News

CHUCK SCUDDER, has been appointed Sales Manager at A. Panza & Sons, Ltd.

Chuck started with A. Panza & Sons, Ltd in 2003.

He has been a constant performer in sales and is well liked by all his customers and team of sales people.

We decided to promote Chuck to a position of Sales Manager where he will guide and work with our dedicated team of knowledgeable sales people, the foundation of our success.

Let’s all congratulate Chuck in his new position as we approach our 57th Year in business. Congratulations!!!! AT THE 2022 Great Lakes Ice Cream + Fast Food (GLIC+FFA) Convention and Trade Show, Michigan State Representative Jim Haadsma, of the 62nd District, presented GLIC+FFA President Joe Watt with a State of Michigan Special Tribute congratulating the association on 55 years, from the Governor’s office and signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The proclamation in part reads “. . . In looking back over 55 years of Great Lakes Ice Cream and Fast Food Association history, it is clear that this association has set its course with a continuing look to the future. While the changes of the marketplace dictate many of the decisions for every industry, the Great Lakes Ice Cream and Fast Food Association has also demonstrated the importance of looking beyond the balance sheet alone to include the ideas of its members and the role of the ice cream and fast food industry in the Midwest Region . . .”

This presentation took place on the trade show floor at the 55th annual Trade Show, Friday February 11, 2022, ribbon cutting ceremony at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek Michigan. State Representative, Jim Haadsma stated “it’s an accomplishment for providing 55 years of continuing education and industry developments for its members”.

THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT Association released its 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report, which measures the restaurant industry’s continued recovery and examines the status of current and emerging trends across key categories including technology and off-premises business, operations, workforce, food and menus, and more.

Key findings illustrating how the restaurant industry continues its recovery include:

The foodservice industry is forecast to reach $898 billion in sales in 2022.

The foodservice industry workforce is projected to grow by 400,000 jobs, for total industry employment of 14.9 million by the end of 2022.

More than half of restaurant operators said it would be a year or more before businesses conditions return to normal. Food, labor, and occupancy costs are expected to remain elevated, and continue to impact restaurant profit margins in 2022.

Ninety-six percent of operators experienced supply delays or shortages of key food or beverage items in 2021 – and these challenges will likely continue in 2022.

Fifty-one percent of adults say they aren’t eating at restaurants as often as they would like, which is an increase of six percentage points from before the pandemic.

“The restaurant and foodservice industry has adapted and is carrying on with absolute resilience, so we’re optimistic about the path toward recovery in the coming year,” said Marvin Irby, Interim President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association. “We still have work to do to ensure that those operators struggling the most can survive. The Association will continue to champion the necessary government support needed at the federal and local levels to help keep these businesses — cornerstones of our communities — on a path to better days.”

To read the full report go to: https://restaurant.org/ research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-theindustry?utm_source=press&utm_medium=news&utm_ campaign=SOI2022

MICHIGAN-BASED Awdish Frozen Treats has acquired Frosty Products, a premier frozen dessert brand. Frosty Products was started in 1976 as one of Michigan’s first frozen yogurt companies and a national pioneer in the industry. In addition to their classic Frostyogurt, the brand is known for their frozen Classic Custard, frozen Vegan mixes, Frosty Ice and frozen yogurt smoothie mix products.

Becker’s Yogurt LLC purchased Frosty Products in 2005 as a local Michigan brand and, with the help of the Vice President of Sales, Aaron Morris, were able to expand it throughout several states to become one of the industry’s premier frozen treat brands. Awdish Frozen Treats is thrilled and honored to be able to continue the vision and grow Frosty Products as a leader in the industry. With Aaron Morris continuing in the role of Vice President of Sales, Frosty Products has plans to expand distribution throughout the country over the coming years.

“We are excited and grateful that the Becker family has trusted us to carry on their vision for Frosty Products,” said Kristen Awdish, President of Awdish Frozen Treats. “With our family’s background in food and beverage, and Aaron’s extensive industry knowledge and relationships, we see tremendous opportunities to continue the growth of these wonderful brands. To be the stewards of such premium products is an honor, and the only thing better than eating ice cream is selling it!”

Awdish Frozen Treats is a new entry in the frozen desserts market. With an extensive background in the food and beverage industry, the Awdish family looks forward to using their years of experiences and networking connections to continue to expand Frosty Products nationwide in accordance with the brand vision.

Frosty Products is a supplier of delicious frozen desserts and treats for distributors and stores with a wide variety of foodservice capabilities. They service customers of all kinds, from small mom & pop shops to theme parks and department stores, Frosty Products takes pride in connecting people with the treats they love. Their line of trademarked products has a little something for everyone and is marketable to people with varying needs and preferences. Frosty Products also provides consultation and expert advice to the table, mixing vast knowledge of the industry with innovative ideas that result in more sales and more happy faces! Visit Frosty Products at www.frostyproducts.com to learn more.

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JOSANNE KANIPE has been appointed as Director of Business Development, Carpigiani North America, an Ali Group Company.

Josanne is a foodservice veteran that brings more than 25 years of marketing and commercial foodservice experience to her new role. Before joining Carpigiani, Josanne held the position of COO at Pacojet North America / Swiss Culinary Equipment, Inc. Kanipe’s prior experience includes working with distributor networks and dealers as well as key account development. Josanne previously held the position of Business Development Manager for Advanced Gourmet where she was instrumental in leading the sales growth of several brands including Cattabriga frozen dessert equipment.

“I’m excited to bring my frozen dessert experience to customers looking for the wide range of quality solutions offered by Carpigiani, the global leader,” says Kanipe.

In her new role as Director of Business Development, Kanipe will expand Carpigiani’s growth in the ice cream and soft serve sectors through strategic partnerships and key account development reporting directly to Penny Klingler, President of Carpigiani North America. “Josanne’s experience will allow us to continue our focus on our professional equipment and educational programs as we secure additional chain business with the release of new labor-saving technology and products”, said Klingler.

Established in 1946 in Italy, Carpigiani enjoys an unrivaled market position, thanks to its high standards, top-quality products, customer service and technological innovation. The company supports its equipment with a worldwide network of highly skilled sales and service technicians and has seven subsidiaries and four manufacturing facilities. DR. JAMIE JONKER, Chief Science Officer for the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), was selected as the next National Ice Cream Mix Association (NICMA) executive director. NMPF has provided management services for the association for over 20 years. Tom Balmer, NICMA’s outgoing executive director, was recognized for his 22 years of service.

“Tom’s steady hand has guided NICMA for the past 22 years,” said David Catalana, NICMA president-elect. “His understanding of our unique sector of the dairy processing industry and dedication to the membership have aided the association immensely throughout his long tenure.”

Balmer will continue to serve as a senior advisor to the association. Jonker has been involved with the association for more than 12 years, most recently as NICMA technical director. NICMA, established in 1945, is a nonprofit trade association representing the manufacturing industry of ice cream mix, soft serve frozen dessert mix and shake mix.

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GREAT LAKES ICE CREAM and Fast Food Association held its election for the Board of Directors at the Annual Membership meeting, during the 2022 Convention and Trade Show, February 10 – 12, 2022, at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek Michigan.

Elected to the Board of Directors for a two-year term are Suppliers; Aaron Morris of Frosty Products, Ryan Pfeiffer of Homemade Ice Cream, and Mary Sowers of Ice Cream Advantage. Suppliers elected to a one-year term are; Greg Finzel of Michigan Electro Freeze, Dallas Gordon of Kuster’s Dairy, and Mitch Kleinman of Frozen Solutions. Store operators elected for a two-year term are; Cindy Bristol of Scooters Malt Shoppe, Anna Marie Decusky of Chill Out Ice Cream Parlor, and Tanyell Uren of Country Cove Store. Store Operators elected to a one-year term are; Joe Ericksen of Heavenly Creamery, Joanie Fagan of Roaring ‘20s Ice Cream Parlor, and Joe Watt of Rapid City Cone Corral.

Officers elected to a one-year term are; Joe Watt of Rapid City Cone Corral as President, Ryan Pfeiffer of Homemade Ice Cream as Vice President, Cindy Bristol of Scooters Malt Shoppe as Secretary/Treasurer, and Aaron Morris of Frosty Products moves to Immediate Past President.

Great Lakes Ice Cream and Fast Food Association was founded in 1967 by Ward J. Anderson then a sales manager for the former McDonald Dairy in Chesaning, Michigan.

YOLANDA WEIDNER has become the NEW team member at A. Panza & Sons, Ltd.

Yolanda has many years of experience operating her families successful ice cream store located in North Jersey.

She is very knowledgeable in store operations, especially in making/decorating cakes.

Yolanda’s territory consists of the following counties in New Jersey: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union, and Warren. New York counties: Orange, Rockland, and Ulster. Pennsylvania counties: Monroe, and Pike. Let’s all congratulate Yolanda in her new position.

Congratulations to Yolanda!!!!

THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT Association announced the appointment of Michelle L. Korsmo as the Association’s President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, effective May 1, 2022. In this role, Korsmo will be responsible for guiding the Association’s strategic path toward its vision for a thriving restaurant and foodservice community.

“The search committee led an exhaustive search for a people-centered leader with extensive business acumen and deep policy experience. We have found this in Michelle. She brings to both our Association and Foundation association leadership experience, including working closely with policymakers on a bipartisan basis. On a personal level, she embodies a warm sense of hospitality,” said Lance Trenary, Chair of the National Restaurant Association Board.

Korsmo is a seasoned trade association executive with extensive public policy experience at the federal and state levels. Since 2018, she served as President & CEO of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, prior to which she served as CEO of the American Land Title Association after being promoted from COO. Additionally, Korsmo was Executive Vice President at Americans for Prosperity Foundation and served in the 2001-2004 Bush Administration as Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.

