Are You Ready to Get Tummy-fied, Part 1
Posted on August 4, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Posted by Sierra
Hello, and welcome to … Tummy Tours! Today we will be “Tummy-fying” two factory tours: The Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, Vermont, and the Cabot Creamery in Cabot, Vermont.
Here’s how the show works. Our extra-qualified judges visit each factory and take its tour. They take notes (written or mental ones) on the tours. These judges then debate which tour wins each award.
Allow us to look at some of their notes:
Name: Ben & Jerry’s Factory
Location: Waterbury, VT
Owned by: Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield
Founded by: Mr. Ben & Mr. Jerry
How it got started: Ben & Jerry met in 7th grade gym class in 1963. They became friends and remained so throughout their school years. After they graduated they decided to take a $5 ice cream making correspondence course and opened up a scoop shop. The shop did extremely well, especially when Ben & Jerry started “Free Cone Day.” Eventually, the partners decided they needed a bigger ice cream making facility. So they opened the factory in Waterbury. In 1986 Ben & Jerry went around in a green motorhome giving away ice cream.
In 1988 they were named “Small Businessmen of the Year” and were invited to the White House. Ben only owned one suit and he wore it. Jerry had to borrow a suit from a waiter at the White House. Now, 30 years later, the company has factories all over the world, although the original is in Waterbury. There are tons of flavors, and Ben & Jerry’s has come a long way from that little Scoop Shop.
Cost: 12+ $3, 12- Free.
Samples? The “Ice Cream of the Day” is served in the FlavoRoom. When the judges were there it was Strawberry Cheesecake, which was okay but not great.
How is the product made? The factory receives milk. The milk is then blended with sugar, yolks, and, if necessary, cocoa powder. Then the mixture is pasteurized, homogenized, and cooled down. It then goes to the Flavor Vat where the flavor is added. Afterwards, the mixture is more milk shaky than ice creamy, so it is frozen into ice cream. Next, the chunks are added. The ice cream is then put into containers, frozen, and shipped out.
Did the judges buy any of the product? Judge Sierra and Judge Stan split a Cookie Cookie Sundae. It had:
* A chocolate chip cookie at the base
* One scoop of “Imagine Whirled Peace”
* One scoop of “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough”
* Whipped cream
* One chocolate chip cookie, cut into quarters and placed vertically on the top
* Hot fudge
* Caramel
Judge Daria had a Hot Fudge Sundae. It had:
* One scoop of “7 Layer Cookie”
* Whipped cream
* Hot fudge
* Chocolate sprinkles
Quality of video shown: Judge Sierra: “Very informative, gave me all of the Ben & Jerry’s history that is above. Judge Daria: “Good, but needs to be updated.” Judge Stan: “It tells you about Ben & Jerry, portrays them in the way they want to be seen. The more informative part is mostly in the factory. But good in the historic sense.”
How tour is conducted: The tour is guided. The first place you go to is the Cow Over the Moon Moovie Theater. Here you watch a video about how Ben & Jerry’s got started. Then off you go to the factory-viewing window, where the guide explains the ice cream making process. Next it’s time for the FlavoRoom. This is the end of the tour.
Info about the employees: They get to eat all the ice cream they want on breaks, plus take home THREE PINTS a day. Three!
Quality of gift shop: High quality, almost all ice cream-related items.
Is there anything else to do on the site of the factory? There is a playground, craft area, and the Flavor Graveyard. The graveyard has some of the factory’s “Departed” flavors. These are flavors that weren’t very popular. Some of these dead flavors are:
* Rainforest Crunch
* Aloha Macadamia
* Peanut Butter & Jelly
* Peanut! Popcorn! (2000-2000)
Read on for: Are You Ready to Get Tummy-fied? Part II
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Dear friends, Nice to find your web site, congratulations. You are very welcome to visit our web site http://www.slowtravel.cl and of course to visit us in Chile or Argentina. We have very interesting tourism options to consider.
With Kind regards,
Estimada María,
Nos dirigimos a ustedes para informarles de nuestra opción de turismo en Chile y Mendoza Argentina.
Nuestro foco principal es en el área de vinos y gastronomía local.
En la revista Travel & Leisure, Octubre 2007 aparecimos en un artículo llamado “Taste the real Chile”.
Estamos relacionados fuertemente con el movimiento Slow Food. http://www.slowfoodfoundation.org
También recibimos pasajeros de los hoteles Explora en Chile.
Pueden visitar nuestro sitio web http://www.slowtravel.cl para mayores informaciones.
Esperamos que reciban este primer contacto en forma positiva y para cualquier duda o interés acá estaremos.
La idea será poder recibir de la mejor forma a sus pasajeros cuando visiten esta zona de Sudamérica.
Nuestra carta de presentación esta en el archive adjunto.
Agustín Landeta
Director Slow Travel
56-2-2075374 / 56-9.1598335
Agustin Landeta in Skype
http://www.slowtravel.cl