As you can imagine in the ice cream plants our equipment is a far cry from the ice cream maker you used on your Grandmother's front porch, but the basic concept is not much different.

The picture you see is of a state-of-the-art ice cream freezer. This particular model has the capability of making 800 gallons of ice cream per hour and is in line with two other freezers of the same capacity which gives us 2,400 gallons per hour capability. Of course we do not need such a high volume piece of equipment for our smaller items such as novelties. We use freezers that have capacity of 250 to 300 gallons for smaller products.

As I mentioned earlier the concept from "front porch" to "plant floor" is not much different. As you did at your Granny's house (Granny was the term for my Grandmother Betty Conway. Making ice cream on her porch is one of many fond memories.) you put together the ingredients; milk or condensed milk, cream, sugar, secret recipe stuff, etc, then you put it in a metal cylinder, inserted the paddle in the metal cylinder, then set the metal cylinder in the bucket and applied the ice and rock salt to the outside. We were a little on the poor side so the first one I remember had a crank which we got to turn by hand. The ice and rock salt took the heat away from the mixture and the paddle ever so slowly pulled "ice cream" from the side of the cylinder until it was at the perfect texture for your family's taste.

In the "plant floor" version we begin with our ingredients but they are brought together in a mix using very sophisticated equipment to insure that the mixes are always consistent with the formulas. Our "secret recipe" stuff may include flavors, colors, even stabilization systems to help protect our products during distribution, which included the trip from the grocery to your freezer at home. Once our mix is perfect we introduce it into the barrel (cylinder) of our "mechanical freezer", no hand cranking here, and instead of ice and rock salt, liquid ammonia removes the heat from the mix and out comes ice cream. Now there are some differences. We inject what we refer to as overrun, industry lingo for air, into the mixture that will help us create the texture that we want for our ice cream. The mechanical freezers have the capability of storing individual recipes for our products so we know that these textures will be the same for our products every time. Remember, to Mayfield consistency is Elvis (The King). To have great ice cream you have to begin with a great mix and then you have to use a great freezer. They are the heart of our operations. Our mechanical freezers measure the smallest of details about what is going on inside the barrels (cylinders) and how the dashers (paddles) are working the mix to insure we have the smallest ice crystals possible when ice cream is discharged, most of the time at 21 degrees Fahrenheit. The smaller the crystals the more "Ice Creamier" the product.

How does the good stuff such as pecans, tracks from moose and turtles, delicious ribbons, etc. get into the ice cream you ask. That will be for our next installment.

Please ask us any questions that you have.

Thanks.

Eddie

Flavor Decision ‘06 has ended and Blueberry Cream Pie is our winner.  It is now a permanent flavor, although Extreme Moose Tracks, Triple Brownie and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough will be around until spring 2007.  We will introduce four new flavors in March 2007, and this is why I am posting this blog.

On September 7-8 and 14-15, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., we will taste test a number of potential flavors for 2007 at our Visitor Centers.  During the first two days, September 7-8, we will taste Boston Cream Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie, German Chocolate Cake, Key Lime Pie, Baked Apple Pie and Apple Brown Betty.  The next week, September 14-15, we will taste Chocolate Caramel Toffee Cheesecake, Olde Savannah Caramel, Coconut Cake, Coconut Cream Pie, Double Cone Crunch and Peanut Butterific.

So, I am inviting you to come to our Visitor Centers in Athens, TN or Braselton, GA to select your favorite flavors for 2007.  We do not have a large supply of these potential flavors, so plan to visit early and let us know what you think of them.

Scottie

Hello. I’m Alan Owen and I’ve been marketing manager at Mayfield since 1999. As a native of Athens, Tennessee and the son of a 40-year Mayfield employee, I grew up with great admiration and respect for this brand and company, and was excited to return to East Tennessee following a 13-year stint with the Campbell Soup Company.

One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is, “How do you come up with new flavors?” It’s actually a very structured process that involves a lot of persons, ranging from company president Scottie Mayfield to consumers like you. By the time the four new feature flavors have been selected, over 500 sets of taste buds have been put to the test!

The selection process begins with the Mayfield ice cream committee, a group of our employees representing many different areas of our company including sales, marketing, production and quality assurance. Between April and June, this 11-person group receives about eight presentations from flavor vendors who are trying in earnest to have their flavor – or flavors – selected for entry into the Mayfield line.

Each vendor samples approximately 8-10 flavors, and the committee rates each on a scale from 1-10. Once the scores from all sampled products are tabulated, the committee meets again to review the scores and pare our finalists down to 10.

My name is Cayci. I'm not a Mayfield Mom, but this summer, my job has been much like a Mom's. I am an intern at Mayfield. Many college students my age take jobs because of the opportunity to travel.  My job gives me the opportunity to travel dipping ice cream!  For the past month, I have been on the campaign trail with Flavor Decision ‘06.  Rallies I have attended include Athens, Atlanta, Birmingham, Bristol, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Greenville, Huntsville, Knoxville, and Montgomery.  To the best of my knowledge, the only other “person” who has attended more Flavor Decision Rallies than me is Maggie, the 7 foot cow!

Each city is a new experience with different surroundings and diverse groups of people.  For example, I find that the majority of people in Montgomery are business men and women standing in line for an hour in dress attire for a scoop of ice cream!  Greenville, however, hosts more daycares and adults with young children.  Just as the groups of people are different from city to city, the consensus of the group seems to change at each stop.  Voting may reflect differently, but Birmingham seemed to be a Blueberry Cream Pie city while Charlotte was Peanut Butter Cookie Dough.  I just never know what to expect until I get up to my elbows in ice cream!

The typical “Ice Cream” Day for me begins between 9:30 and 10 am.  This is after the drive to the city which varies from 1 to 5 hours.  Yes, I ride 5 hours in a car to dip ice cream for 3.  Voting tables and dipping cabinets are set up by 11 am.  Then the fun begins!  For 3 solid hours, Mayfield dippers serve hot, hungry customers the flavor or flavors of their choice.  Joking and kidding around is the only thing that keeps us sane while working in the miserably hot heat!  We try our best to keep smiles on our faces, and for the most part, the public is appreciative.  When the sour apple comes along, we just laugh it off and keep going!  We close at 2 pm and have usually finished cleaning up by 2:30.

One of the biggest challenges and biggest jokes from this summer has been Maggie’s hat.  “Who’s taking it this time?”  After riding back from Charlotte, NC with Rob Mayfield and the hat, Rob realized that he could not leave it in his van until the next Monday because he needed the space over the weekend.  Being over 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide, the hat is hard to get through the door facing to a building, so we moved it to the back of my small SUV.  For the next two days I did nothing but answer, “Cayci, what is in the back of your car?”  How do you explain to someone that you are carrying around a hat for a cow? 

This summer I have been part of events that have served over 50,000 dips of ice cream.  I gave up 2 days of my vacation and made my younger brother travel with me to attend Alabama Flavor Decision Rallies.  I have walked into numerous convenience stores and Wal-Marts with ice cream all over my clothes, in my hair, on my arms, down my leg, and on my shoes!  I have taken down displays in the rain and driven through thunderstorms.  I have acquired an ice cream tan (like a farmer’s tan but with shorts) and have been sun burnt numerous times.  BUT!  I would not have missed this for the world!  I love my job, meeting new people and getting to work with branch personal that I only get to see a couple of times per year.  My sun burn will eventually heal, and I will hopefully catch up on the sleep I missed, but the experiences I now have I can keep forever!

 - Cayci