Ice cream, You scream...

I went out with friends the other night, and over ice cream we were reminiscing about our favorite ice cream parlor in our youth, Farrell's. Wondering whatever happened to that fun chain, I googled it.

Here's Farrell's current site, with their ''History of Fun''.

Sadly, it was a case of it getting bought out by a big company, then another company, and the 3rd owner had to mess with a good thing... say 'bye-bye' Farrell's! [wikipedia]

Happily, it appears they're making a comeback, with several new locations in Southern California. The Menu (pdf) will make you hungry.

I found lots of sites and blogs with people telling stories and reliving great moments spent celebrating there. I remember always getting my free birthday sundae -- a Hot Fudge Nutty Nutty!

The originator, and now noted marketing speaker, Bob Farrell's motto was "Give 'em the pickle!"

After telling the pickle backstory, Bob says: "... The pickle philosophy has evolved... It may be about going the extra mile to make customers happy or putting your own personal stamp on customer service that sets you apart from your competition. ..."

What a great marketing/customer service strategy for everyone in every business - give the customer what they want.

Coincidently, the Friendly's restaurant we were at gave my friend a hassle over getting his expected pickle with his burger: they are no longer including them with the burgers. I am surprised that an ice cream-focused modern chain restaurant would let that particular episode happen. I am sure that corporate has to have heard of Farrell's pickle theory.

Here are a few collectible items from Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor's past that have been on ebay recently.

So why am I going off about all this on my 'Tique Talk blog? Well, July is National Ice Cream Month!

Read about the history of ice cream.

I have a couple of neat antique ice cream advertising tin trays in my 'Lima, Ohio' memorabilia collection. Both are from Graham's Ice Cream, with great colorful images printed on them.

Read a Lima News article about the history of Graham's Ice Cream.

Here are a few more cool vintage ice cream advertising trays:

Watch ebay for vintage ice cream advertising trays, signs, scoops, etc.

I know that there are some really collectible ice cream related items. There was an ice cream scoop on ebay that sold for over $4,000.00!

Get the scoop on collecting vintage scoops here.
Check out the Ice Screamers Club.