The Rural Voice, 1994-06, Page 26Summer means kids and
ice cream, no matter how
old a kid you are! For
the past twenty-one years,
David Chapman's Ice Cream
Limited has been delighting
kids of all ages and "holding
their own" between two giant
ice cream makers. The family-
owned and operated business
is located in Markdale, the
heart of Grey County. The
company is the only small
independent ice cream
producer in Ontario.
David and Penny Chapman
were ice cream makers in
Toronto before moving to
Markdale. "We heard about
the plant here, and it had a
license, so we bought it," says
Penny Chapman. "The
building was the old creamery
and years ago, every small
town had a creamery. These
small businesses had a
stabilizing influence and
provided jobs at the local
level. I think that's
important."
The history of ice cream
began with "iced beverages" in
the time of Alexander the
Great in the fourth century
B.C. In ancient Rome,
Emperor Nero enjoyed snow
and ice flavoured with fruit
pulp, nectar, and honey (when
he wasn't fiddling around).
From Marco Polo in the 13th
century to the royal families of
Europe, people of every age
have considered "ices" as
delicacies.
The early settlers in North
America also ate ices and then
ice cream, with the first
commercial ice cream plant
bcing established in Baltimore,
Maryland in 1851. The
popularity of ice cream soared
at the St. Louis World's Fair in
1904, with the advent of the ice
cream cone. It was truly a
unique innovation, and billions
are sold all over the world
every year.
David Chapman's Ice
Cream Ltd. employs about 100
people and sells more than 20
million litres of ice cream a
year. They make up over 10
22 THE RURAL VOICE
Chapman's Ice Cream flourishes as Ontario's
only independent ice cream maker
By Cathy Laird
Christine Kopplin (above) works in "Lolly Land" ,
where the Superlolly fruit flavoured treat is made.
Below, 45 cartons a minute of Chapman's Ice Cream
rush down the line and out to Ontario homes.
per cent of the Ontario
market, with the products
sold from Windsor, to
Kingston, to Ottawa, to
Wawa, including Toronto
and Niagara.
The Company turns out an
amazing quantity of high-
quality ice cream products,
with many categories and
flavours to choose from.
There are 34 flavours in the
original, lite, sorbet, and
checker -board ice creams;
10 flavours in the premium
ice creams; eight flavours of
frozen yogourt; in addition
to novelties with seven
flavours of water ices.
There are 18 original
flavours in the two -litre
cartons, marked with the
familiar logo of two children
sharing each other's ice
cream cones. The company
has grown steadily over the
past years and more recently
has begun to produce a
variety of healthy choices.
Chapman's Lite ice cream
contains seven per cent
butterfat; Premium ice
cream contains 14 per cent;
the original ice cream
contains 10 per cent;
Chapman's Frozen Yogourt
contains four per cent; and
the sorbet contains zero per
cent butterfat.
Chapman's also
produces a fine line
of novelty products
such as Superfudge
(chocolate ice milk on a
stick); Superfrosty (vanilla
ice milk dipped in
chocolate); fruit -flavoured
Superlolly (their famous
water ice treat); and
chocolate Superlolly.
The first two novelty items
contain five per cent
butterfat, while the
Superlolly, both fruit and
chocolate, contain no
butterfat or dairy products.
"It is important to remember
that some people cannot
tolerate cholesterol or
lactose," states Penny
Chapman. "Our fruit -
flavoured Superlolly does