Skowhegan, ME - Maine's award-winning Gifford's Ice Cream (www.giffordsicecream.com) has expanded its presence in the New York City area with multiple new retail, restaurant and wholesale relationships, led by an agreement to sell its ice cream in King Kullen supermarkets, one of the area's leading grocery chains.
"King Kullen is the leading grocery chain on Long Island," said Gifford's Ice Cream Vice President of Sales Lindsay Gifford-Skilling. "This relationship presents a tremendous opportunity for us to gain access to an important market. Like Gifford's, King Kullen is a multi-generation, family-owned company, and we look forward to a lasting and productive partnership."
King Kullen, whose stores serve the populous Long Island region, opened its first store in Queens in 1930, and is widely regarded as the country's first supermarket. Today the grocer operates over 40 stores.
Eight Gifford's flavors are available in the stores - six ice cream and two yogurt--all in quart sizes. The flavors are Chocolate, Chocolate Rain Forest Crunch, Maine Lobster Tracks, Maine Wild Blueberry, Old Fashioned Vanilla, Moose Tracks, Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Low-Fat Frozen Yogurt and French Vanilla Low-Fat Frozen Yogurt.
Gifford's has also added two other area retail outlets, Food City in New York City and Dolce and Clemente's in Robbinsville, New Jersey, as well as a New York City-based restaurant.
Food City, family owned and operated since 1953 with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Westchester, carries a variety of Gifford's quarts at all three locations. Dolce and Clemente's, an upscale food market, likewise carries multiple flavors in the quart size.
Schnipper's Quality Kitchen in Manhattan has added Gifford's to its menu of classic American burgers, tacos, salads and milkshakes.
Gifford's is working with White Rose Food, New York City's largest independent wholesale food distributor, and its parent, Associated Wholesalers, Inc., to increase its presence in the New York/New Jersey marketplace.
Gifford's Ice Cream is also available in a number of independent markets and restaurants in the New York metropolitan area. The King Kullen venture is Gifford's first supermarket chain in the region.
About Gifford's Ice Cream (www.giffordsicecream.com)
Gifford's Ice Cream sources its fresh cream and milk exclusively from independent family farms in Maine. The multi-generation, family-owned company relies on antique 1940s Cherry Burrell freezers coupled with a state-of-the-art freezing system to achieve its award-winning, creamy texture and fresh-churned consistency. Gifford's uses only the finest ingredients, including nuts, berries, and fresh fruits to premium chocolate, imported vanilla extract and pure, all-natural Maine maple syrup. It has earned numerous international and national "First Place" and "World's Best" awards for Gifford's premium ice cream and sherbet, and continues to expand its distribution and offerings.
Available throughout northern New England at Hannaford locations, Shaw's Supermarkets, and Roche Bros. locations, Gifford's Ice Cream also is offered in several hundred ice cream stands throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, and is served at a growing number of high-profile account locations including Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut.
Thom Householder
Front Burner P.R.
