October 28, 2025 • 17 mins
As the President & CEO of this 4th generation, 102-year-old organization, Robert has led the transformation of the company into the international world-class supplier and distributor it is today. Robert was promoted to President & CEO in 2000 after 20 years with the business. He holds an EMBA from the University at Buffalo, a BS in Business Administration from Buffalo State College and an AAS in Business Administration from Genesee Community College.
With Robert’s leadership driving the achievement of long range strategic goals, increasing sales and geographic expansion have occurred. Perry’s now offers over 1,500 unique items in distribution and has revenue coming from three sources; the Perry’s Ice Cream Brand, a Contract Manufacturing channel, and Partner Brand distribution.
Under Robert’s tenure, the company achieved its first international sales in 2007 to over 30 countries outside of the US, where these sales account for nearly 15% of the company’s manufactured revenues today. In 2008, after spearheading $10 Million in capital improvements, including equipment updates and a 20,000 sq. foot distribution center, the company was able to expand.
Robert’s vision to expand geographically in 2016 resulted in Perry’s posting revenues exceeding $100 Million in sales for the first time ever. In this same year, the company doubled its direct store delivery distribution footprint to over a 100,000 square mile geography, which now includes New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, along with portions of Indiana, Kentucky and W. Virginia, while adding nearly 50 positions. Today, the company employs over 425 team members to support its growth strategy. This new territory is on a path to contribute $20 Million in sales within the first three years with incredible potential to sell the Perry’s Brand to more than 10 million new consumers.
With Robert’s leadership driving the achievement of long range strategic goals, increasing sales and geographic expansion have occurred. Perry’s now offers over 1,500 unique items in distribution and has revenue coming from three sources; the Perry’s Ice Cream Brand, a Contract Manufacturing channel, and Partner Brand distribution.
Under Robert’s tenure, the company achieved its first international sales in 2007 to over 30 countries outside of the US, where these sales account for nearly 15% of the company’s manufactured revenues today. In 2008, after spearheading $10 Million in capital improvements, including equipment updates and a 20,000 sq. foot distribution center, the company was able to expand.
Robert’s vision to expand geographically in 2016 resulted in Perry’s posting revenues exceeding $100 Million in sales for the first time ever. In this same year, the company doubled its direct store delivery distribution footprint to over a 100,000 square mile geography, which now includes New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, along with portions of Indiana, Kentucky and W. Virginia, while adding nearly 50 positions. Today, the company employs over 425 team members to support its growth strategy. This new territory is on a path to contribute $20 Million in sales within the first three years with incredible potential to sell the Perry’s Brand to more than 10 million new consumers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs you should Know. I'm Keith Hodgkison.
Today our guests all the way from Akron, not Ohio,
but Akron, New York. Is Bob Denning, the CEO of
Perry's ice Cream. Bob, thank you for driving in and
thank you for being part of CEOs you should Know today.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you, Keith. I enjoyed the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So let's talk a little bit about a cool subject,
if you will, ice cream. How did Perry start and
how did you get this far? After one hundred and
seven years.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Exactly one hundred and seven years ago, h Martin Perry
left the Broom factory in downtown Lockport, New York and
drove approximately twenty five thirty minutes up to the village
of Akron after reading an article about a small dairy
for sale and then you know it was one horse,
one wagon. All said, hey, in possession, you know, a
(00:55):
cow and some milk pals literally and a small factory.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And I think it was really on his doctor's advice
to get out of the broom factory, as I think
it was some dust creating some health challenges for him.
So why not go up to the country, go up
to the village of Akron and start anew and start
this small dairy. So he did that. In nineteen eighteen,
he spent one thousand dollars on a small business and
he actually got terms of course he could pay. I
(01:21):
think it was four hundred dollars down and four hundred
dollars and two hundred dollars later. So he made payments
on this small business. And from nineteen eighteen on he
had a small family that he raised in the village
of Akron. And then his oldest son, Marlow happened to
be in high school and I think it was his
sister in law. Quite frankly at the high school was
(01:42):
I'm going to call her the dietitian, but I don't
know what they called him. In nineteen eighteen, she said, Hey,
you know, we're looking for some desserts for the kids.