“Every restaurant — Main Street eateries, quick-service cafes, fine-dining establishments, and all the foodservice locations in between — depend on the National Restaurant Association to serve as the leading advocate on their behalf at each level of government, especially given the unprecedented challenges restaurants continue to face from COVID-19’s impact on our country,” said Korsmo. “People from all backgrounds benefit from the training and education the National Restaurant Association and Educational Foundation provides, and it will be fulfilling to be a part of that important work. In so many ways, restaurants are the heart of our communities. Sharing the innovative ways these restaurants are serving those communities can better inform policymaking while also attracting the next generation of foodservice leaders and employees. It’s a tremendous honor for me to help lead that effort.” DAVID CATALANA, Vice President of Sales for Cumberland Dairy LLC of Rosenhayn, NJ, was named president of the National Ice Cream Mix Association (NICMA), gaining the position during the organization’s annual meeting, held this year virtually. The two-year term expires in 2024.

“We are excited to have David lead the organization for the next two years,” said Tom Balmer, outgoing executive director of the Arlington, VA-based association. “His deep knowledge of the ice cream mix business and experience on our leadership team have positioned him well to guide NICMA in achieving both near term objectives and longerterm aspirations. David’s enthusiasm for the industry is unmatched, and the entire NICMA membership stands to benefit.”

Outgoing President Bob Kmetz, General Manager of Prairie Farms Dairy, Granite City, IL, was also recognized for his four years of service.

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Industry Outlook

The National Dipper asked several ice cream shop owners from around the country to look at their business for the past year and to look ahead to predict the future of the ice cream industry in 2022. This year the participants are: Tony and Michele Bellafronte, The Collins Creamery, Enfield, CT; David Boyer, Jupiter Moon Ice Cream, St. Joseph, MN; Bonnie Butler, Eats & Sweets, Plymouth, MI; Joe D’Esposito, Coney Waffle, NJ; Donald Ephlin, Nibbles Ice Cream, Roscommon, MI; Joe and Kristen Fields, Whipty-Do!, Maineville, OH; Dorothee Grimm, Smiling Hill Farm, Westbrook, ME; Sharyn and Ted Lindblad, Cocktail Creamery, McKinney, TX; Kristy Magaro, Kristy’s Whistle Shop, Enola, PA; Heather Ross, Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream, Oneonta, NY; Nathan and Brittany Todd, Sugar Bowl, Decorah, IA; and Ken Willis, Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream, Denton, TX.

QUESTION: Please give a few sentences about yourself and your store. Where are you located? How long have you been in business? How many stores do you own? What do you serve? Etc.

BELLAFRONTE: The Collins Creamery is a small ice cream shop located on a dairy farm in Enfield, CT. Owned and managed by a husbandand-wife team, Tony and Michele Bellafronte. Serving a variety of frozen specialties with a concentration on homemade premium hard serve ice cream. 2022 marks our 25th season.

BOYER: I am David Boyer, owner of Jupiter Moon Ice Cream located in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Jupiter Moon has one brick and mortar store that opened in October 2020, however, the business started as an ice cream bicycle cart in May 2019. Jupiter Moon makes and serves small-batch, artisan ice cream and house-made waffle cones. We feature 20 flavors at a time including three to five vegan flavors.

BUTLER: I am Bonnie Butler. I am married with 2 daughters who are the light of my life. I love to write and sweets are my soft spot. I opened my store Eats & Sweets in January 2020 in the historic Plymouth Depot located in a quaint little town of Old Village Plymouth, Michigan, just outside of the downtown area. We were open 2 1/2 months before we had to close due to the pandemic but luckily we reopened a month later. We are known for our specialty shakes and lattes. We serve hard scooped ice cream only. Aside from our specialty shakes and coffee/lattes we have a variety of sundaes, coolers and floats, smoothies and refreshers. We just brought on breakfast bagel sandwiches and will soon offer flat bread pizza.

D’ESPOSITO: My name is Joe D’Esposito, owner of Coney Waffle. We have six corporate stores throughout the Jersey shore and offer franchises as well. The original Coney Waffle was operated by my grandmother, Angelina D’Esposito in Coney Island from 1946-1955. Realizing the novelty of the product, I revitalized the company in 2014 after obtaining a patent on the Coney waffle, a uniquely shaped hand-held confection that holds three scoops of ice cream, allowing the consumer to eat while walking. Drawing inspiration from Coney Island, our stores are decorated in a fun carnival theme, making it an ice cream “destination.”

EPHLIN: I am Donald Ephlin, owner of Nibbles Ice Cream, a small family-owned ice cream shop located in Roscommon, Michigan. This will be our 5th season. We focus on serving high quality Michigan made ice cream and frozen treats.

FIELDS: My name is Joe Fields and, along with my wife Kristen, own Whipty-Do! We met while we were both in college. Kristen and I opened Whipty-Do! in 2009, and we’re located about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati. We only have one location, but, even with Cincinnati winters, we’re open mid-February until mid-November serving soft serve ice cream at a shop that includes walk-up service and a fast-and-friendly drive-thru. Most importantly, Kristen and I are proud parents of Macy (8) and Fiona (7.)

GRIMM: I am Dorothee Grimm, owner of Smiling Hill Farm, located about 5 miles west of Portland, Maine’s largest city. We have been a family owned dairy farm since 1720. There is only one farm store, located at the farm. We process our milk into fluid milk (white and flavors), our own ice cream mix, as well as yogurt and cheese. We make about 40 ice cream flavors year round, and a few seasonal flavors.

LINDBLAD: Sharyn and Ted Lindblad opened our ice cream shop 2 ½ years ago and we focus on adult flavors. We infuse alcohol in most of our flavors and use premium ingredients (local when we can) in small artisanal style batches (hard ice cream). We are located in historic Downtown McKinney, Texas.

MAGARO: My name is Kristy Magaro. I own and operate Kristy’s Whistle Stop in Enola, PA. I have been in business since 2005 and we serve soft serve and hand dipped ice cream and everything that goes with that! We also have burgers and fries. We are a seasonal ‘50s style shop that has been there since 1958.

ROSS: I am Heather Ross of Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream which has been in operation since 1949 with Custard King batch machines (invented by Tom Carvel). The Ross Family are the eighth owners of the Polar Bear brand, original equipment & recipes. Polar Bear serves homemade ice cream, soft serve custard, hamburger/hots, fresh cut fries and Calabrian style pizza.

TODD: Sugar Bowl in downtown Decorah opened in 2008, and Nathan and Brittany Todd became owners in 2017. We have since launched an off-shoot site in Decorah (July 2020) which allowed us to add a food menu, and then later in March of 2021 we launched a third location in Fayette, Iowa thanks to an ambitious Upper Iowa University intern, Yi Mun, who reached out to tell us the town could use something fun to do year-round. Downtown Decorah is an ice cream only establishment. We feature 28+ flavors of ice cream, ensuring we have vegan, dairy-free, no sugar added, peanut-free and gluten-free options on hand at all times. Our specialties are our create-your-own specialty shakes, locally made GF monster cookie sandwiches, banana splits and ice cream cakes. Alongside 8 flavors of ice cream, The Landing Market location offers gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and meal deals. Meals include a sandwich, cup of soup, bag of chips, pickle and a drink. Our most popular sandwich is Pizza Party: locally made rosemary cheddar sourdough, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and marinara dipping sauce. Sugar Bowl Fayette expands on both of those location’s menus with an espresso, drip coffee and latte bar, as well as affogatos. If you haven’t ever had espresso poured over premium hard-serve ice cream, you’re missing out!

WILLIS: I am Ken Willis, one of the 3 owners of Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned

Ice Cream and I am in charge of operations. We have owned the business since 2003 and now have 3 locations of our own, plus we make and manufacture ice cream for 50 other locations. These include restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and other ice cream parlors. Beth Marie’s makes premium ice cream, sherbets, and sorbets.

QUESTION: Please tell us why and how you decided to open an ice cream store.

BELLAFRONTE: The shop was the idea of Michele’s father, Jack Collins, a dairy farmer. Family farms were beginning to diversify, and he thought that our location would be the perfect spot for an ice cream shop. He attended the short course in ice cream making at Penn State and passed his knowledge on to his daughter and sonin-law.

BOYER: One of my favorite questions to ask people even before I opened an ice cream business is what their favorite flavor of ice cream is. The answers are surprisingly varied and fun to hear. The follow up question I then ask is what they felt when they were thinking of their answer. At this point a smile always spreads across their face and almost universally they tell me they felt happy or joyful. That is why I opened an ice cream shop. I wanted to start a business where joy and happiness are paramount.

BUTLER: Long story, I’ll try and make it short. We own two buildings, the train depot and a smaller building next to that. Initially my daughter and I wanted to open a bakery in the smaller building. My daughter was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma right after that and I ended up changing it to a candy shop as an easier business to navigate while I took care of her. The candy store wasn’t doing well and I knew we needed to make better use of the buildings. I had asked my husband if I could take over the bigger building which was the actual train station, and he take the smaller building for his business. Since there were no other ice cream stores within a mile, I thought it would be a great idea to expand the candy store into an ice cream, candy, retail store. So we swapped buildings. It took a year to renovate it and bring it to code. So to answer your question, I decided on an ice cream store because I felt we needed to take advantage of the opportunity and it was the best business move in order to move forward and make a better living.

D’ESPOSITO: Once I obtained the patent and completed the re-manufacture of the original Coney Waffle machine, I decided to sell Coney Waffles and ice cream at the Belmar, NJ Seafood Festival in 2014. After a tremendous response to the unique confection, I knew I had a winning product! In 2016 we opened the first Coney Waffle brick and mortar location in Belmar, NJ.

