Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

Hello folks, it's been a fair while since I have posted on the forum, but I am often here lurking to keep up with the news.

Since I left the Utopia, about five years ago, I have been busy setting up and running a business supplying spacecakes to Utopia, Club Media and a few other smaller places about the town. It has been very successful and has grown every year. I have been pleased to see that they seem to have been popular among forum members and feel quite proud of the quality products that I have provided.

Unfortunately, it has been a bit of a tough month for me. A couple of weeks ago I lost my link to Club Media when I was undercut by a competitor, and then this morning I heard that the Plug no longer wants to carry my products as, apparently, they only want to provide vegan brownies supplied by another competitor.

These two places were the majority of my business and it's a real downer for me right now, however, I cannot allow myself to get too depressed about it and must now begin to try and find some alternative outlets for my cakes.

To that end, I was hoping I could call on the assistance of the good folks on the Forum in helping me to promote my wares.

If you have tried and enjoyed my products in the past few years I would be very grateful if you could maybe provide a review in this thread so that I have somewhere to point any prospective new customers by way of a testimonial to the quality of my services.

Also if you have any suggestions for where I could begin with my mission of giving out samples - for instance, places whose cakes might not be up to scratch or perhaps do not even have edibles on the menu - I would be keen to hear them.

All help in this would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to reading what you may have to say.

Many thanks,

cheers

Nel

Sorry to hear that Nel, don’t think I’ve tried them but would love to. Just cakes or could you do fudges/toffees as well? Reason I suggest is that fudges/toffees might be easier to send by post, therefore potentially expanding your business a lot further afield...pm me if interested to discuss more.

I've had several space cakes from Utopia before for flights home, both the chocolate and the normal (was it lemon perhaps)? They were 0.3g cannabis and I always enjoyed them, a lot of space cakes are rubbish in the Dam and people blatantly lie about content so for me consistency is really important and the Utopia spacecakes were always consistently good. James who worked there also spoke well of them and he was always very honest about everything sold there and would not have been afraid to say they were shit if he thought so

You should probably get on Instagram if you are not already.

Get in a competition, next cup is the cloud thing.

you made great things for this shop in the past but this city is always running for more cash.
it's all about the cake now.

nel z bub wrote: Fri 24th Aug 2018 03:45 pm Hello folks, it's been a fair while since I have posted on the forum, but I am often here lurking to keep up with the news.

Since I left the Utopia, about five years ago, I have been busy setting up and running a business supplying spacecakes to Utopia, Club Media and a few other smaller places about the town.

Many thanks,

cheers

Nel

Nel,

We met right before you left Utopia. Don't know if it was yours, but the "mutant spacecake" Ingi sold me was the strongest I ever had in Amsterdam! There is no competition!!

So if that was your work, I'm firing up the Volcano in your honor!!

@nel z bub great to hear something from you

nel z bub wrote: Fri 24th Aug 2018 03:45 pm Since I left the Utopia, about five years ago, I have been busy setting up and running a business supplying spacecakes to Utopia, Club Media and a few other smaller places about the town. It has been very successful and has grown every year. I have been pleased to see that they seem to have been popular among forum members and feel quite proud of the quality products that I have provided.

Congratulation for your business and also nice to hear that you are still conected to the coffeeshop scene in a form I am not so a big fan of the cakes I tried in Amsterdam Coffeeshops in the past (mostly didn´t feel any effect ) but it´s good news that also your quality products are available in a few places and I am looking forward to try them

nel z bub wrote: Fri 24th Aug 2018 03:45 pm Unfortunately, it has been a bit of a tough month for me. A couple of weeks ago I lost my link to Club Media when I was undercut by a competitor, and then this morning I heard that the Plug no longer wants to carry my products as, apparently, they only want to provide vegan brownies supplied by another competitor.

Sad to hear but you will find other places that sell your products... like said before I didn´t tried many cakes from coffeeshops in the last time and so I didn´t even look on the menus for edibles... but now I will look more on that and let you know when I found coffeeshops that could need your quality cakes.

Love tasty cakes and treats. Hopefully, I'll get to sample some of yours this December/January! Will keep my eyes on this thread for updates.