What do you think about I've heard about this recipe
handed down through generations for making ice cream. What do
you think of your dad Morton could make some ice
cream for us and deliver it to the school. The
kids would love the treat. So there's literally pictures on
(02:03):
a sleigh where they would pack up the ice cream
overnight and then generation two would be Marlow his son
would deliver it to the high school for the kids
to enjoy. And again that was in the nineteen thirties
when we had then milk and ice cream, and going forward,
you know, there was really a dairy or an ice
cream company in every town way back when. And then
(02:26):
as the entrepreneur spirit was alive, Marlow and Morton would
work together buy up distributorships and buy up other small
dairies and consolidate. They moved to their branch in Buffalo
in the mid fifties, so they had two branches as
we called them back in the day, and then grew
this family business over time, obviously employing more and more people,
(02:48):
and through the eighties the same thing growing with distribution
and milk, and then I started in nineteen eighty one.
We actually exited milk in eighty and eighty one and
became just an ice cream companynineteen eighty two we moved
into what is called a new factory, which is on
ice Cream Plaza Acro, New York. What else would you
expect it to be, right of course, of course, And
(03:10):
then if you again go forward through the nineties, selling
now into grocery stores, which was new at the time.
We really only sold into small mom and pops and
what I like to call scoop shops. So the business
expanded from small mom and pops and scoop shops into
large grocery stores. And we've expanded ever since. And we
went from in the eighties of about two hundred team
(03:32):
members today we have over four hundred and twenty team
members and we're sold in five states in the Northeast.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
It's interesting because you're in this hyper competitive environment of
grocery and you're competing with you know, bigger names in
the space. But at the same time you've been able
to I think, grow And what do you attribute that
growth and success to.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I would say, staying close to our room, we're really
you know, we're never going to be the largest ice
cream brand, but we're certainly proud of the product we make.
A number of brands in our industry have drifted away
from ice cream into what we call non dairy frozen desserts.
They no longer meet the standard of identity of ice cream.
They have less dairy, they have more way in them,
(04:18):
and we've just we said we're not going to go
that route, and if you look in the grocery store,
seventy five or eighty percent of the products sold today
actually does not match the or meet the standard of
identity for ice cream.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So that's a really interesting point. And actually Dakota, of
our sales team member brought that up to me because
I am a huge ice cream fan and I'm a
huge ice cream sandwich fan, and I remember telling him
that Perry's ice cream sandwiches are by far the best
out there, and he said it's because they use real
(04:50):
ice cream, not not ice cream. Right, how do you
and I never thought of it. Obviously, packaging and labeling
is crucial. How to how do they get away with?
What do you look for in the grocery store to
make sure you're getting ice cream and not what you're
calling too much whey and not real ice cream.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, you're gonna want to look on the primary panel
and look for it to say the word ice cream. Now,
it could have a picture that makes you believe that
it's a real ice cream sandwich. Generally in the bottom
left hand corner of the package, you're gonna read where
it says non dairy frozen dessert.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Non dairy frozen dessert is not ice cream.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That's not ice cream.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's really good for all of us to know. I think, yeah, yes, yes,
And you think about it like that's a small piece
of quality that's probably hard to get across, you know,
to people, but it's something they should know and something
that probably has allowed other companies to cut corners. But
you guys haven't, right, You've had to stay true and
it's probably harder and more expensive to do what you do.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It is, it really is, And then really part of
our recipe in our process, we have kettles in our
mixed room. There's four six hundred gallon kettles, so we
simmer our mix after you pasteurize it, we simmer the
Perry's mix. Oh I'm going to say too, for about
thirty minutes, and then we move it over to our
factory into our product tanks. And that's a unique process
(06:08):
of our brand and we think it gives us a
distinct home cook taste, real dairy nodes. And again that's
just something we do for our brand, and we think
that that some call it kettle or bad pasteurization, but
we're going to pasteurize it first, and then I'd like
to think of it as simmering chili on the stove.
