Great article about Silver Bay's Ice Cream!
Clint
Taste of success
One man's lifelong love leads to ice cream store
By Lisa Bramen
lbr...@poststar.com
Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2007
HAGUE -- Tykes in crayon-decorated soda-jerk hats were lined up thirty-
deep at the Silver Bay Store ice cream counter on a recent Thursday
evening. Some had to stand on their tip-toes to peer over the counter.
Parents and grandparents waited, too, eager for their first taste of
Super Woozle Surprise, the shop's newest ice cream flavor.
Behind the counter, Paul Nasrani scooped the creamy orbs onto dishes
and cones, looking every bit as excited as his customers. Super Woozle
Surprise, a chocolate fudge ice cream mixed with Reese's Pieces and
graham cracker bits, was not technically his invention; the Woozles
(as first- and second-graders at the Silver Bay YMCA are called) had
conceived the flavor through a democratic -- and chaotic -- process
two days earlier. But, in a larger sense, the whole blissed-out ice
cream scene was his creation.
Nasrani is the proprietor of Adirondack Creamery, an all-natural ice
cream company inspired, in part, by his childhood memories from Silver
Bay.
The Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks, formerly the Silver Bay
Association, was established in 1902 as a YMCA training and conference
center.
Today, it's used mostly as a family vacation resort, with many
families coming back year after year.
Nasrani grew up in Hazelton, Pa. His family has spent the same August
week at Silver Bay every summer of his 37 years, times he recalls
fondly -- not least because he was allowed to have ice cream every
night.
As a kid, he used to dream up ice cream flavors. Some day, he decided,
he would make ice cream for Silver Bay and make his family and friends
rich.
Adulthood, and more plausible career plans, eclipsed Nasrani's ice
cream ambitions. He went to college to study finance and accounting
and eventually became CFO of a medium-sized Manhattan company.
His life might have continued on that path, if not for the ice cream
maker from Bloomingdale's someone gave him as a gift. He began
experimenting with flavors, meticulously logging every recipe.
"I made so much ice cream I had to give it away," he said.
Making ice cream became an obsession. He visited every ice cream shop
he could find, tasting flavors and grilling the proprietors about
their practices. Some were obliging, he said.
"Most of them thought I was nuts."
Around 2002, Nasrani got serious about reviving his dream of making
ice cream for the Silver Bay Store. He priced professional ice cream-
making equipment, but it was too expensive.
Then, in January 2003, he happened upon an auction at a former ice
cream stand on the lower level of Grand Central Station. He made a
successful bid for the ice cream-making equipment, spending about a
third of the usual price.
The only catch was that he had to get the 700 pounds of machinery out
of the building by the next day.
His studio apartment on the Lower East Side was too small to store it.
He called a friend in New Jersey and begged him to stash it at his
house until he could figure out a plan.
Around this time, he began dating Simi Mir. Her family had a home on
Glen Lake, and they met through a mutual friend in the Lake George
area.
"She thought I was a little boring," he said. "I was a CFO. Then I
told her I bought an ice cream machine at auction and I was quitting
my job."
The couple married last October at the Sagamore.
Nasrani's resignation as CFO was less of a shock to his co-workers
than it might have been had they not been the frequent recipients of
his frozen concoctions.
"They knew that this was so much what I wanted to do," he said. "Some
people thought it was, like, a break. But people who knew me knew that
it wasn't."
Nasrani spent the summer of 2004 helping to run the Silver Bay Store
and manufacturing all of the ice cream sold there.
He also started the program in which children could design and make
their own ice cream flavor.
In the last couple of years, Nasrani has expanded into a commercial
operation, distributing to stores both locally and in New York City,
where he and his wife still live. He found a dairy in Kingston where
he could continue to make his ice cream with all-natural ingredients
and be less than 150 miles from either Silver Bay or the city.
The ice cream contains only cream, milk, sugar, eggs and natural
flavors. Fruit has been a hurdle, he said, because he does not want to
use preservatives.
For now, at least, the flavors include Barkeater, vanilla ice cream
with chunks of English almond toffee; Whiteface Mint Chip; Vanilla;
Chocolate Chocolate Chip; Chocolate Walnut Chip; and Kulfi, inspired
by a South Asian dessert, which is pistachio with cardamom.
The ice cream has been a hit everywhere it's sold.
"Everyone has told me it wasn't possible," he said. "We've gotten
fortunate to find the right people all along the way to make it work."
Whether ice cream makes Nasrani and his family and friends rich, as in
his childhood scheme, he is enjoying his new life.
Anything else his business brings would just be the cherry on top.
joel
here you go...a bit of leadership in action by Paul...
Dear Friends,
In July Adirondack Creamery broke into Brooklyn and this past month we
extended our reach to the Wall St. area and the Albany Capital
Region. I am pleased to share with you our most recent press and
exciting new store locations where you can find Adirondack Creamery
all natural premium ice cream:
NEW STORES:
NYC - Wall St. Area
Zeytuna - John St. and Maiden Lane
Albany / Capital Region
Honest Weight Food COOP 484 Central Ave. - Albany, NY
It's Only Natural 1475 Western Ave., Albany , NY
The Jonesville Country Store 989 Main St. - Clifton Park, NY
North Country
Blue Mountain Organic Market 26 Main Street, Granville, NY
Please see the attached file for our complete store listing to find
the store closest to you which carries our ice cream.
I am still in search of new stores in the New York Metro, Albany,
North Country, and Hudson Valley regions, so please send over any
contact information for your favorite store(s) and be sure to ask the
store manager to carry Adirondack Creamery All Natural Ice Cream.
PRESS:
This week we received some exciting press as we were featured in the
Glens Falls Post Star in a great article which details the history of
Adirondack Creamery and includes fun photos of the Silver Bay store
where the ice cream adventure got started. Please see link below:
http://thepoststar.com/articles/2007/08/15/ae/today/14384be297d9c31985257337007cca5f.txt
ICE CREAM EVENTS :
We are also pleased to announce the following upcoming ice cream
tastings:
New York, NY
8/17/ 07 3 to 7 pm Murray's Cheese - 254 Bleecker St
Albany, NY
8/25/07 11 to 2 pm Honest Weight COOP - 484 Central Ave
Hazleton, PA
9/9/07 11 to 5 pm FunFest - Trinity Lutheran Church Ice
Cream Booth
Thank you for your support and all the best
Paul Nasrani
Founder,
Adirondack Creamery
917-287-1006
On Aug 16, 7:18 pm, Clint <ckoff...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >From Megan DiMuzio
>
> Taste of success
> One man's lifelong love leads to ice cream store
>
> By Lisa Bramen