Ice Cream Diaries - 19                                                                                                                          March 6, 2006
Hello friends, family, and people who have stumbled here accidentally from Google.   I hope you're enjoying the belated winter.   It's the beginning of March and here in the Northeast, we're experiencing the coldest weather of the season.  In fact, with the exception of an arctic blast here and a squall there, this winter has been pretty wimpy.   Easthampton's annual ice fishing derby even had to be canceled this year.   March is usually the toughest since we think winter is over and reach for t-shirts and mountain bikes, and what we usually get is a reality slap in the form of a -10 wind chill across the face.    Strangely enough, people still get a hankerin' for ice cream.   And mood enhancers like candy and chocolate.  Tip of the hat to St. Valentine and the Easter bunny there too.    I just put up the Easter decorations, so warm weather can't be too far away.   I've got a batch of Guinness beer cooking on the stove and a Saturday morning to kill so let's catch up, shall we.
Caffeina, my new espresso machine, seems to have been a nice addition to the lineup this off-season.   Word is starting to get out, and she's been seeing increased playing time by the week.   It was a little intimidating at first, but once you get the technique of the steam wand and pulling shots, making funky coffee drinks is good fun.  The best part is creating new coffee concoctions.   This week it's turtle mochaccino - with chocolate, caramel, and macadamia nut.   One for customer, one for me.  One for customer, one for me.   Kicked things up with steamed hot cocoa too, found some great Ghirardelli sweet cocoa powder tucked away in the back of the Jack Smiley's candy warehouse.   Good score.
Larry, my accountant, dropped off my tax returns this week.   I was psyched to discover I actually have to pay this year.   Definitely not happy about the check-writing part, Taxachusetts doesn't make it easy for the small biz owner, but the silver lining is I did come out in the black for the year.   Modest describes it best, but turning any profit in just year two is quite satisfying, not in a 'Time to buy a BMW' way, more like a, 'Wow, maybe I can do this for the next twenty years if I want' way.   Interestingly enough, the same day I got the good news from Larry, I read that the new Cold Stone Creamery in Northampton had closed its doors, less than two years after its ribbon cutting.  I've also heard rumors that the equally young Ben and Jerry's in Amherst closed, and to complete the 'things happen in 3's', just noticed an ad 'Herrell's Magic Bus for sale'.    I can think of a number of reasons Cold Stone and B&J didn't make it in the happy Valley, not the least of which being the locals' propensity to go local.   I think there is a lot to be learned from others' missteps, but to me it's really about having fun, working hard, staying creative, not obsessing about the money part (be it the booming summer or sluggish winter) and not getting too distracted by the other guys.    Jim's biz/life philosophy number 83, that and a buck and a half will get you a cup of coffee...
Things have been relatively quiet in the ice cream kitchen lately.   I still run special flavors in the off-season, but don't really have the traffic to support more than a handful.    I did just get a batch of interesting flavorings from one of my vendors.   Last Fall, A guy came into the shop and begged me to make Caramel Ice Cream.   Not a swirl but a purely caramel based flavor.    He told me that HoJo's used make it, and he's spent the last fifty years trying to find it again.  His son even came in a few weeks later and asked if I'd make a batch so he could surprise Dad for Christmas.  How can you fight that kind of passion for a flavor.   When I ordered caramel flavoring, I asked if they'd send me samples of 'hot new flavors' they've been cooking up in their lab.   So in addition to the Caramel crème, I'm now sitting on samples of Strawberry Daiquiri, Acai Berry (had to look that one up http://www.healthyacai.com/ ), natural pomegranate, (I see a health trend here), garlic (was actually my idea, though I'm not sure Easthampton is ready for Garlic ice cream.   Perhaps a 'Garlic Bread' flavor, with a buttery background.  Hey, no risk, no reward.), and Dew (My guess was a Mountain Dew knockoff but the consensus is it smells like Lemon Pledge).   Wish me luck.
I must confess things have been suspiciously quiet with Rudy and the gang lately.   I think they've all gone into hibernation for the winter.   Or are doing time.  I did see Reej a couple days before Valentine's Day.   He didn't buy anything, just stopped in to say hello.  He had to pass on his usual pepp stick because he was en route to the florist to spend his life savings on 48 roses for his little woman.  One for every day they've been together.    Smooth.   I think we already suspected Reej as the hopeful romantic in that family.  Yes, our little buddy has been struck by the cupid's arrow but good.   Let's face it, 48 roses is a lot of peppermint stick ice cream.
I'm giving the rest of the gang the month off.   Since the original cast of characters seems to be growing up, or just getting too cool to hang out in candy stores, I've started a recruiting campaign.   I can't promise they'll be as loveable and outlandish as our first batch of offbeat offspring, but with a rainy day, a double shot of espresso, and some time in my right brain, I hope to introduce a fresh crew to entertain you, or at least help you procrastinate from work once a month or so.   Don't worry, if Rudy, Reej, full pint, or any of the others do anything diaries-worthy, you'll be sure to hear about it.