EPHLIN: Nibbles has been a local icon for over 50 years. We saw an opportunity to build on its legacy when the previous owners decided to retire.

FIELDS: After college, Kristen worked for a boutique advertising agency (small business) and I worked as the promotions director for a Top 40 radio station. After leaving radio, I was hired as the marketing director at one of the franchises for the Woodhouse Day Spa (small business), a former coworker started. Kristen comes from a family that owns RitterHagee Optometry (small business) and worked for Pipkin’s Fruit & Vegetable Market (small business) in high school and college, but I didn’t come to appreciate that atmosphere until actually working at one myself. I loved the thought of being my own boss immediately, read a few books about starting your own business, knew it was more of a speed and can-do mode I would be comfortable with, and we were already both big fans of ice cream.

GRIMM: We milk cows, but there is not much money to be made in fluid milk only. So we decided to add value-added products such as ice cream. People from all over the country enjoy coming to the farm as an open space right in a for Maine densely populated area, and enjoy an ice cream cone while watching the cows in the pasture. LINDBLAD: My husband had been asking me for years what type of business would I want to own and do together. He has always been an entrepreneur (self-employed) and I had always been a corporate girl in the retail fashion industry. I worked at a Friendly’s restaurant during a summer college break and remember the fun I had and the smiles that were always on everyone’s face eating ice cream. My husband was supportive of opening an ice cream shop, but he wanted to do something slightly different. He recalls his grandmother and mother always pouring some spirits on top of their ice cream and he wanted to infuse it and make great tasting unique flavors. We planned this for almost 2 years and also went to ice cream school.

MAGARO: I grew up going to the Whistle Stop and it has been a community staple since 1958. It was also my Dad’s first job. So when it went up for sale, my Dad said what do you think? Do you think we could make it work? I said sure. The rest is history. LOL

ROSS: To continue the 70+ year tradition! Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream is Oneonta’s oldest name in ice cream in 1949. We purchased the Polar Bear brand in 2015, constructed the new building at its current location, and opened the doors in 2018.

TODD: After graduating in 2009 from Luther College with a degree in Physical Education, Nathan spent the next 7 years in school districts throughout the area, but knew there was something even better out there for him. After going back to school at WGU to get a Masters of Science in Management and Leadership, he realized he wanted to start his own business. When the topic came up he tended to lean towards the restaurant realm, but he couldn’t quite figure out what direction that would take him. A grad school paper led him to research the changes that may happen if someone were to buy Sugar Bowl Ice Cream Company, and the more he researched it the more it seemed to fit the family’s plan. Some would call it a coincidence that it was a photograph that caused them to meet

for the first time and then when Sugar Bowl went up for sale, Brittany’s studio (Photography by Brittany) was located across the street. We don’t believe in coincidences though, it was destined to be long before even we knew that would be the case.

WILLIS: The couple who first owned it did what they could do with it for a few years and then decided to sell. I owned a nearby restaurant and one of my partners, Bob Moses, owned the building. Bob and I came together with a 3rd partner and bought Beth Marie’s. It seemed like a fun business to have.

QUESTION: How did you manage to stay in business during the COVID-19 pandemic?

BELLAFRONTE: We were just opening for the season when the pandemic began in 2020. We decided to stay open for business with safety precautions in place. We had the advantage of being a window service establishment, so customers were able to take out ice cream. We reduced the number of staff working at a time, only served from two windows, and closed the tables. We purchased traffic cones to separate customers and socially distance in line. Customers were adapting their visit by staying in their cars or sitting in the back of their pickup trucks. Often customers were so thankful that we were open to help them cope with the stress of the pandemic.

BOYER: We opened right in the midst of the pandemic. Not by choice but the pandemic interrupted our timeline and forced the opening to occur in October in Minnesota, during a pandemic. Not recommended. We stayed open during this time by building out our shop with COVID in mind. We added a walk-up window so we could keep serving with the dining room closed. We changed the interior layout of the dining room to allow for more room between customers. We focused production and marketing on pints and cups. Further, COVID made for a friendlier financing which provided a larger amount of working capital to help through the slow down. BUTLER: When the pandemic hit 2.5 months after we opened, we decided to close the doors in order to figure out what we needed to do and to wrap our heads around what was happening. We decided to open a month later and made sure we had every requirement in place before we made the announcement we were open. The inside was closed but we made it very convenient for our customers to either use curbside or our service window. For a short period we also delivered within a 2 mile radius. I knew we were going to make it through when one by one our customers would come to our window and say “thank you for being open”, “we are so happy you are here”, “this gives us a little normalcy in our lives”, “are you going to stay open”. There are no words to describe the feeling of knowing you are doing good for the community.

D’ESPOSITO: We were already a take-out business, so it was a relatively simple transition to pivot to an online ordering system that allowed curbside pickup and delivery throughout New Jersey and New York.

EPHLIN: Nibbles is a walk-up service shop (carry out only). We focused safety, meeting and exceeding state requirements and incorporating what our customers expected and/or wanted. We were lucky, our methods help keep our entire team safe.

FIELDS: Even though Ohio never forced us to fully shut down operations, we closed for approximately 5 weeks in 2020. Frankly, it was much needed from the anxiety of that March, and we looked at it as a chance to enjoy spring with our daughters and were aware that chance might never come again. The decision to temporarily close, was a decision that came together with less than 24 hours notice. We told our team in the morning and announced it to our guests in the afternoon. Fearing we would actually be throwing away over a week’s worth of product, our community all but sold out everything we had in the store except for a single gallon of mix. We turned that into pints and quarts for our team to enjoy during quarantine—so not all was lost. When GRIMM: We added safety measures (e.g., masks, plexi glass barrier for the cashier, disinfection of surfaces), offered curbside pick up for all items sold in the store and lunch café. We sell our ice cream not only in our dipping cabinets but also in pint and quart containers to go; while the sales of cones/dishes went down, the sales of pints and quarts went up. We added products such as bread and meats to our offerings to make it more of a onestop-shop. Customers seemed to rather buy at a small store for both inside shopping and curbside pick up than a large supermarket.

LINDBLAD: We shared a small space with a local gourmet (mom & pop) donut shop but they decided to close as they were struggling and covid made it impossible. We had only been open 7 months when we learned we needed to find another location. Fortunately, we started to make a good reputation and a restaurant a block down the street and in the middle of the historic district asked us to move in. They are known for their pies and what better to go with pies than homemade ice cream. They also owned the building and it is a huge space so we had no issues with complying to the mandates. We did more curbside and call ahead orders and also offered free delivery for quarts only in a 15-mile radius.

MAGARO: We were lucky during covid because we already have a big outside seating area. We just didn’t let anyone in the building. We had staff running out to take orders and then staff making it and running it out to the customers. We just made it work. Customers were actually happy cause it gave them a little bit of almost normal going out for ice cream.

ROSS: Our focus has been to improve and expand our take-out service to accommodate the current challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TODD: Hands down it was thanks to our community. The state of Iowa went into lockdown on March 15, 2020 and

we were slated to open for the season March 20 (seasonally closed since November ‘19). Nathan (co-owner) spent 48 hours straight learning how to build an online ordering system via our POS: Toast, while Brittany (co-owner) and the intern at the time, Riley Carlson, put together posters on how to order from your car, and then the community just showed up. They ordered pints, take-home kits to create your own ice cream sandwiches, donut sundaes and soda floats, scoops, and apparel (that we had designed and purchased one month before lockdown began). They shared posts, left reviews and just kept rallying to keep all of the small businesses in Decorah afloat. Some would say we put in the work, but it doesn’t matter how much work you put in if you don’t have a community to back you. We thankfully, do.

WILLIS: To stay in business during Covid, we started out (and have continued doing) Curbside and To-Go orders. We began using online ordering services like: DoorDash, GrubHub, & UberEats. We created partnerships with other local businesses. We don’t have a drive-thru at any of our locations, but we made Pop-Up Drive-Thrus for our customers. And, of course, we received help from the PPP loans.

QUESTION: How have you and your employees been affected by the pandemic?

BELLAFRONTE: Our business increased during the pandemic as our location was outside and customers were able to socially distance themselves from others. This did cause extra pressure on our staff as we tried to socially distance within the serving room as well as sanitize more frequently. Our production increased to keep up with demand, so we were able to keep all our employees working.

BOYER: The biggest impact COVID made is creating staffing uncertainty. There was far less need for scooper staffing. Hours were cut which disrupted employee schedules and paychecks. On the flip-side I had to increase production staffing to accommodate the increased pints and cups. Managing this staffing challenge continues to be a major endeavor.

BUTLER: The pandemic has affected me with the uncertainty of what the next day, week or month will bring. Surprisingly 2020 was busier for us and more consistent than 2021. In 2020 people were home. They couldn’t go to most restaurants so we were always busy. I believe in 2021 people were finally able to travel and get out of town and that affected us to the point where I couldn’t determine busy times any more. There was no longer the “busy” and “slow” times. It was just all over the place. For my employees, I would say the pandemic also affected them once they had to return to school after being virtual for most of the year. They had a hard time committing to working a set schedule. They didn’t know how to navigate their school, homework, free time and work schedule.

D’ESPOSITO: While challenging at first, our team quickly adapted to the necessary changes brought on by the pandemic. We remained flexible in following the ever-changing EPHLIN: Stress. Customer’s stress and short tempers would spill over to our team. We added training on how to handle difficult customers.