We have these kettles we're going to simmer our mix
(06:30):
before we put it into our production room and start
filling it in products.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We're talking with Bob Detting, CEO of Perry's ice Cream.
If you're not hungry for some delicious Perries ice cream yet,
you soon will be so. I remember reading I believe
on your website that novelties are growing faster than the
ice cream category as a whole. Is that true and
one of the things that you're expanding into and what
are your growth areas?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Definitely, novelties are growing. We invested over twenty three million
dollars in an extruded novelty machine and we've been operating
it now for a little bit less than two years.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
What is that? What is an extruded novelty machine? I
love it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well. First, it's high end, world class technology, automation all
brought together. We obviously use our same craft made ice
cream deliver it to this line. It's a single line
in almost a twenty thousand square foot room. It's hundreds
of feet long. And again it's really it's full end automated.
But these are the machines you would find in all
(07:26):
the largest of the ice cream industry around the globe.
Quite frankly, there's about twelve machines per year installed in
the world. So in twenty and twenty four we commercialized
literally one of twelve brand new machines in the world.
Parts of the machine really designed and built in Denmark
and came over on a boat and delivered to the
(07:48):
port in New Jersey and then up to Akron, and
then the packaging side of the equipment was designed and
delivered from a company in Italy. So really bringing together
the best and the brightest global skills engineers to put
together these machines that deliver high end products. Novelies are
growing because it's it is portion control, it's portability, obviously convenience.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You can just throw it to the kids wherever they want, right.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, well no spoons required, right, no nobles, no dishes,
and then everybody today it's individualized, so you know, maybe
you like chocolate, maybe I like cookie dough, maybe someone
else wants raspberry, so we can make all types of varieties.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You mentioned five states are the growth expansion plans to
continue to grow, right, yes, yes, we're are you guys
thinking next.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Well, here in the Northeast where people really appreciate quality
and dairy. We've really only been operating in Cleveland since
really the Cleveland and Ohio market twenty fifteen. And when
you think of one hundred and seven year old business,
that's just ten years ago. So it's still a new
development market for us. The Pittsburgh market is new and
(08:59):
developing again. People in Pittsburgh, much like Cleveland and Buffalo,
appreciate the real, good quality products, and our ice cream
is one of those.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so Bob, when you go through the factory and
you think, okay, what's you have? So many flavors? I
was checking through your product catalog. What is first off,
what's your favorite ice cream? What's your favorite flavor or
your favorite bowelty if you're allowed to.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Say, well, I like our panda pause. It's a delicious right,
the peanut butter cups and the fudge. I think our
cookie dough is one of the best in the marketplace.
I was very instrumental and what dough are we going
to buy? What is going to taste like? Because to me,
that's one of the signature flavors. If you go way
back when thirty years ago, a couple of crazy guys
up in Vermont. You might know them as Ben and Jerry.
(09:44):
You know, they really changed the industry where inclusions Varrogates
does brownie pieces those That's really what consumers want, and
that's really a trend that we follow. And I think
when we look at new flavors today, there's nostalgia in
the marketplace, but at the same time they want texture, crunchiness, smooth, sweet, savory, salty,
(10:08):
you name it. We have a lot of fun with it.
We have wonderful teammates. They are real passion in producing
these products for us.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Full disclosure. Used to make ice cream at Maple Side
Farms in Brunswick, Ohio. We had the big machine and
I was very nuanced. Putting all the salt and all
the ice of the cream together and the fruit mixture
was a really fun experience for me. Banana happened to
be my favorite. Most people tell me they're like, who,
(10:37):
nobody likes banana ice cream? I actually ended up liking it,
and then that kind of got me into thinking, when
you're making these big, huge batches, you're obviously trying to
be careful that it's still the quality that you talk about,
So how do you work in quality control? How do
you guys make sure that the batches are everything comes
(11:00):
out as Perry standard.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, first of all, our batches are about six hundred
gallons each, so that's not large. Now we can make
thirty forty fifty sixty batches a night, but were we
really are still one small batch at a time. I
think six hundred gallons works for us quite well. From
a quality perspective. We have our own in house New
York State certified lab. We test all of our products.
