Gifford’s is Making Ice Cream Again in Skowhegan, Maine, After Being Closed a Year

Gifford’s Ice Cream started making ice cream again at its Skowhegan, Maine, plant after a devastating fire.

The good news happened just after the one-year anniversary of the destructive fire that swept through the Maine-based ice cream company’s production facility, causing extensive damage and forcing it to stop production.

For over a year, Gifford's has had to rely on out-of-state co-packers to keep up with customer demand.

The CEO, Lindsay Skilling, said in a statement,

Nothing can prepare you for what we experienced on February 2nd last year. The damage was so extensive we had to take most of our factory and offices down to the studs. It has been a year of pivoting and problem-solving. We can say now that the path forward hasn’t always been clear. But we never questioned our commitment to coming back stronger and better than ever. We’re not at full production capacity yet, and we’ll be working hard to build our production capabilities and inventory levels over the next several months, but I can say it feels great to be making our own ice cream again in Skowhegan.

 

Gifford's is prioritizing fan-favorite ice cream.

To get back up and running, they had to be clever with space and are only using about 30% of what its actual production area will be once the factory is fully restored. But Gifford's knew they had to get out fan favorites that their backup production could not make.

They are cranking out Toasted Coconut and Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt.

When can I find Gifford's Ice Cream flavors in stores?

Looks like the first run of Toasted Coconut and Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt should start to hit grocery stores by mid-March.

Over the next several months, Gifford's will slowly ramp back up and bring you all the flavors you want this summer. By the end of 2024, they should be back up and running like before. With surprises?

Lindsay Skilling said,

In addition to making ice cream again, we have a few more surprises up our sleeves for the year, and we can’t wait to reveal those soon.

Last year was a tough one for the entire Gifford family. No, it's nothing they want to repeat, but they are grateful for how they got through it.

We played a part in that by being loyal customers. We gotchu, Gifford's.