One of the books I read during my January hiatus was 'A Million Little Pieces' by James Frey.   Powerful and fascinating look at addiction and its power to destroy your life.   And the horrors of recovery.   The day after I finished it, I caught James defending his story on Larry King Live.   In case you didn't follow the controversy and his fisticuffs with Oprah, turns out he embellished more than a little.   The situation has sparked an interesting debate about truth in fiction and fiction in truth.   What does this have to do with ice cream you wonder?   Well, if through some bizarre twist of fate I someday end up sitting on Oprah's couch, talking about Rudy and Reej and the gang, I feel obligated to go on record today to admit I've been known to add a scoop of creativity to my depictions of our favorite dairy deviants   Most of the antics occurred, but when the gang is well behaved, er dull, I've had to resort to editorial license to keep the Diaries fresh.  Fear not, all the spoon-wavin' characters are based on real people, they just may not have actually run across the pond in their birthday suits or started a band called Scram Lumpy.   At least not that I know of.   Phew, I feel better now.   Do you forgive me?
Now I hope you're not thinking, 'I wonder if he really did start an ice cream shop a couple years ago.'
Ok, I made that up too.   I actually joined a Polish traveling circus and have been living in a beat-up old camper while subsisting on a diet of boiled peanuts and stale cotton candy.   Ah, the life of a circus clown, it's not easy, but the suits are comfortable.
Now I'm just being silly.   Too many turtle mochaccinos.    I'm going to stop talking now so I can leave some room to share a piece I just completed for 'The Scoop', the New England Ice Cream Retailers Association (NEICRA) official quarterly newsletter.   If you decide to ditch work a little longer, as you read, think of yourself as a fellow ice cream shop owner.   I know you've heard my 'extreme career makeover story'' a hundred times by now, but this is really my best and most focused attempt to answer the question, ''So, how did you end up owning an ice cream shop?'
In the event you cut your losses now, let me just say thanks, as always, for listening and hope to catch up with you real soon.                                                                                                                                                                     Jim
P.S. My friend and biz neighbor Mark Schwaber( Night Owl Records ), releases his second CD this week.   It's called The Killing Card, and it's really, really good.   Go to his record store and buy one or four.   Or if it's too far -  on-line .    Cool.
		Ice Cream on my sleeves and in my Genes
'I'm not going to work.  I'm going to play.'   my Dad loved to say.   He owned and operated The Ice Creamery in Randolph,  Massachusetts then Dave's World of Ice Cream in Foxboro for more than two decades.    With just over two years of ice cream-preneurship under my belt, I finally get to steal his line.   I think most in the biz would agree not every day feels like play, especially those fifteen hour days at the batch freezer in June.   Still, all long days of summer considered, making ice cream for a living is a pretty sweet gig.   If you've got a few minutes, I'd like to share a bit of my journey into the ice cream world with the launch of my own shop, Mt.Tom's Homemade Ice Cream & Candy Store in Easthampton,  Massachusetts.
The chain of events that spawned my career metamorphosis from engineer to ice cream guy began on an otherwise ordinary Friday in March of 2002.   Similar to many techies during the collective tech stock collapse, I was jettisoned from a failing start-up, like, as one of my co-workers used to colorfully describe, 'a ship's deck chair that didn't make the turn'.   As I walked along a beach that afternoon, my head spinning from the shock of being dumped by my employer, I began to work myself from feelings of failure to a mood of euphoric optimism.   I proclaimed to a group of seagulls, 'I vow to make this the best thing that's ever happened to me.'    From there, I managed to fill the next twelve months with travel, writing, and self-discovery.   I drove cross-country solo, covering over 15,000 miles, 38 states (including Alaska), and 18 National Parks.  An equally unemployed buddy and I backpacked four months through Australia and New Zealand.   I even spent time writing the book I knew I had in me.  These things were all very cool, fun, and satisfying to my soul, but it was one other trip that seems to be most responsible for my new life in ice cream.    Shortly after I returned from my adventures, my apartment in Boston was converted into a luxury condo.   With no new job and thus no certainty about where I needed to live, I decided to move 'home' with the folks, a humbling turn to take in your 30's.   Dad had recently sold his ice cream shop and was adjusting to a life of leisure, so we had a lot of free time to banter about things that fathers and sons talk about, including in our case, ice cream.  After two years spent in my head, I was getting pretty good at self-analysis, and it was becoming clear that my heart just wasn't in this job search.   So one day over coffee I just said to Dad, 'If I wanted to start an ice cream shop, would you help me?'