(11:25):
Nothing leaves our facility. There's a minimum of twenty four
hour hold where you're making sure that it's compliant with
all the standards, all the good stuff before we ship it.
So I think with our with our team of quality experts,
I'm pretty confident in everything that they do, every stage
of the process.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
How do you and that must be one of your
main key points of differentiation, because as you're walking down
the frozen aisle, I mean some of these stores like
Meyer and John Eagle, the novelty section is as long
as a as a traditional food aisle. Right, And how
do you guys try and stand out? What are some
of the things you do to get people remembering Perry's
(12:02):
and bringing them back day after day.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Well, I think the creative flavors, the marketing, the imaging
on the package, and really the quality they do carry
our novelties. They're the premium, high end novelties. There are
fourteen percent dipped in chocolate, they have inclusions or varrogates
in them, and quite frankly, they're delicious.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Bob, there's some lessons that anybody can take here about
quality and perseverance and maybe not expanding too rapidly. Right,
What do you as a CEO like to think about
in terms of helping your self distress and helping your
employees to navigate challenging times, Because obviously it's a very
(12:40):
wild ride that we're in right now, and you guys
are in a traditional business but at the same time
dealing with all the things that are happening around the world.
How do you personally keep your head above water and
keep your employees motivated and happy.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, I think you have to look at it and
stay true to who you are. I mean, we're humble,
we're authentic in everything that we do. I look at
it as one team, one bus. There's no role more
important than the others. Our jobs are really to make
delicious products and serve our customers and be proud of
everything that we do, whether it's the product, the service,
our relationships. For me, I manage the relationships with our
(13:16):
largest customers, and over all these decades they've really become
friends of mine. You have a different relationship. It's not transactional, right.
You know each other, you know your families, you know
where their kids are going to college. They know my kids,
and so it becomes more multi generational. There are accounts
that I've been going to where I've sold into them
(13:38):
for three generations and then they know three generations of
our business.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
So, Bob, you were mentioning quality, and you were mentioning
people in the Northeast really appreciating quality dairy, and obviously
New York State alone is one of the more famous
dairy producers in the country. What is something that you
guys have that may make that milk so special? And
why is New York milk special? And why is Perry's
(14:05):
the ice cream that Perries make special because of it?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I think if you go back to our supply of
cream and dairy we work with almost exclusively every year
with you and see Upstate Niagara Creamery and co Op,
and there it's a farmer owned, farmer lead. When I
think of it, they literally are farmers delivering to us
the cream and the milk that we use. There's over
three hundred and twenty five members of this co op
(14:30):
making a gain a delicious product delivered to us each day.
And so if you come to our factory on Monday
morning and I serve you ice cream, and I'm going
to look at it and say on Saturday morning that
cream and milk was in the cows belly.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Wow fresh, That is great.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, And again they're just a wonderful, wonderful strategic supplier
of us, and we're proud of supporting their family businesses
and their farms.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Is then you mentioned there's a milk shed.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
There is if you think of the quality of the
dairy and upstate New York, obviously the water supply is key,
but also what the cows are consuming, what they're grazing on,
and well when it's not snowing and it's a blizzard,
they're going to be consuming some sure high end, high
quality feed. And again it is important that the water
that the cow is considered good quality water.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's so impressive when you think about people that eat
lobster in Boston because it's just been caught that day, right,
And the fact that the cow, the milk was in
the cow's belly on Saturday and now you're gonna get
his ice cream on Monday. That's that's something really impressive.
But what are the things that keep you grounded outside
of running? You know, a four hundred plus employee company
(15:42):
that makes quality ice cream. What do you do to
decompress or have fun.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, if you came by the neighborhood on Saturday morning,
you might see me outside trim and trees, are mowing
the lawn or trimming the bushes. I enjoy being outside.
We have about one hundred and fifty evergreen trees in
our yard and well, you know, watering, fertilizing, trimming, taking
care of there's deciduous trees. I think we're only up
to about sixty or seventy of those in the yard.
