project. They have proposed excellent ideas, and the renovation is currently underway!
We will keep you updated on the progress, so stay tuned!