world-class ice cream

WORLD-CLASS ICE CREAM from a small town in Maine

In the Beginning The story of Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream goes back to the late

1800s, when an industrious young man named Nathaniel Main

from Pawcatuck, Connecticut, started a home delivery milk and

ice cream business from the back of his horse-drawn wagon.

Fifteen years later, Nathanial’s oldest son, Chester, got involved

in the family business. Eventually, Chester’s daughter, Audrey,

married her college sweetheart Randall Gifford and together they

forged a splendid path that led to Skowhegan, Maine, and to the

birth of Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream.

Moving to Maine Randall and Audrey shared a common love of family and life’s

simple pleasures that remains at the core of the family business

today. They also grew up in the dairy business and from early on,

were steeped in the tradition of delicious old-fashioned ice cream.

After running a small milk business and ice cream shop for 17

years, they pulled up roots and moved to Randall’s home state

of Maine…bringing their passion for ice cream right along with

them. They purchased a small dairy in Farmington in 1971, and

three years later purchased another dairy in Skowhegan, where

the Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream plant remains today.

The family began creating small batches of creamy ice cream

using Audrey’s parents’ recipes for strawberry, peach, wild

blueberry, and coffee. The first seasonal ice cream stand was

opened in Skowhegan, followed by another in Farmington.

Eventually, Randall and Audrey sold the milk portion of the

STORYOUR

dairy business to Oakhurst Dairy. Their sons Roger and John

took over the ice cream portion of the business and transformed

the milk plant into a world-class ice cream factory.

It quickly became clear that Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream was

something truly special. Made with fresh milk and cream from

local dairy farms, it had that old-fashioned, rich flavor that won

the hearts of children and families alike. At the time, the business

was making 10,000 gallons annually with a core of six determined

employees. Eventually, Roger and John started to introduce the ice

cream to a broader audience. In 1987, they carried their product

across state lines and, over time, added three more ice cream

stands in Bangor, Waterville and Auburn.

Gifford’s Today Today, Gifford’s sells 2.2 million gallons of ice cream each year and

serves more than one million cones each summer from five family-

owned and operated stands. The company offers more than 100

unique ice cream flavors, frozen yogurts, sherbets, and sorbets. The

ice cream can be found in grocery stores, independent ice cream

shops, colleges, universities and restaurants all the way from Maine

to the Mid Atlantic, to the Mid-West and as far west as Nevada.

When you have five generations of ice cream making history behind

every flavor, it’s no wonder that Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream has

received its share of national and international awards. But perhaps

most importantly, Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream brings you back to

those carefree days when your only worry was how many more

days until summer. It’s why we like to say our ice cream is a

vacation from the everyday.

GENERATIONSFIVE

of ice cream makers

1ST GENERATION – LATE 1800s Nathaniel Main starts in the dairy business.

2ND GENERATION – 1915 Nathaniel’s son Chester gets involved in his father’s business.

3RD GENERATION – 1947 Chester’s daughter Audrey Main marries her college sweetheart, Randall Gifford. Eventually, they bring their ice cream recipes and their dairy industry knowledge to Randall’s home state of Maine.

4TH GENERATION – 1970s-1980s Audrey and Randall’s children, Arland, Donna, Roger and John, join the business. John and Roger purchase the company from their parents and decide to focus on ice cream.

5TH GENERATION – 1990s-2010s Audrey and Randall’s grandchildren, Ryan, JC, Lindsay, and Samantha come on board and represent a new generation of Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream.

1980 The first Gifford’s ice cream stand opens in Skowhegan. Followed two years later by a second stand in Farmington.

1983 The milk portion of the Gifford’s dairy business is sold to Oakhurst Dairy. John and Roger purchase the ice cream business from their parents.

1987 Gifford’s opens their third ice cream stand in Bangor. Two years later, Gifford’s purchases the former Rummel’s Ice Cream stand and mini-golf in Waterville. After a thorough remodel, it becomes the company’s fourth ice cream stand.

