It’s hard to imagine just how many flavors of ice cream exist. But creative ice cream makers keep coming up with new tastes all the time.
Take, for example, one boutique ice cream maker here that concocts custom ice cream flavors for big events and special occasions. During a recent charity event, The Chocolate Shoppe came up with a “festive yellow/red cookie dough” ice cream that had the distinct appearance of – you guessed it – sausage laden with yellow mustard. (Yum!) When the city this year wooed Google to bring its fiber optic service here, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Babcock Dairy launched Madfiber ice cream featuring M&Ms in Google’s company colors with sweet granola in vanilla ice cream.
Although it appears that I live in a magical Frozen Dairyland, plenty of other ice cream artisans across the country come up with unusual flavor combinations , too. Exotic is the niche at In the Mood Coffee and Ice Cream in Woodbury and Magic Fountain in Mattituck. Not to be outdone, the tiny Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco keeps customers current with its 100 flavors including prosciutto, milk chocolate tarragon and foie via Twitter.
Regardless of the number of flavors out there, one flavor stands alone as the consummate favorite: vanilla. There are good reasons why. Vanilla is anything but plain or boring. Vanilla’s flavor profile is complex as the Washington Post notes.
“Such complexity and multidimensionality have made vanilla one of the most sought-after and copied spices. But its use is still fairly limited. We add it to sweet dishes to emphasize their sweetness. And that’s about it. Although homemade vanilla ice cream is one of the most wonderful things I know, I don’t think we should stop there.”
Plus, vanilla pairs well with just about everything. Check these top flavors from a Food Network survey. The top five of 15:
Vanilla
Chocolate
Butter pecan
Strawberry
Neapolitan
For contrast, here are the top ice cream flavors based on sales listed by the NPD Group:
What’s an instant recipe for growing morale? Just add dirt.
Some companies have found a fun and innovative way to engage employees by providing an unlikely benefit: a vegetable garden. This growing trend was recognized as one of the best ideas in Human Resources recently.
Minneapolis PR and branding company Haberman & Associates spent about $10,000 last year to start a garden for its employees. “It’s creating that water-cooler effect,” the article quotes company co-founder and chief executive Fred Haberman “People have a greater excitement [about] working at Haberman.”
Haberman’s off-site garden, called the “Dude Ranch,” was recognized by Human Resource Executive magazine editors as one of the “Best HR Ideas for 2010.” You can follow the company’s growing season, or get tips on how to start an employer-sponsored garden yourself, at the project blog.
The National Gardening Association says vegetable gardening is up about 20 percent, although it’s not clear how much of that is done by companies. But a growing number of firms have taken up the hoe including Google, Yahoo, Kohl’s, PepsiCo and Twisted Limb Paperworks, which began a 1,500-square-foot garden outside its offices to boost engagement, as this Washington Post story relates.
University of Maryland business professor Paul Tesluk says a garden can encourage camaraderie, help in recruiting and differentiate a business from competitors. Perhaps it’s time to plant a row for employee morale and engagement and, of course, to just say Thanks!
“It has been proven that breaks are essential for satisfaction. But what does this mean to an employer? Well according to Rich DiGirolamo, Founder of Recess At Work Day, it’s simple……..Breaks lead to satisfaction; and satisfaction easily transfers to increase morale, reduced employee stress, more engaged and healthier employees; ultimately having a positive impact on productivity, absenteeism and profits.
Now in its 6th year; Recess At Work Day is the perfect complement to any Health and Wellness or Employee Engagement Initiative.”
This initiative hits a couple of HR goals, covering both praise and motivation as well as the continued movement toward corporate wellness programs and team building.
How can a game of Dodgeball provide engagement? Consider this from Dale Sweetnam, an Army public affairs specialist who worked at Google’s office in Washington, D.C as part of a training program. While there, Google put on a “Recess at Work” day that included “square pizzas, chicken nuggets, juice boxes, four square and dodgeball.”
“I can’t remember ever having that much fun at work. The whole office got into it. A computer and speakers were set up on the side of the room and a projector displayed YouTube Michael Jackson videos while we pelted each other with dodgeballs. The event was a huge success. I really felt like it was recess. I was still attending recesses in grade school when Michael Jackson came out with “Bad” and it had probably been that long since I’d last played dodgeball. It was a blast. The event led straight into the weekend. As far as I’m concerned, weekends don’t start out much better than that.”
There seems to be a mini movement toward this idea of corporate recess as a reward. There *are* lots of creative ways to say “Thanks” and engage employees.
Stay tuned!
Rick Kiley is President of gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.
We just couldn’t resist sharing this fantastic video, which really gets to the heart of the gratitude-happiness connection.
gThankYou couldn’t say it better. Now, get out there and dance!
gThankYou, LLC, in Madison, Wisconsin, sells Gift Gertificates that savvy companies give as employee gifts and promotional incentives to appreciative employees and customers. The company is best known for gThankYou® Ham Gift Certificates, Turkey Gift Certificates and Grocery Gift Certificates.
