FLAVOR LOG // 018

The Flavor That Almost Missed Monday

Here is the a story of lids, planes and steamships. Three weeks before Ice Cream Truck Season was supposed to launch, we had a problem.

The lids that go on top of the pods for the first flavor, Creamsicle were in stock. However, the lids for Sticky Situation were not.

That might not sound like a crisis until you understand how far ahead we normally have to plan. We try to stay at least six weeks ahead of production. 6 weeks.  It sounds like a lot. It's usually enough. Our lids come from a large overseas manufacturer, and under normal circumstances they travel by ship. The trip takes about a month, which is why the six week cushion matters. We plan around the lead time, place the orders and try to stay well ahead of the production schedule.

Flavor52 adds another layer to that planning. Our VIP and Full Journey members receive four or five flavors at a time, which means every flavor in that shipment has to be ready together. Even if flavor 1 is ready to go, if flavors two, three, or four aren't- you can't ship. Being prepared for one flavor doesn't help much if the next one is sitting in a shipping container somewhere. 

We had done what we were supposed to do. We had planned ahead. The problem was that due to shipping pressures, the definition of "ahead" had changed underneath us. With three weeks left, it was clear that the normal shipping methods weren't going to get the Sticky Situation lids here in time. Yes, the irony was not lost on us that this flavor was called Sticky Situation. 

So we called an audible.

We had the manufacturer unpack the shipment to get to the lids we needed, pulled them out of the normal shipping flow and sent them by air.

It was a much more expensive way to move a batch of lids halfway around the world. It was also the only way we could see to keep the Monday launch on schedule.

Sticky Situation lids made it. The coffee got packed. The boxes went out. Monday flavor drop happened.

This was the closest we've come to missing a Flavor52 flavor launch so far, and it had nothing to do with the flavor itself. The coffee was ready. The production schedule was ready. The customers were waiting.

We just needed the lids.

An interesting note about making 52 new flavors is everyone sees the coffee and the flavor. The part that kept us up for a few nights was a piece of metal that nobody will ever think about once it's sitting on top of the coffee pod.

MISSION STATUS: Crisis Averted. Flavor Dropped.
Flavors Released: 10 / 52
Throwbacks Season 1: Complete
Mondays Missed: 0
World Record Status: On Track