MALTBY – Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream’s new plant will make its tasty treat with a green tinge, though consumers picking up pints of the company’s unique flavors won’t notice any difference.
That’s because the company’s emphasis on green has nothing to do with the color of its ice cream.
Instead, the new ice cream plant is a model for how businesses can incorporate sustainable development features such as environmentally friendly landscaping and energy-saving machinery.
“It fit what we’re trying to do,” said Barry Bettinger of Edmonds, who owns Snoqualmie Gourmet with his wife, Shahnaz.
That’s about all the Bettingers say about their decision to spend a little extra – about $100,000 actually – in order to make their production facility more environmentally friendly. Even though it was important to him, Barry Bettinger said he doesn’t want to sound hokey talking about his motivation.
Instead, he emphasizes the practical benefits. The new plant has a centralized compressor unit to keep the facility’s freezers cold, instead of a compressor on each freezer. That alone is 20 percent more energy efficient, Barry Bettinger said.
The compressor room is set up to capture heated freon coming from the compressor unit and use it to heat up the plant’s water. The process also helps to pre-cool the coolant before it is routed back to the compressors, and it manages to heat about half of the hot water needed by the factory, Bettinger said.
“We had to turn the thermostat (on the water heater) down because the water was so hot,” he said with a satisfied grin.
Additionally, by using air-cooled freezers instead of water-cooled ones on the factory floor, Bettinger estimates he’s cut his water consumption by up to three-fourths.
Outside, the parking lot for the plant and soon-to-open ice cream parlor is made of pervious concrete, which allows rainwater to run through it to a layer of rock and the soil beneath. That has eliminated the need for an expensive storm-water collection system on the property.
Additionally, Bettinger said, architects and contractors took pains to keep as many of the property’s existing trees as possible. The Bettingers also plan to add an herb garden, which will provide some of the ingredients, such as lavender and basil, used in Snoqualmie Gourmet’s varieties.
The Sustainable Development Task Force of Snohomish County hopes that visitors to Snoqualmie Gourmet’s headquarters find themselves as inspired by the facility’s features as they are by the ice cream.
“Snohomish County is looking for projects we can hold up as examples and the techniques they’re using are exactly what we’re looking to encourage for other developers and businesses,” said Diana Dollar, the Snohomish County Economic Development Council’s vice president and a member of the task force.
Publicity about Snoqualmie Gourmet’s project already has brought more inquiries about sustainable development, although the idea has caught on faster among home builders than commercial developers so far, she said.
Of course, Snoqualmie Gourmet’s move and new headquarters wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t good at making and selling ice cream.
Located in Lynnwood until the recent move, the business has enjoyed double-digit growth in recent years. Compared to last year, Barry Bettinger said, sales are up another 50 percent so far.
The new Maltby plant, several times larger than its predecessor, can produce 3,000 to 5,000 pints of ice cream a day, up from 1,500 or fewer pints made daily in Lynnwood.
That doesn’t mean the process is changing, however. For example, the Bettingers still proudly pasteurize their beginning ingredients for 30 minutes, instead of the 22-second instant pasteurization process used by others.
“No one does it like this anymore,” Barry Bettinger said, insisting that the slower process helps to make the ice cream taste creamier in the end.
Everett resident Dale Pappas, frozen food category manager for Haggen Inc., credits Snoqualmie Gourmet’s quality and unique flavors – lemon and basil and Mukilteo Mud – for its success.
“He’s able to create great flavors that you can’t find anywhere else,” Pappas said of Barry Bettinger. “He’s a guy who can make anything.”
Since Haggen and Top Foods stores began carrying the company’s product last year, it’s done well in the freezer cases next to national competitors such as Ben &Jerry’s and Haagen-Daas, Pappas said.
The ice cream also is sold by Central Market stores, Metropolitan Markets and Larry’s supermarkets. Snoqualmie Gourmet sells wholesale ice cream and mixes to restaurants and other businesses.
Owning an ice cream factory might sound like a dream job with tasty benefits, but it’s also extremely competitive with high costs. That is why the Bettingers are one of the few locally owned ice cream producers in the state.
But the owners don’t seem to have any regrets about going to the extra expense and trouble of building a plant of which they can be proud.
“We try to act with integrity and let what happens happen,” Barry Bettinger said. “Marketing doesn’t really guide our business decisions.”
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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