(16:08):
And I just enjoy being outside. I have a beautiful family,
a beautiful wife soon of thirty six years.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Four children. I have three daughters and a son.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Are they in the business.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
They are not in the business today. No, No, My
two oldest daughters relocated to Raleigh, and as we like
to say, they're adulting and growing up and experiencing, you know,
a new city, new friends, new ventures. We have hope
one of them is in an hr professional role and
one is in a marketing role. So as we evolve
and have succession in our business, there's certainly going to
(16:38):
be opportunities for those skills. My son is a senior
at Michigan State studying economics, and his goal is to
be a corporate lawyer. So a corporate attorney maybe contract
law for good or for bad. Sometimes you need lawyers. Sure,
So again, you know, down the road that's a possibility.
So we you know, we have four generations in the
business today and a fifth generation coming up, so you know,
(17:00):
we want some of our time in the business, yacht
and we'll we'll see where their life journey takes them.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And I think that as folks uh think about their
own families and the quality products that they want to
put out, and they're they're that they put out of
their business. I think knowing that this is a family
business still supporting other family businesses in upstate New York
is something very special, Bob, thanks again for your time today.
(17:27):
Bob Denning, CEO of Perry's ice Cream available at your
local retailer, online at Perry's ice Cream dot com. And
this has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know. Today's show
is produced by Bob Coates and I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll
see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs you should Know. I'm Keith Hodgkison.
Today our guests all the way from Akron, not Ohio,
but Akron, New York. Is Bob Denning, the CEO of
Perry's ice Cream. Bob, thank you for driving in and
thank you for being part of CEOs you should Know today.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you, Keith. I enjoyed the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So let's talk a little bit about a cool subject,
if you will, ice cream. How did Perry start and
how did you get this far? After one hundred and
seven years.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Exactly one hundred and seven years ago, h Martin Perry
left the Broom factory in downtown Lockport, New York and
drove approximately twenty five thirty minutes up to the village
of Akron after reading an article about a small dairy
for sale and then you know it was one horse,
one wagon. All said, hey, in possession, you know, a
(00:55):
cow and some milk pals literally and a small factory.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And I think it was really on his doctor's advice
to get out of the broom factory, as I think
it was some dust creating some health challenges for him.
So why not go up to the country, go up
to the village of Akron and start anew and start
this small dairy. So he did that. In nineteen eighteen,
he spent one thousand dollars on a small business and
he actually got terms of course he could pay. I
(01:21):
think it was four hundred dollars down and four hundred
dollars and two hundred dollars later. So he made payments
on this small business. And from nineteen eighteen on he
had a small family that he raised in the village
of Akron. And then his oldest son, Marlow happened to
be in high school and I think it was his
sister in law. Quite frankly at the high school was
(01:42):
I'm going to call her the dietitian, but I don't
know what they called him. In nineteen eighteen, she said, Hey,
you know, we're looking for some desserts for the kids.
What do you think about I've heard about this recipe
handed down through generations for making ice cream. What do
you think of your dad Morton could make some ice
cream for us and deliver it to the school. The
kids would love the treat. So there's literally pictures on
(02:03):
a sleigh where they would pack up the ice cream
overnight and then generation two would be Marlow his son
would deliver it to the high school for the kids
to enjoy. And again that was in the nineteen thirties
when we had then milk and ice cream, and going forward,
you know, there was really a dairy or an ice
cream company in every town way back when. And then
(02:26):
as the entrepreneur spirit was alive, Marlow and Morton would
work together buy up distributorships and buy up other small
dairies and consolidate. They moved to their branch in Buffalo
in the mid fifties, so they had two branches as
we called them back in the day, and then grew
this family business over time, obviously employing more and more people,
(02:48):
and through the eighties the same thing growing with distribution
and milk, and then I started in nineteen eighty one.
We actually exited milk in eighty and eighty one and
became just an ice cream companynineteen eighty two we moved
into what is called a new factory, which is on
ice Cream Plaza Acro, New York. What else would you
expect it to be, right of course, of course, And
(03:10):
then if you again go forward through the nineties, selling
now into grocery stores, which was new at the time.
