I have a story for you.
This week, there is a little guy named Joey who is allergic to gluten and dairy. On their own, even one of these allergies makes one's life so much more difficult. Constantly checking labels, getting sick from even the smallest contact with the allergen, being deprived of so many great foods...and then put them both together. For Joey, all of the ice cream flavors are out, most of the novelties have dairy and/or gluten, almost all of the grill choices are off-limits, and he can't eat probably 90% of the candy. What's a kid to do?! Joey's allergies are so intense that he can't eat ANYTHING that has even come into contact with dairy or gluten, even if the item itself doesn't contain those things. It would be like one of us scooping an ice cream cone, rinsing our hands, and then handing him an apple. He wouldn't be able to eat it because of the most trace amounts of dairy that COULD be on our hands.
Enter dairy-free, gluten-free Raspberry Sorbet.
After carefully reading the label on a tub of Raspberry Sorbet, Joey's mom concluded that he could eat it. But here's what had to happen first:
1. Luckily, we were at the bottom of one container of sorbet and it was no big deal for us to open an entirely new tub, one that could not have been contaminated with dairy (even though we rinse our scoops between every flavor, even in 2-flavor doubles, Joey couldn't risk there being any trace amount of dairy or gluten).
2. The person scooping had to wash their hands extra-well.
3. The raspberry sorbet had to be scooped into bowls away from the general ice cream area of the store.
4. The bowls had to be placed in a styrofoam take-out box, which was then wrapped and twist-tied shut in a plastic bag.
5. The plastic-wrapped boxes were then stored in the backroom freezer, away from containers of ice cream that had already been opened.
6. Before retrieving a bowl of sorbet, the store worker had to wash their hands and remove the entire plastic-wrapped box from the ice cream area.
7. Before putting the box away, it had to be sealed tightly in the styrofoam and bag, and the person had to wash their hands again.
Can you imagine having to go through all this just for some ice cream?! And as a 6-year-old?! It kind of blows my mind. Anyway, so many things came together all at the right time for us to get those sorbets for Joey. One person prepared all of them at the same time in order to minimize the risk of contamination. It was a miracle that we were at the bottom of a container so that we could open the new for Joey (and that we even had a new one available in the first place, since sorbet is one of our lowest-selling flavors). It was a God-thing that one of our staff-members had to start a gluten-free diet and decided that sorbet would be a good alternative for the store; without that decision, we would have had no ice cream options for Joey. All of those things came together for him this week.
Even though we get many customers that complain and frustrate us, this makes it all worth it. We were more than happy to make this happen for him, and his mom could hardly believe that we were so willing. How many other ice cream stores would go so out of their way for just one customer? Not many, I can tell you that much.
This is what it's all about.
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