SKOWHEGAN, Maine — It had been a year since J.C. Gifford was able to taste the ice cream from his family’s plant before it went to the freezer. But when the rebuilt production line began to work, the success was sweet.
"Tastes great," Gifford said, then added, "A lot of hard work went into it."
That was clearly an understatement. On Groundhog Day last year, the Gifford’s plant was damaged by fire, and smoke permeated much of the building. That damage shut down the ice cream production line and led to a major overhaul and rebuilding of the plant. It was a serious blow to the family-owned business, but CEO Lindsay Skilling, sister of J.C. Gifford, said there was never doubt they would rebuild.
"Of course we are going to rebuild," Skilling said of the decision made the day of the fire. "There’s no way we won’t. This is our history; this is our family."
Gifford, chief operating officer for the business, agreed.
"We are the fifth generation, and I used to joke that our generation is not going to be the one to let down the previous generations."
That rebuilding turned out to be far more complicated and time-consuming than first expected. Skilling said early in the summer following the fire, they realized the smoke damage, in particular, required a more aggressive demolition and rebuilding of the facility plant and equipment, and that restarting production would likely not happen until winter.
By then, the brother-sister team had already made one of their most important decisions. They decided to keep all the employees working—even though they couldn’t make any ice cream.
"We had been asked if we planned to furlough [the employees], lay them off," Skilling recalled. "And how could we? How could we do that?"
"They have families," Gifford said.
"Right. When you look at them, we know their families, their significant others, their kids, their grandkids. We owed it to everyone at Gifford's, so how could we?"
Skilling and Gifford said they had grown up in the plant, grown up with many of the employees as friends and neighbors in this town. So a management decision was clearly a community decision, too.
"We kept them paid and employed for the whole time," Gifford said. "And we took care of them because we knew when we needed them, they would be there for us."
And they have indeed been there for the Gifford's.
"We helped in every way we could, from demolition to taking out trash to cleaning equipment, rebuilding equipment, anything we could," production supervisor Alex Thurlow said.
He added that they even went to the company’s ice cream stands to do landscaping and building maintenance.
That work paid off. After contractors built a large addition to the building for new milk and cream tanks and a new piping and control system to deliver those ingredients to the production line, the rebuilt and reconfigured ice cream-making equipment was turned on Feb. 3.
Gifford said it has taken a lot of adjusting and fine-tuning to get everything running properly, but that work is largely behind them. Gifford's is now producing ice cream.
"Yes, it tastes excellent," Skilling smiled.
That, according to Gifford, is a change. For the past year, once the company used up inventory in the freezer, it contracted with out-of-state companies to make ice cream for them. Gifford said he didn’t eat it because it didn’t taste the same.
Now, he says, the Gifford’s taste is back.
"Yes, tastes great. A lot of hard work went into it and it's great to be where we are today."
The CEO and COO say there is more work to be done. Old, damaged, or unneeded parts of the building complex are being torn down. The production space will be expanded, and a second production line will be installed.
That, the company leaders say, will make the process more efficient and allow them to launch new products, and possibly new partnerships to grow the business.
For now, owners and employees are continuing to work hand-in-hand to build up inventories before summer. They will start working six days per week to fill up the freezers.
Summer, of course, is ice cream season. After a year when they couldn’t make any, Gifford's intends to be ready.