Chapman\'s Ice Cream for a Village and a Nation

Marketing -- Chapman's Ice Cream

Company Description: Chapman's Ice Cream

The Chapman Ice Cream story is a classic small business makes good tale. In a village near Georgian Bay of Markdale, Ontario, a Canadian couple bought a roughshod small creamy and began working on a dream to manufacture a quality ice cream delivered with small town personality. In 1973, David and Penny Chapman had two trucks, four employees, and a big idea. The primitive and cramped quarters above the creamery became the incubator for recipe development that would catapult Chapman's to the ranks of national favored flavors and the number one manufacturer of specialty ice cream in Canada.

In 2010, Chapman's Ice Cream employed 450 workers, but factory fire the year before caused them to build a new plant that -- at 15,000 square meters -- is roughly double the size of the original facility. The new plant cost approximately $75 million and enabled the company to expand the number of employees in the new plant by 100 workers. In the interim year as the new plant was designed and built, Chapman's solidified its reputation as a manufacturer of nut-free products by utilizing a mini-plant -- a strategy that enabled the company to hang on to existing market share.

A distinct advantage of being a small, privately owned company is that it enables a high level of responsiveness to customer needs and preferences. A fortuitous phone call from the family of a 10-year-old boy with a peanut allergy set Chapman's on the road to creating specialty ice cream and novelty frozen desserts. From that original product peanut and nut free deviation, Chapman continued to create ice cream for a number of special dietary needs, including gluten free, lactose free, and no sugar added. These extensions of the brand garnered several industry awards, such as the red flag labeling that identifies Chapman's products as "Peanut / Nut Free," and the "Susan Daglish Award" that indicates commitment to and leadership in the area of anaphylaxis safety.

Strategic Focus of Plan

Despite being Canada's largest independent ice cream manufacturer, Chapman's Ice Cream has a down-home, family business focus with local roots deepened by 40-

years of production in Markdale, Ontario, where the Chapman family lives and works. The company vision is to "never be out of touch with our customers and we'll always respond to their needs with quality products at affordable prices."

Chapman deeply identifies with the many Canadians who purchase their products and who sustained them during the difficult year after the devastating fire in 2009. One way of giving back to these loyal Canadians is Chapman's use of 100% Canadian milk in all of its products that contain milk ingredients -- only the water ice treats like Supper Lolly's, Li'l Lolly's, and Sorbet do not contain milk products.