SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Summer’s clamoring crowds have dissipated. But demand for Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream is on the rise. So much so that the company is embarking on its largest renovation in its 41-year history.
“Doors are opening for us as a family and a company. We have to keep the quality of the product up,” said J.C. Gifford, vice president of sales.
To meet demand for its slow-churned, old-fashioned ice cream, the company is sinking $1.6 million into its Skowhegan-based operation and plans to add 3,810 square feet. The expansion will double the ice cream maker’s total production and quart-filling capacity from 1 million to 2 million per year.
“We are growing and looking to continue to grow,” said Gifford. “I’m excited to see this place transform. This was the right time for us.”
Though Gifford stopped short of saying how many jobs the company will add, the growth at the family-run operation, now in its fifth generation, is robust. The expansion will create needed floor space and allow Gifford’s to bring in two large steam kettles, a new quart filler and a new shrink wrapper for retail packaging. Once installed, two ice cream production lines will run simultaneously.
“From the outside it doesn’t look like a huge expansion; we are building a basement,” said J.C. Gifford, whose father John and uncle Roger transformed the company from a dairy to a single-focused ice cream business in the 1980s. Today Gifford’s retails from Maine to Virginia and operates five ice cream stands in Maine.
“We make 90 percent of our bases and ripples in house,” said J.C. Gifford. “We need this to be more efficient.”
The company plans to officially announce the expansion at an ice cream scooping ceremony Friday, to be attended by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, employees and community members at 11:30 a.m. in Skowhegan.
The company reported a 12.4 percent sales increase of its quarts and premium bulk flavors this summer.
Gifford says the growth has been organic. By 2016, they expect to sell more than 2 million gallons of ice cream annually.
“As we look ahead to the next many decades, we feel fortunate to be able to forecast increased demand for our ice cream and a renewed commitment to our hometown of Skowhegan,” John Gifford, the company’s co-owner, said in a release.