2006 Gifford’s opens its fifth ice cream stand in Auburn.

Audrey and Randall in Maine

LATE 1800s Our great-grandfather, Nathaniel Main, starts a home delivery milk and ice cream business in Connecticut with a horse-drawn wagon.

1913 Refrigerators for home and domestic use are invented in Indiana. Freezers develop soon after.

1915 Nathaniel’s son Chester joins his father’s milk and ice cream business.

1947 Audrey – Chester’s daughter and Nathaniel’s granddaughter – marries Randall Gifford, her college sweetheart, who hails from Portland, Maine.

1970s Randall and Audrey move to Maine with their four children Arland, Donna, Roger and John. They purchase a dairy in Farmington and eventually another dairy in Skowhegan where the Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream factory remains today.

2011 Gifford’s expands into Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia with the purchase of Gifford’s Ice Cream & Candy Co.

2012 L.L. Bean chooses Gifford’s to make Muddy Bean Boots – a special edition ice cream for its 100th anniversary.

2013 Gifford’s launches the Outdoor Adventure Series – a new line of six ice creams inspired by Maine’s great outdoors.

2014 Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream Truck begins rolling with the Good Times Ice Cream Tour sampling award-winning ice cream in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

COMPANY TIMELINE Making ice cream since people had iceboxes

Roger, Randall and John celebrate success

The ice cream factory in Skowhegan.

2015 Gifford’s announces the biggest expansion in its 41-year history and celebrates anniversaries at two of its five family-owned cream stands in Maine: Skowhegan turns 35 years old and Waterville turns 25.

2016 The 3,810 square foot expansion is completed and the capacity to double production is put to good use. On another front, Gifford’s inks a 3-year partnership with the Boston Bruins. The deal includes a custom ice cream flavor – Power Play Fudge – and a shared goal to grow the game of hockey through community service and outreach.

LEADERSTODAY’S

LINDSAY SKILLING CEO, Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream

“We are taking it to the next level to make our parents and

grandparents proud.”

Lindsay Gifford-Skilling is not quite sure when it all started. She

remembers from a young age, her dad would bring home old

office supplies and she’d play “Gifford’s” with her friends –

pretending to take orders from distributors and filling out

paperwork. “I was young,” she says laughing, “but I loved

everything about the company.”

At 33, Lindsay is still young by most measures, but her role today

has grown to that of mom, wife, and CEO at Gifford’s

Famous Ice Cream. She is part of a small legion of women in Maine

who are running mid-sized businesses. With a staff of 59 year-round employees and sales of 2.2 million gallons of

ice cream a year, her role includes oversight of operations, staff, five seasonal ice-cream stands, and an ice cream

factory in Skowhegan that produces more than 100 flavors and distributes to hundreds of retail locations from

Maine to Virginia to Nevada.

“I am incredibly lucky to have my family at my side helping in the operation of this business,” says Lindsay. “We

do this together.” She is quick to add that without the support of her family, the Gifford’s team, and most of all her

husband Jay, she would not be able to juggle the demands of being a mom and a company leader.

For Lindsay, the current challenges of managing Gifford’s are minor compared to the company’s hardscrabble

beginnings. Lindsay’s dad John and her uncle Roger started Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream on a shoestring. “There

were a lot of restless nights in those early years when the company had to struggle to make payroll and pay its

debts.” Roger and John, the fourth generation ice-cream makers, risked it all when they purchased the ice cream

portion of the dairy business from their parents and went full-steam into ice cream. For Lindsay and her siblings,

every detail of these company particulars matter.


“...we are taking it to the next level to make our grandparents and parents proud.”


Today, as CEO, Lindsay intentionally seeks a healthy work/

home balance, and tries to set an example for others. After

she gave birth to her daughter Ava and to her son Jacoby,

she took 12 weeks of maternity leave, and while she

arrives at the factory most days at 6 a.m., she also keeps

a home office, so she can be there some days when her

children wake up. “There are a lot of young moms in the

office, I want to be a role model for them too,” she says.