We really only sold into small mom and pops and
what I like to call scoop shops. So the business
expanded from small mom and pops and scoop shops into
large grocery stores. And we've expanded ever since. And we
went from in the eighties of about two hundred team
(03:32):
members today we have over four hundred and twenty team
members and we're sold in five states in the Northeast.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
It's interesting because you're in this hyper competitive environment of
grocery and you're competing with you know, bigger names in
the space. But at the same time you've been able
to I think, grow And what do you attribute that
growth and success to.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I would say, staying close to our room, we're really
you know, we're never going to be the largest ice
cream brand, but we're certainly proud of the product we make.
A number of brands in our industry have drifted away
from ice cream into what we call non dairy frozen desserts.
They no longer meet the standard of identity of ice cream.
They have less dairy, they have more way in them,
(04:18):
and we've just we said we're not going to go
that route, and if you look in the grocery store,
seventy five or eighty percent of the products sold today
actually does not match the or meet the standard of
identity for ice cream.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So that's a really interesting point. And actually Dakota, of
our sales team member brought that up to me because
I am a huge ice cream fan and I'm a
huge ice cream sandwich fan, and I remember telling him
that Perry's ice cream sandwiches are by far the best
out there, and he said it's because they use real
(04:50):
ice cream, not not ice cream. Right, how do you
and I never thought of it. Obviously, packaging and labeling
is crucial. How to how do they get away with?
What do you look for in the grocery store to
make sure you're getting ice cream and not what you're
calling too much whey and not real ice cream.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, you're gonna want to look on the primary panel
and look for it to say the word ice cream. Now,
it could have a picture that makes you believe that
it's a real ice cream sandwich. Generally in the bottom
left hand corner of the package, you're gonna read where
it says non dairy frozen dessert.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Non dairy frozen dessert is not ice cream.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That's not ice cream.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's really good for all of us to know. I think, yeah, yes, yes,
And you think about it like that's a small piece
of quality that's probably hard to get across, you know,
to people, but it's something they should know and something
that probably has allowed other companies to cut corners. But
you guys haven't, right, You've had to stay true and
it's probably harder and more expensive to do what you do.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It is, it really is, And then really part of
our recipe in our process, we have kettles in our
mixed room. There's four six hundred gallon kettles, so we
simmer our mix after you pasteurize it, we simmer the
Perry's mix. Oh I'm going to say too, for about
thirty minutes, and then we move it over to our
factory into our product tanks. And that's a unique process
(06:08):
of our brand and we think it gives us a
distinct home cook taste, real dairy nodes. And again that's
just something we do for our brand, and we think
that that some call it kettle or bad pasteurization, but
we're going to pasteurize it first, and then I'd like
to think of it as simmering chili on the stove.
We have these kettles we're going to simmer our mix
(06:30):
before we put it into our production room and start
filling it in products.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We're talking with Bob Detting, CEO of Perry's ice Cream.
If you're not hungry for some delicious Perries ice cream yet,
you soon will be so. I remember reading I believe
on your website that novelties are growing faster than the
ice cream category as a whole. Is that true and
one of the things that you're expanding into and what
are your growth areas?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Definitely, novelties are growing. We invested over twenty three million
dollars in an extruded novelty machine and we've been operating
it now for a little bit less than two years.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
What is that? What is an extruded novelty machine? I
love it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well. First, it's high end, world class technology, automation all
brought together. We obviously use our same craft made ice
cream deliver it to this line. It's a single line
in almost a twenty thousand square foot room. It's hundreds
of feet long. And again it's really it's full end automated.
But these are the machines you would find in all
(07:26):
the largest of the ice cream industry around the globe.
Quite frankly, there's about twelve machines per year installed in
the world. So in twenty and twenty four we commercialized
literally one of twelve brand new machines in the world.
