Greetings from the gang at Mad Maggie's Ice Cream!

Our newsletter readership is climbing, as we got a huge number of signup requests in the last couple of weeks after the writeup in the Boston Phoenix. Our extensive marketing research shows that our newsletter readers are of extraordinarily high intelligence, and are an unusually attractive group, so you're all members of an elite group, and we welcome all of the newcomers to this list!

Well, our pajama party is on the schedule for this Monday, June 27th. We gave away over 100 small cones last year, and judging from the inquiries I've been getting at the store, I suspect we're going to do more than double that this year, as word of the event is spreading.

I still expect that the Victoria's Secret models will be first in line when we start giving free cones out at 6pm, so don't be late or you'll miss the chance to see me get my photo taken with Giselle sitting on my lap. (Maggie assures me that lingerie supermodels have an irresistable attraction to chubby, out-of-shape, money-losing, ice cream makers, so I figure I'm a shoe in to be the center of their attentions...)

We'll start giving out free cones at 6, and stay until we're either out of ice cream or out of patience, so come on by, have a free ice cream, and have some fun seeing your neighbors dressed in their PJ's!

I don't think I need to mention this to our cultured newsletter readers, but I'll have a small sign up in the store window that night, gently reminding folks that although their cones may be free, my kids are still busting their tails just as hard trying to serve you quickly. So please be fair to them by tipping them if you think they've given you great service -- it really means a lot to them! Thanks!

Boston Magazine Article

I haven't seen it yet, but rumor has it that we're mentioned in the July issue of Boston Magazine's section on the best ice cream places in Boston. I'd guess that the edition is due out any day now, so keep an eye open for it, and please save a copy for me if you come across one!

Real Chocolate Jimmies!

Those of you who visit our stand regularly know that we experimented earlier this season with offering "Real Chocolate Jimmies" as an option over the "normal" chocolate jimmies that we serve, charging an extra quarter for them.

Now, the normal jimmies we previously carried are actually a premium product in their own right: I buy them from a separate distributor because they're a better quality, and I didn't mind paying a few dollars more per 20 lb box to get a better quality product than what most other ice cream places carry.

Regardless, these jimmies can't hold a candle to the real chocolate jimmies that we are now able to carry. The "normal" jimmies have a waxy taste to them, while our premium ones are a Guittard Chocolate -- you can eat a handful of them and they taste just like a chocolate bar.

There really is a huge difference in taste, and using the real chocolate jimmies on our premium ice cream makes it even better tasting.

Anyway, I've decided that the confusion of asking customers to choose between the two wasn't worth the hassle of explaining the difference to everyone. At 25 cents for jimmies, we sure aren't making a killing off of selling them anyways, so from this point on we're just going to stock the real chocolate jimmies. We'll leave the price at just 25 cents, just as it's been all along. Hopefully, even though these cost nearly three times as much as the other jimmies, we won't lose our shirts over it, and our customers will get a better product. Enjoy!

New Flavors

Well, we've cleared out a couple of slow sellers (Banana Split, Kris-Krunch, and hopefully soon, Lemon Nerds...), so we've got room for a couple of new test flavors.

The first of these, Black Raspberry Oreo, was something that a neighbor of mine has been trying to get me to make since late last season. I spent a lot of time nodding in agreement with her while she described it, while thinking to myself "This woman has a screw loose...".

Well, I finally decided to make a batch, mainly to shut her up, and much to my surprise, it's selling like crazy! It's probably our top seller after the normal Vanilla, Chocolate, Cookie Dough triplet over the past few weeks. We even sent a batch to the Andover Country Club for their Father's Day Brunch, and the reports are that it was a huge hit. Guess I need to listen more to crazed neighbors...

Our other new flavor is another one that I've been pestered into making. One of my "Ice Creamsmiths", Janelle, bugged me all of last season to make Mocha Chip. I've resisted, pleading that we have Coffee Chip, and that's nearly the same thing. Well, I relented and tried a batch, and we're now serving it. Personally, I think it needs more of a coffee taste, but it seems to be selling well, and customer feedback has been positive, so we'll see how it sells once the novelty of the new flavor wears off.

We also made a batch of "Mango Watermelon Sorbet", again to supply a wedding at the Andover Country Club. We've got this in stock, it's not a huge seller, but I personally think it's a great hot-weather flavor, as it has a very refreshing taste. Give it a try if you're at the store one of these nights!

How Does He Do It??

Several newsletter readers have asked me how I manage to find the time to write these long newsletters every other week. My secret is that I don't -- I find five minutes at a time, several times over the course of a week. Normally, when I send out a newsletter, I almost immediately start writing a new one, and simply add things to it as they occur to me.

So if you read one of these, and find me writing about things out of sequence, that's why. It's got nothing to do with the fact that I'm slowly losing my wits as I age...

Blonde Joke of the Week

I didn't even have to think to come up with this week's Blonde Joke, as my capable (and very blonde...) Team Leader, Samantha (subject of last edition's "Staff Profile") provided a real life example of life as a blonde.

Sam is constantly on the move, doing fun things with her friends like going to concerts or going camping. So last week, Sam drove with some friends to Tennessee for a music festival. She tells us that on her way back, they stopped to grab a few hours of sleep in the car, and left the power windows down for air.

When they started on the road again, the windows wouldn't go up! So they ended up driving hundreds of miles on the highway with the wind blasting the interior, leading to some grumpy backseat passengers and a few arguments over whose turn it was to sit in the front seats.

When she got back home, Sam took her car to a local service station to get the windows fixed, and was surprised when the mechanic jumped in the car, jumped back out, handing her the keys with a "you're all set" laugh.

Turns out someone had somehow bumped the "window lock" button as they slumbered! It's even funnier when you realize that it's her car, and she didn't think of checking the lock button.

I told Sam that on the positive side, she at least had the courage to admit that she made the mistake! If Maggie had done something like this, she'd still be denying that it was her fault, and swearing that some cosmic force had caused the windows to malfunction between Tennessee and Boston, and that the fault had miraculously reversed itself when she pulled into the driveway. And I'd probably be sleeping out on the porch.

Staff Profile of the Week

This week's staff profile is of John, one of our longest tenured team members.

I've known John for quite a while, as he was a friend of oldest son, Michael, long before we opened the store. John is one of only two remaining males on the team at this point, as we've lost a couple in the last week to summer jobs where they can get a full 40 hour work week.

John was the unofficial winner of our mythical "Silver Scoop" award last year for working the most hours of anyone at the store (other than me...) The award doesn't actually mean anything, but it does give the others at the store an excuse to tease John about it. I know I can always call John in on short notice when we need an extra hand though!

I don't think a day goes by that John isn't either working at the store, or just stops in to visit and grab a dish of ice cream for himself or his parents.

John's hobbies are playing guitar, skateboarding, and annoying the heck out of me at the store by playing his never ending collection of music from the "Skateboard Punk" genre. He'll be entering his Senior year at Andover High in the fall, and is hoping to attend Daniel Webster college next year, where he wants to focus on the Video Production field.

The girls at the store give John a hard time about his music, his dress, and his pasty white complexion. But John seems to take it all in stride, and despite their teasing, I think they're all secretly in love with him.

In all seriousness, John is a great worker for us, who gets along with everyone and helps keep a fun atmosphere around the store. We really appreciate having him on the team. Now if I could only get him to change his musical tastes...

Newsletter Coupon

I'm cheaping out on this one: Come to the store in your pajamas on Monday, and get a free ice cream! Trust me, it'll be fun!