As a leader, Lindsay doesn’t pretend to have all the

answers. “It helps to have a large family around me with

deep experience. I can’t say enough about the importance

of my family. At the end of the day—I know they will be

there to lean on.” Lindsay says she doesn’t dwell on the

fact that she’s a female leader of a manufacturing company. “I don’t think about it, I just do it.” Granted, her job

requires her to make tough decisions and work long hours. But she’s also learned a few great tricks along the

way: “For one, I now recognize that you want

to surround yourself with a team of people who are smarter than you and empowered to get the job done.”

Together, the greater Gifford’s family shares in the joys and struggles of success. “In the end, we recognize

how fortunate we are to be around a happy business that is successful,” says Lindsay. “We have some

incredibly energetic and loyal customers who seem to fall in love with our product. And I feel like we are

taking it to the next level to make our grandparents and parents proud.”

Family

LEADERSTODAY’S

JOHN CHESTER GIFFORD JR. Vice President of Sales, Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream

“I think people love the company because it’s a family business

and true premium ice cream!”

John Chester Gifford (JC) was born in Waterville, Maine, in 1981,

into a long line of ice cream makers. Asked to reflect on what it

was like to be born into an ice cream family, JC admits that, as

a boy, he didn’t fully grasp what it meant. “It was just fun to

travel around on sales calls with my dad in Maine and to ‘The

County,’ but it didn’t really sink in what it all meant until I was

in high school.”

JC grew up working at the Gifford’s Mini Golf behind the Gifford’s Famous

Ice Cream Stand on Route 201 in Skowhegan. This is the location of Gifford’s

first Ice Cream stand, and the beginning of what would become Maine’s largest

and most successful ice cream company.

From a young age, JC worked for his parents, taking care of the mini golf course. “I knew it was special, but I

didn’t know how meaningful it was until later in life,” he admits. Today, at age 35, JC is the Vice President of Sales

for Gifford’s Ice Cream, a position that oversees a territory of 18 states from Maine to DC to Nevada, with annual

sales of 2.2 million gallons of ice cream. “We are growing at a steady clip,” says JC with pride, and while he swears

that Gifford’s does track dollar sales, he and his team of six sales representatives prefer to measure growth by

gallons sold. “Money has never been the issue at Gifford’s. It’s all about the ice cream,” he says with a smile.

JC, his two sisters Lindsay and Samantha, and their cousin Ryan Porter are the emerging young leaders in this

5th generation ice cream family. Each of them brings an enormous amount of passion, intelligence, and hard work

to the table, and each has uncommon reverence for their heritage and the sweat equity that brought them here.

For JC, the sacrifice made by four generations of relatives before him is a deep source of pride and motivation.


“I think people love the company because it’s all about family...”


“Growing up in this family, you would hear the stories about

the troubling times when the family was just getting started and

how people worked together, stuck through it, and did what they

needed to do,” says JC. “It would have been easy to give up but

they didn’t allow that to happen. They put all their time and effort

and all they had into this company.”

JC notes that the most rewarding part of his job is witnessing

success in the members of his sales team. “I like seeing us

working together – sharing the growth with the family members

and plant employees so we can grow as a team.” Of the 15

factory employees at Gifford’s, some have been with the

company since day one, when Gifford’s switched from milk to ice

cream. “Some guys started here in high school and are still with

the company,” says JC with a smile. “That means a lot.”

During the summer months, the temperature at the small yellow clapboard factory rises, and so does the pressure.

“Summer is such a short window – and at Gifford’s in the summer, everything is urgent,” he says. But JC is fortunate

to have reinforcements nearby. “Lindsay, Samantha, Ryan and I are so lucky to be able to speak with our father and

uncle and get reassurance when we need it. Almost every issue we face is something they have dealt with before.

We can talk it through and know that we are on the same team.”

JC doesn’t hesitate when asked why people go crazy for Gifford’s. “I think people love the company because it’s all

about family – from those with the last name to our team, to our loyal family of customers. We haven’t changed

much about the way we make ice cream. We never look to compromise the quality of our product, rather we always

look to enhance it.” Bottom line: “It’s good ice cream. If it wasn’t good ice cream people wouldn’t go crazy about it.”

