| But not for just
regular ice cream, Palosky said; They want Annabelle's.
-Annabelle's recently celebrated its 15th
anniversary by taking home the "Buyers' Choice Award" at the
1997 Northeast Food Service and Lodging Expo, held recently
in Boston.
Palosky said he chose the ice cream that garnered
the award -"Yellow Brick Road," a golden-vanilla ice cream
with roasted pecans, praline pecans and caramel swirls - simply
because the store had plenty on hand.
"Right before we left for the expo, I went
to the freezer and picked 'Yellow Brick Road' Because I
had the most of it in stock and didn't want to take the chance
that the shop might run out of one of the other flavors" Palosky
said.
"I felt really, really proud to win because
it was in a dessert category, where we competed against chefs
who had prepared gourmet desserts," he said. "A lot of the
other participants came over and congratulated us. It was
a big deal."
Palosky said close to 30,000 people attended
the event at the Bay State Expo, where more than 1,000 companies
displayed various food-service products.
Palosky said he and his wife, Linda, bought
Annabelle's from founder Alex David in early 1993.
Palosky, formerly an optometrist who had worked
for both the Hartford Whalers and the 1980 United States Olympic
hockey team, said he had leased space in his Market Street
building to David when he opened Annabelle's at 49 Ceres St.
in June 1982.
When David put the business up for sale, Palosky
was first in line. But he continued his work in optometry
before deciding to dedicate himself fully to the ice cream
business, he said.
"I believed I had accomplished quite a bit
as a doctor," he said, "but I wanted to see what I could do
in this business. It's a lot of fun and it has really rejuvenated
me."
Palosky said he purchased Annabelle's trade
name, recipes, equipment and distributorship, and has remained
committed to delivering ice cream of the highest quality and
integrity.
One way he refocused the business, however,
was to move away from the retail business that he said David
favored. Palosky concentrates on the wholesale market, distributing
more than 30 flavors of ice cream, four frozen yogurts and
three flavors of fruit sorbet. Delivering these products to
more than 80 restaurants, specialty stores and dipping shops
through-out New England, Palosky estimates Annabelle's serves
more than 1.1 million cones each year.
One of the reasons for staying out of the
retail market is to protect the integrity of his sales to
individual accounts, Palosky said.
"I don't want to distribute my ice cream to
a mom-and-pop store that sells it in cones, and have the same
products available in a convenience store next door," he said.
"That wouldn't be fair to our vendors."
Partly as a result of this distribution agreement,
Palosky said, many of his accounts are willing to go to extremes
to ensure the ice cream's availability. One such vendor, located
about five hours north of Portsmouth in Rangley, Maine, was
so anxious to secure a distribution agreement that he offered
to fly into Pease airport to pick up the ice cream, he said.
Annabelle's kosher ice cream, in particular,
has an extensive and varied list of vendors that includes
doctors, lawyers and scientists, Palosky said. A cardiologist
was so fascinated by the Annabelle's ice cream he agreed to
sell it in Vinyl Haven, an island off Rockport, Palosky said.
The doctor even arranged to set up a storage facility on the
mainland to make it easier for Annabelle's to deliver the
ice cream to him.
"In my wildest imaginations, I couldn't have
believed the response we have gotten," Palosky said.
Palosky said he still considers Annabelle's
a small company and continues to emphasize quality over quantity.
He and his wife make many of the deliveries themselves, leaving
sometimes as early 4 in the morning. He said Annabelle's doesn't
have a sales force, but relies on the pure satisfaction of
the product to spread the word.
One way Palosky said he hopes to increase
the awareness of Annabelle's products is by entering more
contests. Annabelle’s has already captured several local titles,
including a current 10-year edition of the Best of the Seacoast
Award, as well as the local People's Choice Award. It was
even named the best ice cream in Rhode Island a few years
ago, he said.
Now in his fourth year of operating Annabelle's,
Palosky said he doesn't follow a strict business plan. He
favors a fluid approach to dealing with day-to-day operations,
he said.
"I have an idea of what I want to do," Palosky
said. "If I thought so much about what I wanted to do, I wouldn't
actually do it I would like to continue along the same lines,
growing at a slow level, but I don't want to get so big that
I can no longer take care of the people who sell ice cream.
"So as far as a business plan? No, I don't
have one, but I think I'll be OK."
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