Organic Processing Vo1.6 #4 - July/August 2009

i f sure that the key elements of success are there. We look at it as if we are launching our own product. We don’t want to invest a year in it and then not have it be successful,” Gleason said.

For instance, when Gleason’s team ormulated Green and Black’s ice creams, they knew that there was a strong market opportunity. Green and Black’s is one of the most popular organic chocolate brands in the UK, and if they could take that flavor and trap it in an ice cream, there was a strong chance of success. Using the highest amount of cocoa solids possible, the team was able to create a product that is now a favorite among many ( including the publisher of this magazine).

Partnering for Success

Sharing is always more fun, especially when it comes to ice cream. For Gleason, partnering with other companies through co-packing and private label has been an important practical and creative part of the company’s business.

On the practical side, after investing millions in a high-tech ice cream ex-ruder, Gleason didn’t want to see it sitting idle. And it doesn’t. As the largest organic certified plant with this kind of extruder in the entire country, Gleason brings in enough outside business to keep the machines busy, and even have the luxury to be selective about the companies he works with.

t t

With private label, selectivity is also mportant. Gleason will have retailers ask him for something, but if it doesn’t work after 90 days then he could be stuck paying for a bunch of useless labels. “Don’t ever assume the research is complete,” he said. “Retailers may see a successful product and want you to make something just like it, but just cloning someone else’s product doesn’t equal success in private label.”

From a distribution standpoint, partnering also made sense. Extruded bars are meant to be kept at - 18 degrees while regular frozen foods can be at zero. If shipped with regular frozen foods, within fours hours the extruded bars would be melted and ruined. By selectively picking partners to manufacture products that were going to the same area, Gleason was able to save on distribution costs for everyone.

For example, he has learned by experience that doing a super-premium private label just doesn’t work. “I’ve

The Family Behin
d the Brand

Julie is much more than just a pretty name on a pint of ice cream. Julie Gleason has been her husband Tom’s support system for over 30 years and is ultimately the inspiration for the vision of the brand. (It was her desire for something healthier that first made her husband explore organic.)

On the creative side, the R&D team at Julie’s chooses to work with innovative companies that have something unique to bring to the table, or better said, the freezer. As mentioned above, Gleason is picky about who he chooses to partner with. And like the products his own company makes—having a point of difference is important.

In addition, she provides insights on flavors and product development and plays a key role in the brand’s design elements and the causes the company supports.

Julie is not the only family member who has inspired Gleason’s product develop-

ment. With his fondness for milkshakes, Tom and

“It takes at lot of energy and time at he R&D and manufacturing levels to develop a product, so we need to make

Julie’s son Alden inspired the development of the
first-ever organic half-gallon family-sized organic ice
cream, which now is now a top seller. At 18, Alden, a
tech prodigy, is also the chief technology and IT man-
ager at Oregon Ice Cream. Their oldest son, Jerrard, is a
key project manager and sales support person.

t many reasons things fail, but that doesn’t always mean the idea is a bad idea.”

One example he points to Julie’s 60-calorie sorbet bars, the only extruded rue sorbet bars on the market. Bars like this usually have low solids content because if you increase the fruit or sugar the product becomes like a can of frozen orange juice—only partially frozen with a high brix value. Because of this, 95 percent of “sorbet” bars on the market are molded—or what Gleason calls “glo-

with an extra healthfu

rified popsicles with hunks of fruit.” No one in the industry thought that there was any real way around it. But through a combination of finding the right ingredients, using higher-quality processing and—most importantly— challenging the industry paradigms, Gleason’s R&D team made the impossible possible.