Family

LEADERSTODAY’S

SAMANTHA GIFFORD Marketing Manager, Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream

When you meet Samantha Gifford you can see right away why she

wanted to go into the fashion industry. Long, dark hair, a radiant

smile, and a sense of style, color and texture exude from this

young Gifford’s family member. After high school, Samantha

left Skowhegan for Providence, RI, to pursue a career in fashion,

but something happened.

“I remember being in college in a sales and marketing class, and

somewhere during the class, I realized how much I already knew,”

explains Samantha. After class, Samantha rushed to a phone, called

her dad and told him she was interested in coming back to Maine to

work for the family business. “When you’re growing up, you just don’t

realize how much you are learning – over dinner table conversations

and every day – everything we discussed was always about the business.” Samantha says something just clicked.

“I decided to go to school for business.” So she went to Husson University and graduated with a B.A. in Business

and returned to Skowhegan to start work.

Samantha is the youngest of the four emerging Gifford family leaders. “I was a surprise!” she says with a laugh. At

only 27, she does not lack in clarity about her role or the importance of her place in the business. As the Marketing

Manager for Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream, Samantha’s job is to give customers world-class ice cream from a small

town in Maine and to ensure that each person has an outstanding customer service experience. Her responsibilities

include sharing the Gifford’s story and introducing the brand and ice cream to new customers. Samantha uses her

creativity to come up with fun ways to help fans share their love of Gifford’s and to bring them a “vacation from the

everyday” with their ice cream. Her favorite part of the job is being a part of creating and naming new flavors.


“It is my job to make sure our customers understand how important they are to our family and our team.”


“It is my job to make our customers understand how important

they are to our family and our team,” she says emphatically. “If it

weren’t for our customers and retailers, we would not be where

we are today.”

Samantha admits that growing up in an ice cream family had

its idiosyncrasies. “If we went shopping at the grocery store, we

always stopped at the freezer section to make sure the product

was well-stocked,” she recounts. “And now, I always find my

way there too. It’s our family name and I take pride in that,”

she says with a smile.

Samantha feels incredibly fortunate to have grown up a Gifford.

“It has been awesome. Even when I was little I remember

everything about the company. I used to help my mom at the mini golf course—picking up leaves, organizing

clubs. Like any kid, you liked to help out and be involved,” she recalls.

But she confesses that it wasn’t until Middle School when she realized the enormity of it all. “Today I work with

team members who have spent their careers with us, who have known me since I was in diapers, and I have

really come to appreciate how much this matters to all of us.”

Another transformation took place in New York City following 9/11. “After the tragedy, we released an ice cream

called “Stars and Stripes” and we brought it to Ground Zero, to fire stations, and to the Pentagon, and we scooped

for the workers.” Samantha was only in the 6th grade, but she made the trip with her family and says it was a

pivotal experience. “Our family wanted to give something back and we wanted the rescue workers to know how

much we – and everyone – appreciated their hard work.”

As she looks back on her childhood, Samantha can count dozens of reasons to be proud. “Starting with my

grandparents—I am so proud of their hard work. And then my dad, he worked so hard and still managed to

coach and attend all of our sporting and academic events while growing up. In my family, we learned that

nothing is going to be handed to you. If you want to be a success you have to work for everything. My father

and Uncle Roger did. My family means the world to me. I can’t stress that enough.”

Samantha, a self-proclaimed small-town girl, admits that the most rewarding aspect of her job is being part of a

family-owned company. “Working day in and day out with family members—nothing is more meaningful than

that. I want to keep the company alive and keep my family proud.”

Family

LEADERSTODAY’S

RYAN PORTER Quality Assurance Manager, Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream

Ryan Porter was born into the Gifford’s Ice Cream Family and his love for the ice cream business started at a young age. At 14, he started working summers in the Skowhegan plant, filling orders, and loading the truck from the freezer. He continued right through college, eventually managing the Skowhegan Ice Cream Stand. Today, Ryan is plant supervisor, and his mind is never far from ice cream. Ryan’s mom, Donna Gifford, is the daughter of third-generation ice cream makers Audrey and Randall Gifford. Along with his first cousins Lindsay, JC, and Samantha, Ryan is part of the newest generation of Giffords who are running the family busi-ness.