FIELDS: Who hasn’t been affected, right? Overall, sadly, I think guests are a little less kind than pre-pandemic. We’re all dealing with so much undue stress and looking for avenues for us to direct that stress that, unfortunately, service workers are easy targets. I don’t think this is a permanent change and simple things like being able to fully drop masks and smile to our guests will probably go a long way. Some changes have been positive though, such as our store temporarily going cashless. We saw that it was a benefit long-term to only allow guests to pay by credit card that we are still credit card only in our drive-thru and I think our guests appreciate how fast it has made us.

GRIMM: We had very few isolated cases where an employee was exposed to Covid or became sick with what turned out not to be Covid. Safety measures such as mask/glove policies and stay-at-home rules for sick employees allowed us to keep the store open.

LINDBLAD: We have all taken the needed precautions and if someone is not feeling well, they stay home, fortunately it did not hit us hard and my employees partnered with each other to cover shifts when needed.

MAGARO: My staff is wonderful! The pandemic just turned everything upside down but my staff continued to handle it and we just work through it together.

ROSS: We have complied with all state mandates/regulations (mask and social distancing). We also reduced our indoor seating and doubled our outdoor seating also.

TODD: Like everyone, our entire staff was affected by how many hours they were able to work, and at first many were on lock down as the state recommended, so we worked shifts with sibling pairs (we had 4 pairs of siblings at the time) and window service only. Overall though our staff continued to support each other no matter what. They supported each other‘s choices, and always defaulted to wearing a mask if it helped those around them feel the most at ease. We have all students, ages 14 - 22 working for us, and seeing them all step up in a way that they were there for each other more than ever over the last two years was an extremely humbling experience. Something we could all take note of as we support others not just during the pandemic, but also moving forward.

WILLIS: For starters, I have had to work a lot of extra hours. With Covid, we have been constantly adjusting our hours that we are open. The employees have been able to work as much or as little as they want. Our costs have all gone up and the staff is now able to earn more hourly. This has resulted in us having to go up in our prices.

QUESTION: What procedures did you put in place during the pandemic that you will continue to use even after the pandemic is over?

BELLAFRONTE: We will continue to follow the CDC guidelines and the state mandates as we open for the season, with increased emphasis on cleaning and reducing the time spent at the window.

BOYER: We changed our ordering and payment process to take orders and payment first. This resulted in a much smoother process that was quicker and provided better customer service. We also decided to not offer samples during the pandemic. We won’t offer samples when the pandemic lifts. It has kept the ordering process quick and provides us an opportunity to interact more with the customers by telling the story of each flavor. It has become an interaction not just a transaction. That has led to a level of customer service that sets us apart from our competition. BUTLER: We will continue to wear gloves and in the winter I may require masks for my employees. It’s been so nice not getting sick because we are wearing masks. There are other things we do to avoid customers touching our gloves when handing off an item so we will continue to do those. For example, when someone wants to sample ice cream, we will use a sample spoon and put it on a napkin and place it on the counter for them to pick it up.

D’ESPOSITO: We avoided any chance of customer contamination by removing the spoons, straws, and napkins from the counter. While most processes have returned to normal, we will continue to hand out spoons, napkins, and straws with the order. To keep our guests safe, our staff will continue to wear face masks and offer hand sanitizer.

EPHLIN: Workflow and cleaning protocols. We had modified our work flow and added work stations to reduce employee bottle necks and help create social distancing for the customers.

FIELDS: Before we closed and after we re-opened we instituted many policies to keep our team members and guests safe. Besides daily temperature checks and masks, we also went completely cashless, added gloves to all parts of our operation, added a service shelf to our drive-thru for us to place items for our guests, and (largely due to the service shelf) all cones were only offered as cone-in-cup. All vaccinated team members were able to not wear masks in 2021 until the Delta variant tasked us to require masks for all team members again. We’re hoping 2022 allows us to go back to being maskless so we can show our guests our bright smiles in interactions. We did decide to keep our drive-thru credit card only and allow our guests to use cash or credit card at our walk-up window. Being credit card only in our drive-thru allowed us to move our drive-thru line faster than we were pre-pandemic and we thought this was a better benefit to all of our guests while still giving them the opportunity to use cash at our walk-up window if they like. LINDBLAD: More sterile cleaning during each shift and now we always have hand sanitizer out for our customers. If someone is ill with flu like symptoms, they stay home until they feel better. We all want to stay healthy - this has always been in place but and I think everyone is more cognizant on how they feel and manage it.

MAGARO: We changed our hours during lunch Tuesday and Wednesdays cause people are working from home and just not coming out until evenings those days. After looking at the numbers from years past and the numbers with the shorter days there wasn’t that much different so we are going to continue with those hours. If people do not feel comfortable coming in and would like us to come out to them or bring their order out, then we will.

ROSS: Polar Bear has always implemented extra sanitary precautions before the pandemic (i.e., all employees required to wear food grade gloves while preparing all orders.). In addition to this, Polar Bear has implemented and kept in place our state’s required compliance (social distancing and masks).

TODD: Hands down online ordering. It gets a little tricky for our rotating flavors when it comes to cones and dishes, but with regards to our apparel line, ice cream cakes, meals and lattes, it’s a game changer and definitely here to stay! Working with Toast allowed us to link our online system to Instagram, Facebook, Google and on our website.

WILLIS: We definitely use a lot more gloves and sanitizer. We follow all of our government recommendations on when to allow our staff to work so that they feel comfortable and safe. We also hired an outside company to come in once a week to sanitize and clean everything. thoroughly, during our more busy months.

QUESTION: Are you experiencing supply chain shortages and how are you managing that?

BELLAFRONTE: We were beginning to see supply issues at the end of the season last year and began preparing for this season by pre-purchasing packaging, ice cream inclusions and flavorings. We are planning to change some of our sundae containers to overcome some of our supply issues.

BOYER: Yes, struggling with stocking cups and pints as well as some of our inclusions. Making due by using alternate pint packaging and modifying our flavors. Also trying to order much farther in advance than I would normally do.

BUTLER: I have experienced supply chain shortages since last summer. It was so bad I had to discontinue many of our menu items like our cream puffs, certain flavors of ice cream and refreshers to name a few. I am managing the shortages the only way I can, by being honest with our customers about the shortages and alerting them to it before they place an order. Most have been understanding.

D’ESPOSITO: Due to our outstanding relationships with our vendors, we managed to sidestep supply chain issues. Our suppliers were well prepared so when some items became difficult to obtain, they were able to offer comparable replacements. Thankfully, our suppliers diligently stayed in front of the shortages which helped us succeed.

EPHLIN: Yes! We monitor the market work with our suppliers to better forecast where we might have a problem. If we have issues, we will do a temporary menu change.

FIELDS: Supply chain shortages have been a never-ending dilemma since the pandemic started, but we’ve pivoted mostly okay. Thankfully dairy has never been a huge issue, but other products seem to roll through issues. For a while we couldn’t get the specific cups that we wanted. Then we couldn’t get our specific peanut butter for nearly a year. Now, I think a bigger industry issue is that the supply chain is catching up from a delivery standpoint, but the costs are much, much higher. Overall, our costs are about 13% higher than a year ago. For the first time ever, we’ve had to universally raise prices on all of our items for our seasonal menu update. We’ve also done a once over on our items and dropped a couple of non-performing ingredients from our menu and swapped a topping out for a cheaper alternative that is one of those unicorns that is cheaper, easier to use, and tastes as good or better as we were already using.

GRIMM: Yes, we’ve had shortages of gloves, soap, disinfectant, masks, containers, ingredients. Fortunately we could find alternative suppliers and be creative – e.g., we used different soap dispensers to fit a different type of soap for a while, a family member sewed masks for all employees. Sometimes a flavor could not be produced until we received the key ingredient again.

LINDBLAD: YES! It is crazy how inconsistent deliveries and availability of product is. We have had to make some paper product supplier shifts and that means new lids and has caused additional inventory and the prices have also increased. I now work with 3 suppliers for the same like product. Having supplier backups for your backups is now needed. We place orders a few weeks earlier than we would have before. Fortunately, there are still several buying options available to us.

MAGARO: At the end of the season we had issues getting some things but we just make it work. We have learned to be flexible and creative. If we can’t get something we will just fill in with a special on something new or different to offset. Creativity has been key during the pandemic.

ROSS: We expect that there will be issues with supply chain shortages in 2022 and plan to work closely with our distributors. Planning and flexibility will be key with these issues.

TODD: We are experiencing some supply chain issues, but we’re certainly not letting that slow us down. We don’t have every size available for every color of our apparel line, so instead we expanded the color options to ensure every size has at least four colors to choose from. As far as the food supply items go, we’ve been fairly lucky. Being out of a flavor one week means introducing a “this week only” ice cream in its place. We’ve occasionally had to get different spoons, cups and straws, but above all our incredible team, and the customer service they provide, will always outweigh what color spoon we use when it comes to our overall customer experience.

WILLIS: Yes, we have had many supply chain shortages. Everything from drinks, boxes, cups, and plastic items to our ice cream mix. We would try all the different suppliers to get substitutes of some kind or just do without till the item(s) is available again. We try to notify our customers of the shortage issues as best we can.

QUESTION: Are your mix/ice cream prices increasing or decreasing for 2022? To what do you attribute the increase or decrease in price?

BELLAFRONTE: We have been reaching out to our suppliers and are finding that mix prices are increasing for this season. They were lower last year as compared to other seasons, but we expect that prices will continue to rise as we get into the summer season. Inflation, the supply chain, gas prices, transportation issues all will continue to impact the prices for this year.

BOYER: Ice cream mix is increasing and will be the largest negative impact to our bottom line in 2022. I attribute this to inflation.

BUTLER: We purchase our ice cream from a local source. Their pricing went up so we had to increase ours a little this year. I would assume the cost of things are going up because we are either still in short supply and the demand is high and/or our suppliers are relying on other countries for product.