Parts of the machine really designed and built in Denmark
and came over on a boat and delivered to the
(07:48):
port in New Jersey and then up to Akron, and
then the packaging side of the equipment was designed and
delivered from a company in Italy. So really bringing together
the best and the brightest global skills engineers to put
together these machines that deliver high end products. Novelies are
growing because it's it is portion control, it's portability, obviously convenience.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You can just throw it to the kids wherever they want, right.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, well no spoons required, right, no nobles, no dishes,
and then everybody today it's individualized, so you know, maybe
you like chocolate, maybe I like cookie dough, maybe someone
else wants raspberry, so we can make all types of varieties.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You mentioned five states are the growth expansion plans to
continue to grow, right, yes, yes, we're are you guys
thinking next.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Well, here in the Northeast where people really appreciate quality
and dairy. We've really only been operating in Cleveland since
really the Cleveland and Ohio market twenty fifteen. And when
you think of one hundred and seven year old business,
that's just ten years ago. So it's still a new
development market for us. The Pittsburgh market is new and
(08:59):
developing again. People in Pittsburgh, much like Cleveland and Buffalo,
appreciate the real, good quality products, and our ice cream
is one of those.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so Bob, when you go through the factory and
you think, okay, what's you have? So many flavors? I
was checking through your product catalog. What is first off,
what's your favorite ice cream? What's your favorite flavor or
your favorite bowelty if you're allowed to.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Say, well, I like our panda pause. It's a delicious right,
the peanut butter cups and the fudge. I think our
cookie dough is one of the best in the marketplace.
I was very instrumental and what dough are we going
to buy? What is going to taste like? Because to me,
that's one of the signature flavors. If you go way
back when thirty years ago, a couple of crazy guys
up in Vermont. You might know them as Ben and Jerry.
(09:44):
You know, they really changed the industry where inclusions Varrogates
does brownie pieces those That's really what consumers want, and
that's really a trend that we follow. And I think
when we look at new flavors today, there's nostalgia in
the marketplace, but at the same time they want texture, crunchiness, smooth, sweet, savory, salty,
(10:08):
you name it. We have a lot of fun with it.
We have wonderful teammates. They are real passion in producing
these products for us.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Full disclosure. Used to make ice cream at Maple Side
Farms in Brunswick, Ohio. We had the big machine and
I was very nuanced. Putting all the salt and all
the ice of the cream together and the fruit mixture
was a really fun experience for me. Banana happened to
be my favorite. Most people tell me they're like, who,
(10:37):
nobody likes banana ice cream? I actually ended up liking it,
and then that kind of got me into thinking, when
you're making these big, huge batches, you're obviously trying to
be careful that it's still the quality that you talk about,
So how do you work in quality control? How do
you guys make sure that the batches are everything comes
(11:00):
out as Perry standard.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, first of all, our batches are about six hundred
gallons each, so that's not large. Now we can make
thirty forty fifty sixty batches a night, but were we
really are still one small batch at a time. I
think six hundred gallons works for us quite well. From
a quality perspective. We have our own in house New
York State certified lab. We test all of our products.
(11:25):
Nothing leaves our facility. There's a minimum of twenty four
hour hold where you're making sure that it's compliant with
all the standards, all the good stuff before we ship it.
So I think with our with our team of quality experts,
I'm pretty confident in everything that they do, every stage
of the process.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
How do you and that must be one of your
main key points of differentiation, because as you're walking down
the frozen aisle, I mean some of these stores like
Meyer and John Eagle, the novelty section is as long
as a as a traditional food aisle. Right, And how
do you guys try and stand out? What are some
of the things you do to get people remembering Perry's
(12:02):
and bringing them back day after day.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Well, I think the creative flavors, the marketing, the imaging
on the package, and really the quality they do carry
our novelties. They're the premium, high end novelties. There are
fourteen percent dipped in chocolate, they have inclusions or varrogates
in them, and quite frankly, they're delicious.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Bob, there's some lessons that anybody can take here about
quality and perseverance and maybe not expanding too rapidly. Right,
What do you as a CEO like to think about
in terms of helping your self distress and helping your
employees to navigate challenging times, Because obviously it's a very
(12:40):
wild ride that we're in right now, and you guys
are in a traditional business but at the same time
dealing with all the things that are happening around the world.