Ryan’s childhood shaped the man he is today—a father, an outdoorsman, and a stickler for perfection. As a young boy, Ryan spent a lot of time with his grandfather Randall and he learned early about his family’s passion for excellence.

“My grandfather had a work ethic that I would refer to as ‘old-school,’ recalls Ryan. “No matter what needed to be done, you did it. I lived a half-mile from his house, so I was up there a lot. He was very demanding, very stern and strict.”

But on days off, Ryan and grandfather Randall would fish together and bask in the unspoiled beauty of Maine’s woods and waters. “After fishing, my grandfather and I would always find a stand that was selling our ice cream; we would get an orange sherbet. That is one of my first big ice-cream memories.”

Today, Ryan’s job is to ensure the ice cream gets made every day and that the quality remains unsurpassed. Every batch is tested for excellence, and for Ryan, this is more than a professional responsibility, it’s his entire family’s reputation on the line with every quart.

“To be honest, being part of a family business instills a bit of a fear of failure,” he laughs. “It’s definitely a motivator.”

Like his cousins, Ryan is deeply aware of the risks and rewards of running a family business. He is simultaneously looking to the past for inspiration and to the future for opportunity. “I take a lot of pride in what my family has built. My grandfather Randall created something truly special. My uncles took it to the next level by selling off the milk portion of the business and going strictly into ice cream. So many hard decisions got made along the way and the stakes were high.”

It seems that everyone in the Gifford family is always thinking about the next generation of family members and employees who will make Gifford’s their future. And that’s what Ryan plans to do as well.


“Just try our ice cream, and you can taste the love.”

INGREDIENTSOUR

OUR AWARD WINNING SECRET - the very best ingredientsThe foundation of every ice cream flavor we make is the cream and milk. After

that, each ingredient is carefully selected and must meet our high quality standards.

• Fresh milk and cream from local farms that have pledged never to use artificial growth hormone

• Maine wild blueberries from just up the road

• Juicy Northwest strawberries

• Real Maine maple syrup

• Premium chocolates

• The finest nuts and berries

• Imported vanilla bean


FPO-LR

Dear Ms. Skilling and Everyone at Gifford’s,

My name is Emily. I grew up in Scarborough, Maine and spent the summers

during my childhood visiting my grandparents at their camp just a few miles

from their home in Waterville. My mom and dad were both raised in

Waterville, less than a mile from the Gifford’s on Silver Street. Every summer

we would drive the short trip from the lake, play a round of miniature golf,

and eat a giant cone of ice cream. I always ordered the same thing: chocolate

with rainbow sprinkles.

My Pepere grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Maine, and he loved ice cream.

I have fond memories of being a little girl and going with him to Gifford’s for

a cone. Years later, the summer before I left Maine to go to college, I visited

Gifford’s during a weekend spent at camp with my older cousins. Every

time I go back to Maine to see my parents, my mom knows to have a

tub of the World’s Best Chocolate – which truly, without contest, is THE

very best chocolate ice cream imaginable – ready and waiting for me in the

freezer. There is just nothing like it, and as strange as this may be to say about ice

cream, it tastes like home.

I now live in Washington, D.C., and have had to cope with the fact that, because it is just too difficult

to cart tubs of chocolate ice cream home in my carry-on, I will have to live without Gifford’s, until...

This morning I woke up to a text message from my father with a link to an article in the Morning

Sentinel: “Maine-born ice cream brand heading to nation’s capital.”

“I must still be dreaming,” I thought to myself. But I wasn’t! I texted him back immediately:

“BEST. NEWS. EVER!!!” And it really is.

