fwippin’ cool ninja moves

Ali Hay is a driven entrepreneur who’s reached the final stages of Ninja Warrior UK, TV’s toughest obstacle course, three times! Currently ranking number one in the UK, you might know him better as ‘The Bearded Ninja’. 

Ali’s also the proud franchise owner of Ninja Warrior UK Adventure Park, Edinburgh.

Serving light bites and mains to ninjas looking to refuel or simply watch the action, his café installed a fwip Portobello back in July 2021. 

fwip caught up with ‘The Bearded Ninja’ to find out how his Portobello’s shaping up to the challenge.

Ice-cold ninjas

Ali opened Ninja Warrior UK Adventure Park, Edinburgh, in Spring 2020 - just before the global pandemic hit. It wasn’t the ideal start, but now the business is back open and thriving. The venue attracts a lot of families with kids and teenagers, so he was looking for a dessert that was fun, theatrical, eye-catching, and different. That’s when he found fwip.

Ali comments,

fwip brings a very cool spin that works very well with the Ninja Warrior concept

Ali decided to install his Portobello ice cream machine on the back bar counter. That way, employees can serve his customers. It’s a nice touch. The results?  

Once he’d got the fwip branding up and menus on the tables, Ali’s sales took off.

Unsurprisingly, the weekends drive most of his fwip traffic with ninjas looking to cool-off or power-up with an ice-cold fwip.

Interestingly, despite launching at the end of the summer, Ali’s seen consistent sales. In fact, he’s so happy with the results, he’s confident he’ll see a quick return on investment.

The Bearded Ninja’s bestsellers?

Personally, Ali loves a classic affogato using fwip’s Vanilla Gelato. Although his café isn’t yet offering toppings, sauces, or other fwip inspired desserts, it’s definitely on the cards.

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In terms of sales, fwip’s Salted Caramel Gelato is a crowd-pleaser, but the vegan sorbet is a front-runner too. With so many of Ali’s customers being very health conscious, the Vegan sorbet with their low calorie profiles, go down a treat.   

And it will come as no surprise that, with three Great Taste stars to its name, our Mango Vegan Sorbet is the favourite.

Would your venue benefit from expanding its dessert menu with the click of button? Curious to learn more about the Portobello commercial ice cream machine? Find out by getting in touch.

You might also like to check out our other business solutions pages for more information: Retail, Cafes & Restaurants,  Catering and Leisure & Entertainment.

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