We visited SUNY Maritime College today, on the wind-swept Long Island Sound. It’s technically in the Bronx, but unlike any other place. The wind is something else! We provided our Ghiradelli hot cocoa bar – no Swiss Miss for us! We use the best hot chocolate for our campus and other catered events, with syrups, sauces, whipped cream, marshmallows and more.  

Maui Wowi was part of the Southern New Hampshire University “Celebrate with CAPE”event headlined by American Idol winner Kris Allen. Kris stopped by for a smoothie (or three) after rehearsal and before his set. He, his bandmates and the students has a great mix of music and fun — everything from smoothies, make-your-own-stressballs (finals are coming) and other activities. Kris, thanks for the reprise of some of the old Idol favorites.

Spring campus events are starting, even though it’s still winter jacket weather. The students at Temple Universitybraved the chill to bring some brotherly and sisterly love outdoors in their plaza yesterday. From here on out for April through June, it’s a non-stop Maui Wowi sprint to campuses all over the country. Break out the t-shirts and sunblock. Your pina colada is coming.

Maui Wowi coffee and smoothie catering is a cornerstone of lots of different types of events – bar mitzvahs, weddings, corporate events, employee appreciation days — and Sweet 16 parties. Teens love our smoothies, and thanks to Starbucks, they’ve become knowledgeable about espresso drinks. They know their lattes from their cappuccinos from their Americanos. Not to mention their sushi. At this Sweet 16 at New York’s Chelsea Piers, Maui Wowi catered both smoothies and espresso drinks.  (Chelsea Piers is pretty cool – literally – for a Sweet 16. You can have an ice skating party and then move into a private room for your celebration. See the Zamboni machine right outside the party room?)

For those of you who have seen our Hawaiian tiki bar, you won’t see it at this event. The tiki bar is optional. We can accommodate any theme, any environment and any audience.

Bowmo is a New York City startup in the HR tech business. The company had its press rollout last week and hired Maui Wowi to provide smoothies (alcoholic, this time — hey, it’s a celebration!) for the event. It was a great example of corporate events catered by Maui Wowi smoothies.  Companies use our smoothie and cappuccino catering services in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and throughout the country for new product introductions, company meetings, employee appreciation events, client events, retail store openings and promotions, wellness fairs and more.

Every day brings a new and interesting corporate event for Maui Wowi. Yesterday we had a blast serving the dynamic crew at TruTV, the Time Warner reality show network that wanted to do something special for its creative staff. Maui Wowi provided a smoothie bar where everyone could let loose and have fun (which, come to think of it, is what these guys do all day). Think of Maui Wowi for your corporate events — we provide smoothies as well as espresso drinks (cappuccinos, lattes, mochas — hot cocoa, too).

Continue reading “Trutv Enjoys a New Reality Drink: Maui Wowi Smoothies”

We love working with campus activities planners. One reason? Smoothies in February! Even though we offer an array of hot beverages (espresso drinks, hot cocoa, delicious Hawaiian coffee), it’s a kick to make smoothies for students when in the middle of winter. Here we are at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. We’re in New England all the time so if you’re a campus activity planner (or corporate event planner, for that matter) and you’re looking to do something special for your people, Maui Wowi is a great source of healthy fun.

The team at Maui Wowi Coffee & Smoothie Catering has learned a lot over the last 15 years about what makes campus events successful. We figure we have made and served well over 1.5 million smoothies, espresso drinks and hot cocoas at more than 5,000 campus events during that time! That pretty much makes us experts at campus events. Here are some tips we hope you’ll find useful to make your student activities (with us and with other service providers) more fun and successful.

 1. Tell them, tell them what you told them, and then tell them again

In the course of serving a few million drinks to students, we have heard the same question thousands of times. “What’s this for?” While our standard wise guy answer is, “Your tuition check cleared!” we of course let them know that their campus activities board is sponsoring the event. But if we have to tell them, then you’re not getting the credit you deserve. We suggest the following steps to raise awareness of your event.

• Signage at the event
• It doesn’t have to be fancy. An A-frame sign (like you see outside restaurants) with a chalkboard or whiteboard and a few words about the event (“Take a Break with a Smoothie/Sponsored by your CAB”), positioned where people will see it, will do the trick.

•  Text and social media before and during the event
• Most campuses have the ability to send a group text to all students, in addition to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media. We suggest promoting our presence on campus a full week before the event, then the day before we’re there, then the day of the event and during the event as well. (We’ll send you a jpg of our logo to use in your promotion.) Our goal is to run out of everything we have – smoothies, cups, coffee, ice, everything – not because we’re lazy and want have less to pack up (well, that’s true, too) but because we want to reach and please the highest number of students we can. So send us home empty-handed!

2. Provide logo cups

We use our own cups for smoothies or espresso and hot cocoa drinks, but we’d be just as happy to use cups you provide. You can get logo cups with your college and CAB logo, including recyclable and compostable cups, produced inexpensively. We’d be happy to do it for you and bring them to your event. (BTW, compostable cups make a great tie-in with an Earth Day event, which is April 22, 2017).

 3. A little crowd control goes a long way

We’ve had campus events at which we’re serving smoothies to 1000 people in 2-4 hours. We can serve more people faster if there is optimal line control. Some colleges set up stanchions so students enter and exit the line in an orderly way. This enables us to serve more people quicker (and run out of everything, as you know we want to do!).

 4. Add a new element

You know us for our great smoothies, espresso drinks, hot cocoa and shaved ice. But we also partner with other vendors (depending on your location) who offer chair massage (pair with smoothies or lattes for pre-exam relaxation events and spa days), fresh-donut makers, head shot photographers (excellent for senior and upper class events for students who want to brush up their LinkedIn profiles) and more. We’ll create a bundle for you, all included in one proposal.

5. Tie in with a theme

We make Maui Wowi smoothies for every conceivable kind of event…and not just for Hawaiian themed events! BUT, who doesn’t love dressing up in a grass skirt or the most outrageous Aloha shirt? Hawaiian events on campus are easy to plan, inexpensive to get supplies for, photo-ready and fun. And Hawaiian themed events are especially fun in the middle of winter, to get your mind somewhere warmer, if not your body.

 We’ve also done smoothie bars for events like Gatsby Night, Zumba Party, Foam Party, Health & Wellness, Movie Night (smoothies + popcorn = yum!), Alcohol Awareness, Valentine’s Day (strawberry smoothies and cherry shaved ice, anyone?)

Got any of your own tips and tricks for better campus events? Let us know! 

Thanks to all our customers for making 2016 our best year ever, with 332 smoothie and coffee bars catered for hundreds of corporate clients, colleges and social events. Everything from 3,000 frozen cocktails for Viacom to a 5-city event for Emblem Health to espresso for Billy Joel’s 4th of July party, a birthday party at Samantha Bee’s show, plus hundreds of college events, health fairs, corporate conferences, department store promotions, weddings, camp visiting days, and even a briss or two! Looking forward to an even more exciting 2017.