Ice cream may seem like a small thing to most people, but Gifford’s is more than that to me. It’s a

reminder of warm Maine summers spent with my family, of taking indiscriminate mulligans on the

mini golf course with my sister, of arriving home after a long drive back from college and collapsing

on the couch with my parents and a bowl of Gifford’s. And it’s Maine. Gifford’s is a piece of home

to me, and I cannot wait for you to come down to D.C. so I can order a giant cone here in my

new home – chocolate with rainbow sprinkles.

Thank you for making the world’s very best ice cream,

Emily and her sister Julia

WITH LOVEfrom D.C.

ICE CREAMHOW WE MAKE

MAKING ICE CREAM the old fashioned wayEvery Gifford’s ice cream flavor is unique – and it’s not just what’s in

it, but how it’s made that makes the difference. From a small yellow

clapboard factory in the rural town of Skowhegan, Maine, each flavor is

made on a single production line. Gifford’s is a small-town success story.

• It all starts with the family recipes, created in part by great

grandparents Chester and Fayolyn Main and passed down

through the generations.

• The Gifford’s team of ice cream-makers crafts 90 percent of our

flavors from scratch using the freshest ingredients and steam kettles.

• Gifford’s uses a special blend of fresh milk and cream from local

farms delivered to their ice cream plant several times per week. This

creamy base sets the stage for the creation of Gifford’s Famous Ice

Cream flavors.

• Once the flavors are blended in our mixing tanks, we begin the

manufacturing process in our 1940s Cherry Burrell ice cream

freezers. These antique machines slow churn each flavor to achieve

maximum creaminess. The Cherry Burrells are an essential step in

making Gifford’s ice cream famous!

• After the slow churning process, we carefully fold special ingredients

into each flavor-- cookie dough, premium nuts, Maine wild blueberries

from just up the road, and strawberries that have been thawed and

sugared over two-days.

• At this point each delicious flavor is poured into its own

container and is ready for the freezer. Then, hold on to

your hat!

• Each container travels along the conveyor belt into a hardening

tunnel – something akin to the North Pole – with subfreezing

temperatures and high wind velocity (yes, we add wind to

make it colder!). Here, temperatures plummet to 60 degrees

below zero!

• For up to 8 hours the ice cream endures some of the coldest

temperatures on earth! This magical step helps to produce a

smoother, creamier ice cream. And yes, there are people at

Gifford’s wearing parkas and hats in July – these ice cream

makers are dedicated!

• Our family name is on every package, and our reputation is

on the line with every scoop. Using the best ingredients and

a proven process for making ice cream helps make sure you’ll

always come back for more.


RECOGNITIONAWARDS AND

TAKE A PEAK AT OUR TROPHY CASE

World Dairy Expo

Ice Cream Grand Champion

Five-Time Winner – 2010, ‘11, ‘12, ‘13, ‘14

World’s Best Frozen Yogurt –

Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

World’s Best Chocolate

World’s Best Orange Sherbet

World’s Best French Vanilla

World’s Best Vanilla Bean

World’s Best Vanilla

National Ice Cream Retailers Association

1st Place Strawberry

1st Place Old Fashioned Vanilla

1st Place Chocolate

Best New Flavor Black Raspberry

Chocolate Chip frozen yogurt

NJ Ice Cream Festival

3-Time First Prize Winner – Old Fashioned Vanilla

People’s Choice Award Winners – Campfire S’mores and Chocolate Lovers Chocolate

Over the years we’ve earned our share of smiles – and more than a few blue ribbons, too. World’s Best Vanilla, World’s Best Chocolate, four times over. World Dairy Grand Champion five years in a row! Yet, perhaps the sweetest awards we receive are those like the People’s Choice 1st Place for Gifford’s Campfire S’mores, won at the New Jersey Ice Cream Festival. After all, we slow churn it for regular folks, not industry experts.

Downeast Magazine – Reader’s Choice Award

Best Ice Cream, 2012

Institute for Family-Owned Businesses

Gannett Family Business of the Year, 2008

Maine Governor’s Award

Governor’s Award for Business Excellence, 2010

Retail Association of Maine

Retailer of the Year, 2014

Yankee Magazine – Best of New England – Editor’s Choice

Best Ice Cream Stand, Maine, 2014

world-class ice cream

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