D’ESPOSITO: Our product prices will increase for 2022. We attribute this to the same challenges facing most industries: increasing labor and transportation costs, and inflation.

EPHLIN: Nibbles is expecting product costs for 2022 to increase. Supply chain issues and new regulations, throughout our industry, will drive the price and demand.

FIELDS: Our mix price has increased over the past year, but only about 5% which we’re counting as a win. Downthe-road, prices could go up further as global prices and inflation catch the American dairy industry more, but at this stage of the pandemic, I think the dairy industry is shielded a tad more from the supply chain and labor issues that have affected other industries much more.

GRIMM: The majority is increasing, due to packaging/ingredient price increases and increased labor cost.

LINDBLAD: Our ice cream mix has had price increases in 2021 and have not heard of additional increase at the moment. It is attributed to dairy prices going up and freight. We have not raised our retail prices since we opened but we plan to in March (spring). With winter time being slower we want to maintain them. We continue to analyze all the costs so when we raise them, we hope to not have to adjust for some time.

MAGARO: Oh my they are increasing like crazy. Everything is increasing. We don’t open until April but this is the first year that I am actually worried about having to increase my prices like crazy cause everything is going up and not just a little. My distributor called and said $3/ gallon on mix, and $2-3 per tub, along with the increase in electricity and I just got a email from ugi gas is going up 9.7%. How are we even supposed to survive on this? Inflation is going to make it very hard this season I am afraid. A lot of people I know who have restaurants are selling or thinking about selling. It is a scary time!

ROSS: We anticipate that all raw materials will be increasing and will have to increase our prices to offset the increases. is an understandable time to make that change. Overall supplies are in higher demand, and thus it makes sense to raise the cost.

WILLIS: Our ice cream mix prices have and will continue to increase this year. This is due to a number of things: supply issues, shortage of employees, and increase in wages.

QUESTION: What new products and/or flavors will you offer customers in 2022?

BELLAFRONTE: We will be offering customers a variety of specials related to our 25th anniversary including “flights” of our specialty flavors for customers to try.

BOYER: We will continue to offer scoops in cones and cups in addition to pints. This year we will also offer ice cream sandwiches and add sherbets and Italian ice to the menu as well as more vegan options. Flavor-wise we are always experimenting. Chocolate Rosemary and Whisky Peach are being worked on right now. Currently we run 20 flavors at a time with over 60 different flavors we rotate through. We’ll add 25 plus new flavors to the menu by the end of the year.

BUTLER: We are offering 3 new specialty shakes (for a total of 8) and have purchased a 2 head espresso machine to be able to meet the demand of our coffee loving customers. I will also be bringing on a frozen specialty treat this summer. It will most likely be a dipped ice cream sandwich or some other unusual ice cream treat no one else in the area is selling.

D’ESPOSITO: The Coney Waffle test kitchen is working on an exciting new line of ice cream flavors including one called “The Jersey Devil” (based on a South Jersey legend). Our test kitchen is constantly innovating, creating new toppings and inclusions while watching trends. This will be an exciting year as we enter new markets.

EPHLIN: At Nibbles, we will continue to expand our dietary options

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to better service our customers needs and lifestyle choices. Including gluten free, no sugar adds and vegan options.

FIELDS: We have a Secret Menu which we update throughout the year, but don’t necessarily write out in the winter all of the new additions to it. Our store is also pretty good at having promotions and weekend products that are seasonal or newsworthy, but instead of pushing on the weekends, we’re going to try and push to more during the weekdays and let the weekends be the driving force they already are.

GRIMM: We haven’t come up with any new products or flavors yet.

LINDBLAD: We add new flavors monthly and will continue to expand our dairy free options. We plan to offer ice cream cakes to our assortment.

MAGARO: We always start off with the basics until we get going and then my staff and I put our heads together and get creative. We had some things that were really popular at the end of last season we will bring back at the beginning. We are always taste testing different things that come into our heads, then we will run them as a special and see how they fare out.

ROSS: We gather information from our customers for new flavor ideas at the end of the prior season, develop them during our down time and unveil them at the start of the new season. It creates renewed interest and excitement for our product.

TODD: For the first time we’ve launched a holiday themed ice cream cake for Valentine’s Day as well as “Game Day Grab n’ Go” platters for the day before. With the excitement and chatter around the cakes we will definitely plan for other themed options as the year continues.

WILLIS: We will continue to make premium ice cream, sherbets, and sorbets. New flavors are a random thing when the mood and inspiration strikes us. We also create special flavors for our customers when requested.

QUESTION: What was your best selling item during the 2021 summer season? Why?

BELLAFRONTE: Our best-selling item last season was an ice cream made exclusively for our high school safe graduation fundraiser. We had the students and parents develop flavors and vote on a favorite. We offered both a hard and soft serve option which were limited time only. Having the students involved in making the ice cream flavor helped to make it a novelty.

BOYER: A single scoop of Salted Caramel with Truffles in one of our house-made waffle cones was our 2021 best seller. Everybody loves salted caramel! I assume in 2022 it will be the same although we have some new flavors in mind that might challenge it.

BUTLER: Our best selling item during the summer of 2021 was by far our Train Wreck Specialty Shake. Our specialty shakes are our #1 seller with the Train Wreck being the top seller. If I had to guess why it’s our most popular and best seller, I would say it’s in the name. Since we are in the old train depot I think people feel more connected to the station with the Train Wreck shake. And yes, there was a train wreck in 1907 just a short ways from our depot. A little bit of history goes a long way!

D’ESPOSITO: 2021 was our best year so far! While we saw an increase in sales throughout our entire menu, the Coney Waffle remains our best seller. People love the convenience, taste, and flavor combination. During the pandemic, it was a welcome treat!

EPHLIN: Our Michigan made hand dipped ice cream. Serving a high quality and creamy ice cream at a competitive price is a winning combination for both Nibbles and our customers.

FIELDS: Our #1 item for # of sales is blue ice cream that is blueberry flavored and is the same hue as Smurfs. It’s a local favorite that you can get at an amusement park near where we’re located. That supply chain changed about 10 years ago, but we worked backwards on the flavor and have a flavor that is closer to the original flavor. There are major fans of our blue ice cream and we have people show up with coolers and dry ice ready to load them up with pints and quarts to take home sometimes as far as 2 hours away. Our #1 item in dollar sales is the Peanut Butter Beast. It was the first item on our Secret Menu and started as a treat I started making for myself. Guests would ask, “Well, what do YOU get?” And I’d describe it to them. If you like peanut butter at all, you’ll be a fan. Like I said, it was the first item on our Secret Menu which now boasts over 60 different creations that Kristen, our team, our guests, or I have come up with.

GRIMM: Still analyzing the numbers. We have the usual favorite flavors like chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip, but also saw a large demand for e.g. ginger.

LINDBLAD: Our salted butter caramel was our number 1 ice cream flavor year round, it is rich in flavor and the touch of heath bar crunch brings it over the top.

MAGARO: Our Fat Mama Sundae is always our most popular. It is a pb and hf sundae with pb cups. Why? Because PB and HF and PB cups! It doesn’t get much better than that. Ha Ha!

ROSS: Our best sellers are the classic homemade flavors of Polar Bear from the original recipes (Walt’s Choc. Marshmallow, Jamocha Almond Fudge, Almond Joy). We have also created many new favorites (D’Urzo’s Cannoli, Polar Bear Tracks, Elvis Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich).

TODD: Our favorite product that came out of 2021 was definitely Gnome Sundaes! After a year hiatus, due to the pandemic in 2020, Nordic fest returned in 2021. We used our partnership with The Konery, a woman-owned small business based out of Brooklyn, New York to showcase their handcrafted blue corn chip waffle cones as the perfect hat to our Norwegian-themed sundaes. It was not only

a delicious product, but it matched our fest-themed shirts and was widely shared on social media as it sold out during the week of the fest. Being able to have a successful product that also supports another small business along the way is certainly an added bonus!

WILLIS: I would say that pints & quarts are the best selling items in our stores. This is also true for our delivery services. On the commercial/wholesale side, the 2.5 Gallon boxes are the most popular, since most of the businesses that are scooping Beth Marie’s ice cream have done well during the pandemic.

QUESTION: Good employees are one of the “keys” to a good business. How do you find good employees and what do you do to keep them?

BELLAFRONTE: Our employees are like family (and many of them are). It is difficult to keep staff, especially in an ice cream shop that is seasonal. We try to make the experience fun, friendly and unforgettable. This job can be stressful, having to deal with customers, remember recipes, cup sizes so we try to support each other on and off the job. Sometimes the job is overwhelming for first time job holders and so we like to hire help that have had some job experience, so they are not so green.

BOYER: Finding good employees is tough. We have had no shortage of applications but performance once they are hired has been varied. I strongly believe it comes down to three things: 1. Good training 2. Strong communication 3. Clear expectations. Having those in place and always continually improving processes that support them will lead to much better job performance for each employee. 2022 is our second season and we learned so much last year. How to manage, foster good job performance, and provide an environment where my employees can succeed is top priority for improvement.

BUTLER: I have been extremely lucky to have found employees that are honest and hard working. I had a couple hiccups last summer and was in desperate need of help and ended up hiring a couple girls even though I wasn’t quite sure about them. Lesson learned. The girls who are working for me now are fabulous. The way I keep them happy and interested is to have them do things I normally do. I teach them about dessert decorating, marketing, and how accounting and inventory works. I ask them about school and how after school activities are going. Once a week I put a motivational or inspirational quote on the white board. Just being more of a person to them then someone they work for.

D’ESPOSITO: It’s really a simple equation. We treat our employees how we would like to be treated.