How do you personally keep your head above water and
keep your employees motivated and happy.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, I think you have to look at it and
stay true to who you are. I mean, we're humble,
we're authentic in everything that we do. I look at
it as one team, one bus. There's no role more
important than the others. Our jobs are really to make
delicious products and serve our customers and be proud of
everything that we do, whether it's the product, the service,
our relationships. For me, I manage the relationships with our
(13:16):
largest customers, and over all these decades they've really become
friends of mine. You have a different relationship. It's not transactional, right.
You know each other, you know your families, you know
where their kids are going to college. They know my kids,
and so it becomes more multi generational. There are accounts
that I've been going to where I've sold into them
(13:38):
for three generations and then they know three generations of
our business.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
So, Bob, you were mentioning quality, and you were mentioning
people in the Northeast really appreciating quality dairy, and obviously
New York State alone is one of the more famous
dairy producers in the country. What is something that you
guys have that may make that milk so special? And
why is New York milk special? And why is Perry's
(14:05):
the ice cream that Perries make special because of it?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I think if you go back to our supply of
cream and dairy we work with almost exclusively every year
with you and see Upstate Niagara Creamery and co Op,
and there it's a farmer owned, farmer lead. When I
think of it, they literally are farmers delivering to us
the cream and the milk that we use. There's over
three hundred and twenty five members of this co op
(14:30):
making a gain a delicious product delivered to us each day.
And so if you come to our factory on Monday
morning and I serve you ice cream, and I'm going
to look at it and say on Saturday morning that
cream and milk was in the cows belly.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Wow fresh, That is great.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, And again they're just a wonderful, wonderful strategic supplier
of us, and we're proud of supporting their family businesses
and their farms.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Is then you mentioned there's a milk shed.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
There is if you think of the quality of the
dairy and upstate New York, obviously the water supply is key,
but also what the cows are consuming, what they're grazing on,
and well when it's not snowing and it's a blizzard,
they're going to be consuming some sure high end, high
quality feed. And again it is important that the water
that the cow is considered good quality water.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's so impressive when you think about people that eat
lobster in Boston because it's just been caught that day, right,
And the fact that the cow, the milk was in
the cow's belly on Saturday and now you're gonna get
his ice cream on Monday. That's that's something really impressive.
But what are the things that keep you grounded outside
of running? You know, a four hundred plus employee company
(15:42):
that makes quality ice cream. What do you do to
decompress or have fun.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, if you came by the neighborhood on Saturday morning,
you might see me outside trim and trees, are mowing
the lawn or trimming the bushes. I enjoy being outside.
We have about one hundred and fifty evergreen trees in
our yard and well, you know, watering, fertilizing, trimming, taking
care of there's deciduous trees. I think we're only up
to about sixty or seventy of those in the yard.
(16:08):
And I just enjoy being outside. I have a beautiful family,
a beautiful wife soon of thirty six years.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Four children. I have three daughters and a son.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Are they in the business.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
They are not in the business today. No, No, My
two oldest daughters relocated to Raleigh, and as we like
to say, they're adulting and growing up and experiencing, you know,
a new city, new friends, new ventures. We have hope
one of them is in an hr professional role and
one is in a marketing role. So as we evolve
and have succession in our business, there's certainly going to
(16:38):
be opportunities for those skills. My son is a senior
at Michigan State studying economics, and his goal is to
be a corporate lawyer. So a corporate attorney maybe contract
law for good or for bad. Sometimes you need lawyers. Sure,
So again, you know, down the road that's a possibility.
So we you know, we have four generations in the
business today and a fifth generation coming up, so you know,
(17:00):
we want some of our time in the business, yacht
and we'll we'll see where their life journey takes them.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And I think that as folks uh think about their
own families and the quality products that they want to
put out, and they're they're that they put out of
their business. I think knowing that this is a family
business still supporting other family businesses in upstate New York
is something very special, Bob, thanks again for your time today.
(17:27):
Bob Denning, CEO of Perry's ice Cream available at your
local retailer, online at Perry's ice Cream dot com. And
this has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know. Today's show
is produced by Bob Coates and I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll
see you next time.
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