Good luck!

The game is changing all over ,Know lots of guy,s who have only grown for last twenty years.
The price of weed has been going lower and lower , hard to make a buck.
Not sure where the Dam,s CS sene is going with Spanish and Cali shit every where?
Even Amniesia is on the band wagon I seen on there last menu..crazy.
Dutch need to go legal, grow Skunk and Amniesia strains and be proud of there own gentics.
Don,t follow lead or you guy,s are going to be .........

Never had any banging space cake ever in the Dam, never ever tried a utopia one. Had Voyagers,Abraxass, Basjoe, dolphins,paradox, Barney and softlands. All mild but 2 at a time does the trick if you can get the stodgy lumps down.
Best edible I have had in the Dam was luvtiks caramels and very easy to consume unlike many of the cakes on offer.

Be great if any CS sold a cake that really kicks yer face in from a single cake

Good luck and hope you get back on track.

Hey Nel and welcome back!

We met very briefly during 420 if our brains aren’t completely fried and think we may have met some time back in the hazy past. Anyways, good to see you back, but sad to hear about your challenges with respect to your business.

Our best advice is to develop your strategy a bit for your business, in many ways your are already on your way asking some of the questions you’ve already begun asking (like obviously “what new distributors / places of sale could be interested in my product?”).

A good start, short of going through the process of developing a full strategy, could be to consider what unique selling points (or USPs) your product has and target the specific market segments that desire these. E.g. does your product carry a bigger punch, are they more consistent (as previous posts would suggest), locally produced etc. etc.

As an example a product with the USP “very consistent and guarantees bang for your buck” would probably sell well in a market segment consisting of the more seasoned, regular consumers, who are equally concerned about quality and value for money. We could go on, but given your background and experience, as well as obviously your knowledge about your own products, you are much more qualified to do the analysis and reach productive conclusions than we are.

Two other tried and true methods of gaining valuable marketing knowledge are market and competitor research. This can take quite a lot of resources, but luckily you have access to a wealth of market research already made for you in the form of the nice and crispy reviews and TR’s of this here very forum, as well as your own dedicated focus group (a.k.a. the ACD massive ).

Without a doubt the leading markets for edibles are in the US and Canada. The latter is probably a bit behind, but also likely catching up rapidly due to the booming market there, as well as recent restrictions on e.g. dosing in the US.

We haven’t visited the US ourselves, but can tell from first hand experience that the edibles market in Canada is sooooo far beyond the market in the EU (underground or “semilegal”) that it is hard to describe. The variety of products alone boggles the mind, not to mention the quality and potency of these products.

If you chose to market your products in Amsterdam / the Netherlands alone there are obvious restrictions with respect to what products you can supply, but maybe there are still lessons learned from some of the things on offer in these markets.

A few observations we’ve made that might be useful:

Using extracts, and especially THC distillate, in stead of cannabutter or similar “more traditional” products as the active ingredients, is more or less the only way to go on these markets. There may be variations where full spectrum extracts or similar are used, but the overwhelming majority are using extracts and seem to be moving towards distillates. The advantages are probably obvious for the more advanced user, but from a consumer perspective it can be a real game changer with respect to both the speed of effect (when mixed with food items that are processed quickly), the potency from even small servings and the complete lack of taste from the meds.

The potency, even for consumers with extremely high tolerance, is insane in some of these products. Given that you can always do a smaller dose, or just buy the “regular dose” varieties, this is a godsend for some of us who don’t even bother with cakes in Amsterdam due to a complete lack of effect from the products there (haven’t tried your’s though ). The highest we’ve ever, EVER been was on THC distillate edibles in Canada, hands down. They even blow the legendary first Tangie version of Deep Concentration’s (back the “Tyson’s”) THCyrup right out of the water. Die hard stoners of this forum will tell you how much of a statement that is. But we digress, the point is that these edibles, that can provide a clear and powerful high (not just couch-lock you into oblivion) to even hardened users, are something that we bet would be extremely sought after by tourists and locals alike. If you can manage to make such products is ofc another thing, but if anyone is up to the task…

Portion size (a point brought up previously by smirks) is also a thing to consider. For the casual consumer, and especially the inexperienced, it’s nice to have a rather large portion size as it’s easier to divide into smaller portions, dose etc. For consumers with high tolerance, it’s a pain to have to eat through a full meal to get the desired effect. Reducing portion size (maybe doing a special “high tolerance variety”) to the size of e.g. a macaroon or petit fur, could maybe target a market segment for consumers who like the convenience of smaller sizes (and those counting calories) and / or have a high tolerance and need to consume several to get to the desired dose.