EPHLIN: Recommendations from current or former employees. Competitive pay and year-end bonuses.

FIELDS: Our team is such an asset and I think about it every single day. I try to thank every single one of them individually at the end of their shifts, we have a weekly e-mail where we give shout outs, we have staff parties and get togethers about once a month, a year-end party, and an overall culture where they’re included, accepted, and appreciated. I love working with people at such a big stepping stone in their lives. Our hiring process is NOT simple and it’s designed that way intentionally—we want people that want to be there. We hire only once per year and do all of our hiring just before we open for the season. Our application is 4 pages long and includes a MadLib, asks people to arrange 10 attributes that describe them in order from best to worse, which household chores they’ve done in the past week, etc. It’s thorough, but super informative and we generally wind up with ~50 applications. We rule out any candidates that have brutal schedules or are otherwise ineligible for our needs and have a 15 min phone interview with 45 of those applications. Previously, we’ve brought in the top 20-30 candidates for an in-person interview, but last year did that portion on Zoom. When we have that second interview, we ask them to supply a resume and their school transcript. The resume is to see what kind of time they put in towards getting the job. If they skip the resume or it’s basic, it says a bit about how much they care when they supposedly “want” the job. For most, this is their first job so they’re all lacking experience (and that is A-OK), but when you set all of the resumes next to each other, you can quickly tell who cares and who doesn’t. The transcript portion answers a bunch of questions and doesn’t lie. If

they have a decent GPA, they’re probably a good student and it shows they put effort towards their grades. If they put effort towards that, you can get an okay idea what kind of effort they’ll put towards having a job. If someone is already teetering with grades, their parents are going to make them get rid of that new job if their grades start to slip, so we want to make sure we’ve got people that can already balance school. Additionally, the transcript includes their sick days and tardies. After going through every person that has worked for us and comparing their transcripts, alarms go off if candidates have more than a couple tardies of if they’ve missed more than 8 days of school. It’s almost a universal rule for our team that if they have 8 or more missed days of school, they’re going to have attendance issues for us. Why hire someone that you know is going to be showing up late or calling in sick all the time? So we don’t and go on to the next person. After the in-person/Zoom interview, we select our team. To a lot of ice cream shop owners, I’m sure that sounds exhausting, but I’ll say this: we don’t have a “Now Hiring” sign up at our business any other portion of the year (we’ve only had to do a second hiring session once) and our team is fantastic. We’re told constantly how great they are and we do everything we can to make sure they’re happy. Thankfully, our store doesn’t go through a lot of mid-season turnover. So, all of the work we put in to building our fantastic team in January & February (when we’re closed anyway) pays off in May and June and not dealing with headache team members that show up late, no call/no show, or aren’t great to be around.

GRIMM: Good employees are THE key to a good business. We have had a hard time during the last couple summers to hire anyone for the season and beyond. Decent pay and benefits (incl. store discount, free farm products, free use of farm ski trails, holiday gifts) are a must. Tell your employees that you value them. Offer employee training and workshops for added skills. LINDBLAD: We have been fortunate that people want to work for us. We promoted 1 loyal associate to full time assist manager and hire local college kids and PT mothers. My husband and I work 6 days a week, and I still manage the front, so that helps. We are very flexible with our associates; I continue to work with their availability and try to keep the schedule the same each week. They want the hours we hired them for and as long as they perform, they keep them. When we get a 5 star review, we give each associate a bonus. We keep the work place fun and pay well and then we get good results.

MAGARO: We are very fortunate with our employees. We are lucky that we have very little turn around. I love my employees and we treat them like family. We work hard and play hard. I usually hire people who I know or our staff knows personally. We have a lot of families that all of the siblings work. I try to hire the kids who are involved in sports and school. These kids seem to be more responsible and are good at time management and know how to work as a team. We often get compliments on how friendly and hard working our staff is. I do not have any kids of my own so I treat them and care about them like they are my kids, and they tend to stay with us until they are out of college, married, and have kids of their own. My best friends work with us! Like I said we are family!

ROSS: We are a seasonal employer and hire mostly high school/college students. You must be honest with applicants and employees regarding your expectations as this work is not all fun! We find that the best employees come from farm working class families that understand responsibility and demanding work. Polar Bear offers a pleasant environment, teamwork, and family atmosphere.

TODD: I hesitate to say it, as I know it’s everyone’s greatest struggle right now, but we’re extremely fortunate that we don’t ever have a lack of people applying to work for us, even during the pandemic. They may not all be old enough to work all hours of the day, but we are told time and time again that our customer service is one of the friendliest and most welcoming in town. At Sugar Bowl we’re a family. If you subscribe to our newsletter you’re officially part of the Sugar Bowl family. If you’re on our staff you’re part of our crew and the owners are leaders not “bosses”. We never ask to be called “Boss”, because we don’t boss them around, we give instructions in a way that builds a trust in their work ethic when we’re not looking, and as a result they want to work alongside us to keep the business thriving, because they take pride in being part of the team. Honesty and communication is key, along with letting their voices be heard. Just because we, as owners, think it makes sense to keep spoons in a certain spot, doesn’t mean it will work well for them. As a result of open communication, when they take the opportunity to voice their opinions we take the time to listen and hear their thought process along the way. When they are at work they are there to work, and we hold them to that standard. Take time to chat with your fellow team members, but when a customer walks in it’s time to shift the conversation and attention. But above all, we realize they are students and actual humans first and foremost, with lives and stories and celebrations and difficulties. We acknowledge their birthdays, concerts, speech contests, solo ensemble, hobbies and strengths, and we offer support whenever we are able, both personally and professionally. Although we’d love for them to all work for us forever and always, we understand our workplace is just a pass-through opportunity for them, working hard for us ensures we’ll help them network to get their next job and/ or opportunity to the best of our ability.

WILLIS: Times have changed and we are still trying to figure everything out. Normally, we do a double interview, but with employment being so scarce, we have gone to just one interview. We also post jobs on our social media and in all stores. We are also now paying more and are offering benefits.

QUESTION: In your opinion, what are the other “keys” to a successful business?

BELLAFRONTE: We feel that service is important. Our customers want to feel like part of the family, so our employees are always starting conversations and trying to remember customer favorites. We feel that listening is an important part of the service we provide and so we encourage our staff to ask questions so that they can get it right the first time. Speedy service with a smile is the key to a great business.

BOYER: The biggest key I think for any business is to understand their customer and their experience when they visit Jupiter Moon. What are their expectations? What delights them? How do they feel when they enter the shop? How do they feel when they leave? Paying attention to these questions means creating a positive experience for the customer. Not just a transaction. That is key.

BUTLER: As a business owner you always have to be on your A game. It’s hard to always smile and be polite but it’s essential. Customer service is #1. Going above and beyond goes a long way. I try to remember customers names and what they order so when they come in I ask them if they want the usual. People love when you remember them! I’ve also learned that you can’t please everyone and that has been the hardest for me. But as long as at the end of the day I know I’ve done my best then that’s all I can do.

D’ESPOSITO: Coney Waffle is an Ice Cream Experience. The key to our success is our unique ability to take the customers’ perspective and provide a truly memorable experience.

EPHLIN: Forecasting and monitoring market trends to sales. Listening to your customers.

FIELDS: I think caring and never getting comfortable are two things that are hard to put an easy label on, but lead to success for your business. We care about our business, but also (and especially) our guests, our community, and our team. If one of those doesn’t get our attention, the rest of them would falter. For a small business, you depend on those 3 parts so much more than a chain and it shows with how successful you are. I like to think we bring a good amount of energy into our business and we’re still excited to be small business owners. This is year 14 for us being small business owners, but I think we have as much enthusiasm as our first year. I’m still excited to go to work and don’t look at it as a drag or just another day. I love the people I get to work with and I’m happy to serve our guests—that sure makes it a lot easier to get ready for the day and I think its a symbiotic thing that leads to us having success.

GRIMM: Diversify, don’t bet all your money on just one product (line). Stay in the mind of customers through advertising and social media; promote your strengths (local, natural, etc.); do good and talk about it (donations to and support of local causes). LINDBLAD: Get to know your customers. Customer service is key and more than ever people want to help the local businesses. We listen to them for flavor suggestions, etc. Our employees are trained to be an extension of ourselves (me and my husband) and we try to learn our regulars first names. Being active on social media is key; we post every day. We offer a rewards program, buy 10 get 1. We are active in the community we operate in and know the local shop owners and support each other. You must offer quality product, be different from your competition. If something is not working to our expectations, we shift and change. Lastly, know your cost of goods and be sure you are charging enough to make a profit.

MAGARO: Keys to a successful business are hard work and putting your heart and soul into it. You have to care about your business, the staff, the community, customers, and what you are sending out the door. We are very rooted in our community and try to help out however we can.

ROSS: Consistency, excellent customer service and ambiance of our location (rural setting with acre pond). Our shop has retro equipment: 1947 original batch machines/freezers, 1947 Richardson’s Root Beer Barrel, 1950s soda jerk and shake machine.

TODD: Having a consistent brand, being involved in your community, and ensuring inclusivity in your expansion ideas

are all keys to a successful business. Not every product can fit every customer’s dietary needs/restrictions, but having options along the way is a great start. When it comes to community involvement, you most likely can’t (nor should you) donate to every cause that comes through the door, so instead choose which activities/fundraisers/ events fit best with the overall mission of your business. Your brand is not just your colors and logo, it’s the message and feeling people get from the moment they log onto your website or walk into your business, until the moment they leave (and the real success is when they are already dreaming up when they can return before they have even left).

WILLIS: I think there are many “keys”, including: try to keep good staff and teach them how to control operations, watch your costs, try to cater to customers wants and needs, do outside sales, and make sure you take personal & family time.