His reply was, 'You don't want to do that.'
''What?'
'You don't want to do that.   It's a ton of work, long hours, making less money than your last job.   It's full of headaches.   How will you ever get married and have a family?'
He did his best to try to talk me out of it.   But something told me there was a growing part of him imagining his son following in his footsteps, not to mention a chance to reconnect with an ice cream world he already missed.   Resigned by my resolve, he finally conceded, 'If you find a good location, I'll help you get started.'
My first ice cream lesson was that it's hard to find a good town without a good ice cream shop.  There were a few existing shops on the market, but the great locations came with great big price tags.   But I wasn't discouraged.   Sure enough, one weekend during that summer of '03, I was visiting a friend at her B & B in western Massachusetts, we're drinking wine and talking about life when I blurt out, 'Yah, I'm thinking about starting an ice cream shop.  I just need to find a cool location.'   To which she replies, 'I know a guy...'   One phone call and a Phantom Gourmet-style tour of his shop the next morning later, I'd found my town and my shop.   Or I should say, it found me.
What followed was a whirlwind of startup activities, the likes of which you likely experienced during your shop's gestation period.   Days and nights were full of name choosing, logo designing, business plan writing, loan negotiations, equipment shopping, and everything ice cream.    Being a complete neophyte in the field, I needed a lot of help.   Needless to say, that help came in the form of a guy I like to call Dad.   In addition to owning and operating The Ice Creamery in Randolph, MA and Dave's World, he had spent 25 years in the corporate dairy world.  In short, I had a personal and extremely well-connected consultant who seemed completely content to work merely for food and, I speculated, the future satisfaction of his son's success.  In addition to guiding me through the design of my new ice cream kitchen and tracking down the best equipment, he introduced me to his extensive network of excellent suppliers.   He also dusted off his big green ice cream stained notebook, complete with his lifetime's labor of recipes.   Not a bad place to start.  A couple months building out the kitchen, filling it with equipment and the shelves with ingredients, and one health inspector's autograph later, we were ready to make my first batch.    Marked in my journal as 10:15 am, November 29th, 2003.
Since then ice cream making has done nothing but live up to its billing as 'the toughest job you'll ever love.'   I've met a ton of cool people.  Customers have morphed into great friends, and regulars feel like co-workers from my previous work life.  There are long days where the satisfying feeling of having put in a physically demanding work day is replaced with pure exhaustion littered with fantasies of exotic winter vacations.    And there are the unavoidable headaches that appear as freezer failures in July, endless runs to the supermarket for bananas and milk, and dealing with last-minute employee call-outs.   But the downsides are far outweighed by having one of the coolest cocktail party jobs on the planet.  'What do you do?'   'I make ice cream for a living.'  People recognize you in the checkout line and at the pub, and they seem to admire you for pushing your chair away from the corporate dinner table.  'I wish I could do that.'   They say.   My simple response is always the same.   Life is short, make it happen.
When I was growing up, my Dad was still working for the 'man', in his case that guy with the penchant for orange roofs, Howard Johnson.   I have fond memories of field trips to his ice cream manufacturing plant and lab in Brockton,  Massachusetts.   What still stands out for me are those white paper ice cream hats.   It was only natural that when I started doing demos in my own ice cream kitchen, disposable white hats were the first prop I employed.   Being able to create such indelible and happy childhood memories is perhaps the most satisfying part of this gig.
Let's face it, in this crazy world, there are few places you can go that make you feel safe, relaxed, and happy while evoking feelings of nostalgia and carefree days of youth.  An old-fashioned ice cream store is one such place.  And we get to hang out in that environment every day, our simple task being this -  to make people smile.  Pretty great work if you can get it, I say.  So when was the last time someone described their office cubicle as nostalgic and carefree?
Starting an ice cream shop truly has been nothing short of an adventure, one whose destination was and remains an intriguing mystery, but I can say without hesitation, has been a great ride so far.   I look forward to the start of season three, with its inevitable yet unpredictable highs and lows, making new friends and inventing new flavors, savoring the long lines while enduring the long days, finally catching my breath when the snow again flies.    I hope you're enjoying your ride too, best of luck in '06, and if you're ever out in western Massachusetts, I hope you can stop in for a cone and some spirited ice cream conversation.
Jim Ingram owns and operates Mt. Tom's Homemade Ice Cream & Candy Store in Easthampton, Massachusetts (www.mttoms.com).   His Dad is Dave Ingram, now retired and happily enjoying life after ice cream somewhere in sunny Florida.    You can read more about Jim's ice cream adventures at  http://www.jdi-images.com/mttoms1.html
'What looks like a loss may be the very event which is subsequently responsible for helping to produce the major achievement of your life.'              - Srully D. Blotnick