From memory (looking at those muffins many times in Utopia) and reviews here it seems that some of these trends are qualities that you already have to some degree in your product (combined with consistency and other qualities). They may be worth developing further and maybe you could also consider diversifying your product range a bit to develop some of these qualities in different directions.

This could e.g. be doing different strengths / portion sizes and / or developing products that focus on THC, and others that focus on CBD for therapeutically or THC regulating purposes and myrcene content for those who seek a real couch-lock / knockout effect (anyone flying overseas home or trying to sleep in the RLD on a Saturdays basically). Such product development could probably allow you to access a wider market in Europe and give you a good head start over some of your competitors, once these trends reach the markets over here (heck, you could pioneer some of them here).

Your current product range could probably have success at places that cater to the more experienced consumers, as well as a part of the local crowd that appreciate consistency and potency. Forum wisdom would probably point toward shops such as Het Ballonnetje, Eastwood, Baba, De kade and a range of shops in Haarlem as good bets for such clientele.

Also, hit up users such as macky and TwoCanucks for some up to date intel from the wild Canadian edibles market, they really know what they are talking about

Best wishes for a boatload of success with the business!

CC

RoMoney wrote: Sat 25th Aug 2018 03:18 pm
You should probably get on Instagram if you are not already.

this is probably a very good idea... meets?

Hello folks, thank you all so much for your feedback, I can't tell you how much it is appreciated, you've given me plenty to think about.

On Sunday I made my final delivery to the Plug, so if anyone is in town and wishes to try one, now is the time.

After that you'll have to travel further afield to sample my wares. Currently available at de Prijs, Ruthless and the Roxy, the best seller in all of them seems to be the deliciously gooey chocolate brownies that I have only recently started to produce and which is already outselling the muffins at these venues.

With that in mind I can really see the value in expanding the range of products on offer, although most of these would have to find a different means of distribution. Looks like I am going to be joining the instagram generation at last.

I have been chatting to a friend about producing gummy bear or wine gum type sweets, made using extracts. I also really rate the strength and reliability of my cannabutter so I plan to continue using it and I will be consulting with an old friend who is a highly skilled confectioner and chocolatier about making some kind of pralines, fudges and toffees.

I am going to begin offering individual branding for the coffeeshops that retain my products as well as getting a bit more pro active about developing my own brand identity. I have always thought that "Nice Things for Nice People" has a good ring to it and so I think that's what I'll be calling the business.

It's going to be a busy time ahead, regrouping and rebuilding and hopefully continuing on to new heights.

But first I'm going to be taking a long overdue holiday to the Highlands of Scotland and then down to Glasgow before returning, hopefully refreshed and ready for the challenge ahead, starting with trying to get my wares into this upcoming competition that was mentioned.

Thanks again for everyone taking the time to read this and to reply so helpfully, I look forward to continuing this thread and keeping you all up to date with developments.

Cheers

Nel

All the best with it. When you get setup on Instagram let us know, will happily add you and give you a shoutout to my massive legion of followers (all 450). You should also consider doing custom requests, which is something Insta is the perfect marketplace for e.g. if I'm coming to Amsterdam for a 30th and want a cannabis infused birthday cake etc. Lots of scope of things like that too aside from regular CS business.

I will be in town with the Mrs. for around 10 days over New Years. I'd love to grab a couple dozen treats from you to enjoy with AM coffee during our stay.

The only spacecake i had was from Dampkring 2 (formaly pink floyd) and it gave me visuals. I suspect there to have been truffle extract in it or something, as no other edible has given me kaleidoscope visuals like that. Not sure if that is a common or uncommon practice, or one that could fall victim to some sort of inspection by gov't, but perhaps its why competition could be stiff?