QUESTION: Do you use social media to promote your business? If yes, tell us what you use and how you use it. If no, tell us why.

BELLAFRONTE: We have a Facebook page that is our main website. We found that using a social media platform gets important messages out to our customers quickly without having to update the website. We have Instagram and Twitter accounts that do not have as much traffic, but we plan to use them more often during our 25th anniversary.

BOYER: Yes! I post on Instagram and Facebook 3-5 times a week. I have a graphic design background and enjoy the design challenge. I try to be creative and tell a story each time that I believe that the community will respond to. When I don’t post on a regular basis I can definitely see a negative impact to store traffic.

BUTLER: I use Facebook, Instagram and Google to get my message out there. New menu items get posted immediately. If we haven’t posted in a couple days I will grab something and photograph it and post. I don’t always sell in my posts. Sometimes I just comment on how sunny the day is while showing a beverage in the photo. I think we get sold to so many times a day it’s refreshing to get a break from it. Once a month I also try to send out an email blast to my email subscribers to catch them up to speed. Instagram is the easiest to use and I feel you can be more creative than Facebook. Having said that I have the two accounts connected so when I post on Instagram it automatically posts to FB. My goal this spring is to start back up making Tik Tok videos. We have a few already posted and they are so fun to make. My employees love it when I say, hey lets do a Tik Tok! They immediately start to think of what we can make and what song to put it to. So fun!

D’ESPOSITO: Yes! Thanks to social media, Coney Waffle is known worldwide for our over-the-top and visually compelling concepts: Sideshow shakes, Original Rainbow Cones and elaborate Ice Cream Cakes. Coney Waffle is verified on both Instagram and Facebook with 120k combined followers. Coney Waffle has been featured on the Travel Channel’s Food Paradise, Good Day New York, and Vice TV’s The Ice Cream Show, with several of our original creations highlighted on internet news giants such as: Thrillist, Insider Food, Food Beast, Delish, and Buzzfeed’s You Won’t Believe These Gravity-Defying Milkshakes, which tallied 43 million views, just to name a few!

EPHLIN: Yes, Nibbles uses social media to help promote our business. We use FB and our Website.

FIELDS: Social media is a big part of our business and I attribute a decent amount of our success to it. Previously, we used Twitter, but abandoned that usage a few years ago because I think it’s lost its relevancy for a local ice cream shop. Besides keeping all of our information accurate and thorough on sites like Google and Yelp, we use Facebook and Instagram thoroughly. In-season, I would say we average 5-6 posts per week and also 7-10 Instagram Stories per week. Our biggest use is to alert our guests and followers to new items or items that are once again available. From there, we also use our accounts to engage with our followers, highlight our team members, and repurpose posts and stories from our followers that mention us. Highlighting items on social media is the biggest contributor to making certain items move and be popular. I think this one is easier for fellow ice cream shop owners to see. We engage with our followers by creating posts that involve things that are newsworthy, funny, or memes that they see from other people and brands they follow. I think this makes our accounts more relatable instead of just being an “ad” every post. Highlighting our team members is a way to show our team doing a great job and also helps people recognize new faces at our store from the community; our team usually loves being highlighted and it also is pretty good for engagement (‘Likes’ and comments). From there, so many of our guests will take a picture of themselves enjoying our ice cream or at one of our tables with their friends and tag us. This not only creates content that we can show to our other followers (they’ve done the hard part of snapping a photo), but it also shows those followers that if they snap a similar picture or tag us, we might feature them.

GRIMM: Yes, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. I am not involved with this part of the business but know that we are looking into adding a purchase option through social media so people don’t have to go to our website (or store) first.

LINDBLAD: Absolutely, we post on FB/IG everyday, and starting to use Tik Tok, our goal this year is to be posting regularly on this platform. We are not very active on twitter. We post pictures of ice cream and new flavors, specials, events; and pictures with our customers and their ice cream. It encourages more people to follow you.

MAGARO: We do use Facebook and Instagram. It is very easy to get the word out fast and easy on what is go-

ing on at your place. We can be slow and I can put on a special for an hour and we will have people lined up in sometimes 5-10 min. And pictures draw people in the best.

ROSS: Our primary social media is Facebook. We upload our weekly specialty flavors along with our bakery/ kitchen food and sundae creations. Our photo posts keep our customers engaged and bring in new customers weekly.

TODD: Social media and our email list are the only ways we advertise. We rely heavily on Facebook and Instagram to promote upcoming events, deals and specials, as well as daily specials, flavors, change of hours due to weather etc. Our email list contact is minimal, 3-4 sends per month, but it is extremely effective. When you combine the two together it’s rare that we do not see an increase in sales, foot traffic and/or interaction on our platforms.

WILLIS: Yes, we definitely use social media. There is a person assigned to handling Facebook, Instagram, and email correspondence. We send out specials, notices, and events that Beth Marie’s is participating in.

QUESTION: What do you see as the biggest problem in running your store? What are you doing to solve that problem?

BELLAFRONTE: The biggest problem running our store is time. There always seems to be something to do and not enough time to get it all done. We need to learn how to delegate and give up some control over things that others can do to free up time to enjoy the summer as well as run a successful business.

BOYER: Staffing consistency has been our biggest challenge in 2021. We were able to find lots of workers but getting them to work on a reliable schedule has been extremely difficult and has left us scrambling many times last year. How to solve this is priority number one and mentioned already is rooted in better communication and starts with much clearer expectations. As a new owner it is the one area I thought I was prepared for but was not.

BUTLER: The biggest problem I have right now is getting customers in the door. With it being Michigan we are in the coldest part of winter but we are open all year so we need to make it work. We closed down just before Christmas and reopened last week. We are now offering breakfast bagels and pastries along with opening up at 7am to entice the early commuters to come in or to use our new curbside option. We will also be bringing on flat bread pizza to see if that brings people into the store on these cold winter nights.

D’ESPOSITO: When faced with a challenge, we rally our team of critical thinkers to help cultivate the response. Coney Waffle doesn’t have problems, we only have creative solutions.

EPHLIN: Supply chain issues and costs will be the key issues we focus on in 2022. Look for competitive pricing from our vendors and develop additional channels for products. FIELDS: For the first time ever, I’m truly worried about inflation and labor. I genuinely feel like we are part of the community and I’m told constantly how people enjoy working for us and how bad their kids want to work for us when they’re older. As I write this in January, we’ve already received a half dozen inquiries for applications and don’t even have the 2022 version finalized yet. That said, the trickle down effect of rising wages is scaring us as we try to offer competitive wages to our team while keeping a decent price for our guests. We’ve spent more time this year than ever looking at how much we can raise our average wage to our team to remain competitive. To this point, we have not had to have a reduced season, reduced hours, or being short-staffed, but those are all options that are on the table if we would be unable to have a regular size team. As for inflation, this is the first time I think many business owners are facing this dilemma to this degree. There’s a huge difference between the usual 2-3% that you can factor in annually versus the 7-10% being seen now. Circling back to the rising wages from

above, Econ 101 says that if wages are rising then our guests should be able to handle additional costs as well. I just haven’t seen it to this level before and that worries me.

GRIMM: Personnel. Competition. Maintain cash flow.

LINDBLAD: We share a location, so making sure customers know how to find us and that we are a separate business from the long-established restaurant (we also have different hours). We are in a Historic district so signage can be limiting, so we use a lot of outside lights and use several chalkboard / sidewalk signs. Social media does help us promote this and we participate in the town beer/wine walks. We have monthly events and always are a part of it. Continue to spread the word. We are working on a new outdoor sign as well.

MAGARO: My biggest problem is me. Like when I am at the cash register I know a ton of people in town so I will be like... oh they come all the time and I won’t charge them or I will do something special for them. (It’s not bad sometimes but it adds up and if the next time they come and the price is different then sometimes they will say something to the staff like it was only this much last time.) So to avoid that I try to let the staff ring them up and I just make it. Truth is I would rather make the ice cream than handle the ordering and money anyway. Making ice cream is fun!

ROSS: The biggest problem will be staffing. We have adjusted our hours to the business trends through the season. We will focus on additional cross training (kitchen and dipping area).

TODD: The biggest problem we have with running our store is the age of our staff. We are typically our crew’s very first job, which is both an honor and a bit time consuming, but we understand the importance of being thorough with training, setting high expectations and down the road releasing them into the workforce able to thrive off their strengths and the ability to quickly know when to ask for help. Patience is key, as well as the realization that if we don’t teach them how to take pride in their work now, it won’t be an easier trait to learn later.

WILLIS: The largest problem is staffing and how to connect with them. Besides pay and benefits, we have started having weekly and monthly staff meetings to find out what they see as issues and help with learning.

QUESTION: What was the best promotion you ran in your store in 2021?

BELLAFRONTE: Partnering with some of the schools around town was a big promotional event. We hosted fundraiser ice cream socials for the schools which introduced some new families to our establishment, provided opportunities to build community relationships, and introduced them to a local place to bring their families.

BOYER: Ice Cream Flights. Five mini-scoops have continued to be a big hit especially when we make special flavor combinations. Also, our “Late night Snack” has been quite popular. We align the days we run it with the final exams schedule at the nearby college. We’re open from 11pm to 1am and for those 2 hours there is a line out the door and around the block. It has been an event that students look forward to and it is a ton of fun.

BUTLER: The best promotion I ran was to bring in a food truck (food no other restaurant sold in the area) during one of our local events and to advertise it across all our social media accounts. I remember it was a Sunday and people were lining up before we opened.

D’ESPOSITO: Throughout the year, Coney Waffle is dedicated to promoting our unique and dynamic product lines.

EPHLIN: We sold a special pup cup (Wade’s Pup Cup) to raise money for the local Animal Shelter.

