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.

 

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.

 

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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! 

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When August comes around, Maui Wowi blenders are working overtime on college campuses as students move into dorms, start their first days of class, check out activity fairs and get into the groove of fall. Here are some snapshots from last week’s visits to Fisher College (Boston), Albany University (NY) and Farmingdale State College (Long Island). Our travels are taking us all over the region and beyond for student activities functions. The nice thing about most of our college clients is that we see them once or more a year – students look forward to “smoothie day” in fall and spring, and to our hot cocoa and latte bars in the winter.  We look forward to seeing all our student activities friends at the NACA conferences in Buffalo and Hartford in October and November.

SUNY Farmingdale State College

Fisher College, Boston

Albany University

 

 

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…. And How to Avoid It It’s getting near the end of the semester. Now come the nightmares. You know the ones: you forgot to go to Organic Chem all semester and today’s the final. You couldn’t find the classroom for your required Poli Sci class and you get an F. And the worst nightmare of all: You meant to call Maui Wowi to book a smoothie bar for Spring Fling and you couldn’t find their phone number, and now it’s too late! Continue reading “The Worst Campus Activities Nightmare Ever…”

 

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We always have a great time visiting St. Joseph College in Patchogue, NY. For the start of semester the activities board sponsored a really nice breakfast — bacon, eggs, french toast….and Maui Wowi provided the smoothies and espresso drinks. 

Here’s a shot of the nutritious breakfast of a St. Joseph student, and fortunately he managed to have enough room to handle a Maui Wowi pina colada.

 

Having a campus event? Check us out!

 

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