Parlour Renovation: Scooping in Style

The Central Smith Ice Cream Parlour started in 1979 when we began scooping our creamy ice cream right out of a small window at the factory entrance! In those days, food safety wasn’t what it is today and we were allowed to enter the manufacturing space to scoop to our customers without even washing our boots! At that time, the Scates family of six lived upstairs (our current office space) and when a customer came, the bell would ring and one of the family members would answer the call. 

Central Smith Factory, 1982

That window did not last long! Once word got out that we were scooping, we renovated the front of the factory and created the space many who have visited our facility would remember: come in one door, decide, watch your treat being made and leave out the other door. This store set-up was functional and lasted 41 years, with many wall paper changes! Then the pandemic hit the world and forced us to rethink how to scoop ice cream a little safer...

Over the years, our parlour has been the first job for many students. We have employed approximately 252 students to scoop ice cream since 1980. This first summer job teaches many life skills which have helped our students to be successful in life. One learns the importance of being on time, trust, how to be courteous in a tough situation, how to properly clean a fridge, defrost a freezer and wash a floor, how to handle cash, how to make friends with people you don't know, how to scoop the perfect ice cream cone, how to be self-sufficient and how to feel good about a job well done.   

Many of our students have gone on to have remarkable careers; Rose became an RCMP officer, Penny owns a restaurant, Emily is a Research Analyst, Elsa is a Product Manager, Justin is an OPP officer and Meghan has worked herself from scooping ice cream to helping on our Order Desk, to an Administrative position to helping with all things billing to our Online data bank, to now managing of our incoming inventory of all the ingredients that make our amazing products.  It gives us great pride to know that we have helped a student figure out who they are at this critical juncture of their lives.   

In 2020, like the rest of the world, Central Smith needed to figure out how to scoop differently. The parlour remained an important aspect of our business however, with the first lock down and so many unknowns about the virus, we needed to adjust. We introduced the “Variety Pack,” a pack of six 900 ml tubs of rotating flavours! The popularity of this menu item was astonishing! It lead us to the creation of our Shopify website to relieve our phone lines and was the first step back to the parlour opening and scoops being sold. 

As new health regulations were clarified, we realized we needed to create a more sustainable storefront to provide a safe and enticing experience for both customers and staff. This new plan started with a questionnaire to the parlour staff about what worked in the store to get the layout of the workspace correct.  In the planning,  the customer experience was an important consideration. We wanted to provide a safe, appealing place that customers could have a treat and forget about the pandemic for a little while. We arranged flower boxes in combination with large stones to ensure safety from traffic, we considered signage and how to communicate to customers our options, we thought about flow, gathering spots, sun safety and rain protection with our new red roof. Lastly, for years customers with mobility concerns had to negotiate a step into the store so we flattened out the grounds and made sure the windows were low enough for both children and wheelchair bound patrons.  

Inside the Parlour, the space has been transformed! The staff can now scoop from both sides of the freezers, there are two centralized dip wells, a frozen yogurt station, a large new sink for rinsing tubs and washing dishes., a new sundae bar which keeps toppings and milk organized and refrigerated, a milkshake station and a new section for pre-orders and take home tubs which has been an addition to our business since the pandemic started. We have also tried to incorporate our signature red, updating the staff uniforms with fresh baseball shirts and red caps and added a red feature wall with a #lovelocal heart.  

We are very proud of our new look! It's remarkable witnessing our staff in action on a busy Sunday afternoon serve patrons in an expedient manner. Come by, see our new look, say hello to our Ice Cream Parlour staff! This year we have a future Psychologist, a Medical doctor, a Teacher, a Health Scientist, and a Dancer. They would be happy to serve you from our new take-out window!