FIELDS: Two ideas come to mind. The first is actually quite sad, but we did what we could to help. Our community experienced a tragedy that involved the accidental drowning of a 4 year old girl in August. Ribbons and balloons of her two favorite colors could be seen from doors and mailboxes for a month. To aide the family in the sudden cost of a funeral and associated expenses, someone in the community organized a GoFundMe with the original stated goal of $30,000. We decided to offer 100% of sales (not proceeds) to be donated to the GoFundMe for a night between the hours of 6-8pm—our busiest hours. Along with our donation, we also shared the GoFundMe information on our social media pages. We were able to raise a little more than $2500 in those 2 hours and the community ended up donating over $45,000 in all. I realize this doesn’t change the past or fix anything, but we wanted to offer help as much as we could. For the other promotion, we introduced a series of weekends called “Winter Weekends.” As I wrote before, we’re open until the middle of November, but for Winter Weekends, we selected one weekend a month in the winter where a good number of people are back in town from college or have previously moved away and are in town visiting friends and family. In the past, in our offseason, we received so many e-mails, texts, and DMs asking how someone could purchase pints of our blue ice cream for their college student coming home or gift cards for someone at Christmas. For our Winter Weekends, we opened the weekend after Thanksgiving, the weekend before Christmas, and Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with a limited menu, but also the addition of seasonal flavors we don’t normally offer. We featured pumpkin soft serve, espresso parfaits, and peppermint bark waffle cones among many other items and decorated our store with Christmas lights, stockings, snowflakes, wrapped presents, and encouraged our team to wear anything that was season appropriate. Our community loved the idea and showed up as soon as we opened for the weekend not wanting to miss out on some flavors that were a bit more exclusive than others. We sold out every weekend and increased the

amount of mix we ordered every single Winter Weekend still trying to keep up with demand.

GRIMM: We offered DIY kits that include farm products as ingredients.

LINDBLAD: For our 2nd year anniversary, we ran a promotion to win free ice cream for a year. They had to buy 10 different flavors in a 2 month timeframe and they were entered in the contest. I was amazed how excited people were to enter and to buy 10 different flavors. It was a win/win. We got people to go out of their comfort zone and try new flavors and a short time to buy them. After the contest, we announced everyone who entered would get 1 small ice cream free for participating.

MAGARO: One of the funniest promotions we ran this year was for Easter. We put wooden nickels (good for a cone) in Easter Eggs and then went out the night before Easter and hid them all over town. Easter Sunday then we posted that we hid them. People took their kids out to find the eggs and then sent all kinds of pictures and thank yous on our site about how much fun they had looking. Also we do a lot of fundraiser nights for the different community groups throughout the year. It brings our community in to support each other and raises awareness of what is going on. It makes my heart feel good to be able to give back and try to make a positive difference.

ROSS: Our $5.00, 32 oz. shakes and Root Beer floats are a constant at our shop. We also concentrate on a rotation of our soft serve flavors along with specialty sundaes.

WILLIS: We did a “$25 gift card for $20” promotion and that did really well for us. And our Valentine’s Day Love Story is always a big hit.

QUESTION: What sets you apart from your competition?

BELLAFRONTE: What sets us apart from our competition is that we have a beautiful location with lots of space to enjoy exceptionally delicious tasting ice cream. We are a destination rather than just a stop and a perfect place to stop on a Sunday drive.

BOYER: Unique flavors and premium quality ingredients definitely set us apart. However, I believe the major differentiator is the experience that we have created. Visiting Jupiter Moon is more than just getting ice cream, it’s an event where joy and happiness reign. That is far different from our competition where the interaction is almost purely transactional. If you choose Jupiter Moon, you choose joy and will leave happier than when you arrived.

BUTLER: I feel we are different from our competition because we have been consistent with who we are and what we are. I see many businesses struggle with sticking to their plan or vision. Not saying that you shouldn’t change if it’s not working. But some don’t give it a chance. Even though things have been difficult over the last two years, we haven’t changed our business model. We offer local ice cream and coffee. We only serve hard scooped ice cream. We treat our customers like they are family/friends. We give back to the community every chance we can (last year we did 21 fundraisers). We offer fun events and plan to add to those events this year. And it helps to be in a historic train depot!

D’ESPOSITO: Most of our competitors have been established for 20+ years; we are relatively new. We work hard every day growing our customer base, offering great customer service, and developing novel products. We love this industry and creating new methods and innovative concepts. Not a day goes by without a discussion on “What’s Next?”

EPHLIN: Roscommon is a highly competitive area for ice cream. At Nibbles, we stay focused on our mission of delivering a high-quality, hand crafted treat at a competitive price.

When you join NEICRA, you are family!

As part of our family, here are some of the benefits you will enjoy • Network with your peers • Great Newsletter • Consult with your suppliers • Improve profits • Enhance shop operations • Learn about new products • Improve employer-employee relations For information contact: Margaret Anderson New England Ice Cream Restaurant Association P. O. Box 1039, Westwood, MA 02090 E-mail: mca319@gmail.com Web Site: www.neicra.com

FIELDS: The biggest thing is at no point have we viewed ourselves as a finished product or to just continue doing the same thing we’ve always done. We’re constantly innovating and asking ourselves, “How can we make this better?” It leads to a better guest experience and allows us to offer interesting flavors. It hopefully makes our store a better place to work for our team by being a work environment that is easier and enjoyable. Kristen and I really listen to our team and the ideas they present us with. Not every single one is immediately doable or practical, but we at least put it on our bulletin board and see if there is a way to incorporate it down the road. After a meeting with 4 members of our team, I’m not even sure how the conversation got started, we started mentioning how good ice cream would be with maple syrup. Then it was, what if we took our homemade waffle cones and cut them into nacho chip shapes. Then we added other toppings to the nachos instead of just the maple syrup. This all took place in June in a conversation lasting 15 minutes. When we found out there was a National Lumberjack Day, we decided to make an entire weekend out of it and featured Lumberjack Nachos. Our team was encouraged to dress like lumberjacks and jills with flannel and jeans and we shot a video with our team yelling their best “timber” call. The nachos tasted great and I think our guests really enjoyed us doing something different and it all started with a relaxed conversation I had with a few members of our team. Aside from that, we have a strong embrace and gravitation towards technology. Our drive-thru was already pretty quick, but it got a speed boost when we started sending one of our team members outside with an iPad to take orders. It took a little tinkering internally, but when we figured out a flow to have 2 people outside taking orders our drive-thru speed shot through the roof. Everything is digital and it allows us to have a faster drive thru than our competitors and also tracks our sales accurately. We know exactly how popular an item is and whether we need to get rid of one that lags the rest of our items or promote it so our guests know about it. With us taking orders on iPads outside, we often don’t have a physical menu in our drive-thru for our guests to look at, so our entire menu can be found on our website and we use Instagram Story Highlights to show off our 60+ Secret Menu items. When I see our competition, some of them just started accepting credit cards and are still writing orders down on paper tickets. In 2022, I can’t imagine having that much of a disconnect from my business and having no clue how many hot fudge sundaes we sold at any given time (for example). Technology, at a reasonable cost, gives us an advantage that they’re missing the boat on. If I were put in charge of one of those stores, it would be the first change I would make because I know they’re not operating as efficiently as we are and could have a more successful business if they did.

GRIMM: Location. Diversification. Small environmental foot print (milk travels about 500 yards from cow barn to processing facility; finished product travels about 500 yards to the farm store). Quality.

LINDBLAD: We have 99 flavors available all the time. We do not offer your typical flavors and they are mainly for adults. We have live music every Friday night and create a fun family atmosphere.

MAGARO: We try to stand out in our level of service and make everyone who comes in feel like family. We try to make it a happy place where people can come and laugh and have fun and forget about the outside world for awhile. We also like to serve our product like we would want to eat it, and as long as we have the stuff we will make whatever and however people want it, within reason.

ROSS: Carrying on the tradition of the Polar Bear and taking the brand to the next level. Our location has its own character and shop has a nostalgic feel. “It’s a Family Thing!!”

TODD: We’re more than just an ice cream shop. We believe that wholeheartedly by the words you’ll find on the cover of our menus, website home page, social media posts and even in our logo. “We’re a place where memories are made and traditions begin. Sugar Bowl is a place where you can build community, find relaxation and create friendships.” We are real with our customers, our followers, and our crew. We share the parts of life that we feel they deserve to know, while still keeping it professional, and we bring them along every time we have any form of expansion. From new locations to new products, they are online and in person voting for what happens next. It’s essentially like having stock in a business without having to pay for it, and the return benefits everyone in the community as well as the tourists just passing through. Our new logo was designed via a customer/follower competition. It was voted on by the public after we narrowed it down to our top 5 favorites. Our Sugar Bowl staff and email family alike continually help us choose new products, apparel colors, specialty flavors and overall offerings via social media polls and in person discussions. Above all else, like our customer service, inclusivity is key. We installed a walk-up, wag-up, wheel-up window so that those with kids, dogs, wheelchairs, skates, bikes or anything in between can easily order without assistance. Our gluten free options are offered without upcharge. Every post is curated to accommodate allergies, budgets, family make-ups and identity. We may not agree with everything this life has to offer, but inside the walls of any Sugar Bowl location, we offer ice cream, good food and a friendly atmosphere that is a welcoming place to any, and every human who enters our space.

WILLIS: Beth Marie’s is very involved in the community and does a lot of volunteer work. We try to take care of our customers, including wholesale, whenever we can. No matter what. Try to never say “no”. At 2 of our locations, we offer 60 different flavors, and 40 flavors at the smaller location. We also try to cater to our customers’ many tastes by creating and making special flavors for them. v