Mad Maggie's Ice Cream

From: Mad Maggie's Newsletter
To: Mad Maggie's Newsletter
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:44:52 -0500 (EST) Subject: "The Scoop" from Mad Maggie's Homemade Ice Cream

A warm mid-winter greeting from your friends at Mad Maggie's ice cream on this chilly week in January!

I normally send a couple of updates throughout the offseason, but as I look up at the calendar, here we are barrelling in on the end of January, and I haven't sent anything since the end of the 2006 season. Time to get typing, as there are a lot of things going on.

I've had a busy off season so far this year. I've attended the New England Ice Cream Restaurant fall convention, and just this weekend got back from their winter meeting. I'm also planning to attend the Great Lakes Ice Cream and Fast Food convention on February 1st through the 3rd. These conventions are a great chance for those of us in the industry to get together and swap ideas, tips, and advice, so I really look forward to them.

The GLICFFA convention is in Lansing, Michigan. I don't particularly relish the idea of going to Michigan for the first weekend of February (why don't they plan these things in Florida or Las Vegas??) But I'll go to hopefully pick up some new ideas and to see the industry trends.

(I'm telling all of the people I work with that I'm taking next Thursday and Friday off to go to Punxatawny to see the groundhog. They're so gullible... ;^)

I also run a discussion group on Yahoo for others like me in the industry (by "like me", I mean "small ice cream makers", not "crazed lunatics"), and our group has grown to the point where we're starting to talk about holding our own conventions. If we do, I'm going to make sure we hold ours somewhere warm!

So all in all, the offseason is still a pretty busy time for me.

Possible New Location

One of the reasons I've put off sending this for so long is that I've been furiously working on leasing a new location. I don't have a final answer yet, but I figured I should mention at least something about this possiblity in a "newsletter", so here it is.

Those of you who read this newsletter regularly know that I'm always scouting for a better location to move to. While it's still preliminary, there's definitely the possibility that we might just end up in a new location this spring. Nothing is definite yet, and I don't want to give away the location at this point, but let's just say it's one sweet spot, and should give us both a lot more room and a lot more visibility, if I can get a deal done.

The other key benefit is that this new spot would give us a year round location, and you'd be able to get ice cream all through the fall and winter!

Don't worry, the new spot isn't that far from the existing location, so I don't think anyone would be too upset with the move. We may even end up running both spots, although I think that'll be tough on me this year. I'll send out an update in a few weeks when I have a firmer idea of exactly where we'll be, but there's at least an even chance that we'll still be running the same location just like in the past, as well.

Now, if you happen to have a rich uncle, who wants to adopt me and loan me a bunch of money so that I don't need to jump through the "business loan" hoops I've been jumping through, I can have my bags packed and moved in right away ;^) Or, if you've always dreamed of investing in an ice cream shop, this is your big chance!

Blonde Joke of the Week

Loyal reader Michele sent in this winner:

Subject: Blond Winter

One winter morning a blond was listening to the radio. The announcer says, "We're going to have 6 to 9 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the even-numbered side of the street, so the snow plows can get through." She goes out and moves her car.

A week later the radio announcer says, "We are expecting 10 to 12 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snow plows can get through." She goes out and moves her car.

The next week she's having breakfast with her husband, Norman, when the radio announcer says, "We are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today. You must park ................." and the power goes out.

Norman's wife is very upset, and with a worried look on her face she says, "Honey, I don't know what to do. Which side of the street do I need to park on so the snow plows can get through?"

With the love and understanding in his voice that all men who are married to blondes exhibit, Norman says, "Why don't you just leave it in the garage this time?"

Thanks Michele!

Girl Scout Cookies

We use real girl scout cookies in our Mint Cookie ice cream. At least, we do while we still have them available.

I try to buy several cases of Thin Mints at this time of year, and hope that my supply lasts through the fall. Sometimes we run out though, and have to switch to using Keebler's "Grasshoppers" towards the end of the summer.

To try to spread our purchases out among all of our scouting customers, I make the following offer: Add Mad Maggie's to your cookie order! Sign us up for two boxes of Thin Mints. You can either email me with an address where I should send the check (make sure to tell me the price -- some troops are a little higher than others...) or you can come to the store in the spring, and I'll pay you cash then.

Either way, you'll need to drop the cookies off with me in the spring. So decide which of these is the easiest for you, and we'll take two boxes off your hands!

Flavor News

Not a lot to report here, as I haven't made anything new recently.

I have a lot of people (mostly older people) coming to our stand looking for Rum Raisin ice cream each year. I've always been hesitant to try this, as it is one of those "old timer" flavors, and I've been worried about taking up a scooping slot with something that might not sell. Plus, in order to make this, I'd have to purchase a whole case of flavoring -- not something I want to be stuck with if the flavor doesn't sell well.

Fortunately, one of my buddies in the business has come through with his recipe for Rum Raisin, and it's made from scratch -- Raisins, Rum, and a few other additions. This should give me a chance to test this without committing to making it for the entire season, so look for a test batch of this early in the season.

Staff Profile

No staff profile in this edition, since I don't actually have a staff at this point!

But I'll do the same thing I normally do in mid-winter: ask you all to keep your eyes open for any promising youngsters who might be looking for jobs in the spring.

As you know, I hire with an eye towards friendly, outgoing, polite, hardworking kids -- it isn't an easy job, and not all teens are up to the pressure the job sometime entails. Still, despite the lamentations of some that the "Y" generation is a difficult one to deal with, finding kids who work well for us has never been a problem. I've had unbelievable luck in finding great kids over the years, and I hope I haven't lost my touch this spring.

One factor that affects the number of positions I have in the spring is the number of my "veterans" who return. I've already had a handful contact me, so hopefully most of them return, but I'm sure I'll have 3 or four spots open. And heck, if we move to our new location, I'll be doubling our staff size, so we'll have plenty of openings!

So, if you know of an industrious youngster who might be looking, send them over to our Jobs page at http://madmaggies.com/jobs/, have them fill out an application, and get it to me early. By April, I'll undoubtedly have 30 or so applications in the file, and I tend to interview and hire in roughly the order they come in. So getting an application in early is a real key to getting in line for one of our spots.

Thanks!

That's it for our Winter News. Only 9 weeks or so until we reopen! Stay warm!