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One hundred and six years ago, Emery
Thompson designed and built the world’s first automated batch freezer.
Two years later he received the world’s first patent for his invention.
For 104 consecutive years our family owned business has been providing
the world with the highest quality batch freezers for the production of
hard ice cream, Artisan Gelato and all water ice (sorbet, Italian Ice)
products. It would be 14 years before anyone attempted to copy Emery
Thompson!
Way back in 1903 Emery Thompson, the
founder of our company, was working in the basement of a large
department store on 14th Street in Manhattan. He ran the ice
cream concession in the department store. Back in those days there were
no ice cream parlors. You bought your ice cream either at a pharmacy or
at a department store. Emery was working long hours making ice cream on
an old fashioned rock salt and ice machine – similar to the ones we all
owned as we were growing up. He needed to cut down the hours he was
spending making the ice cream for the store. Thus the necessity. Emery
went back to his home in New Rochelle, New York and in his garage, built
the first modern day ice cream making machine – the invention.
Emery Thompson’s “new” ice
cream machine consisted of a long wooden tank and a vertical freezing
cylinder. The tank held salt water (which freezes at a lower temperature
than fresh water) and ice. The solution, called brine, was circulated
around a vertical freezing chamber, which in turn converted milk, cream,
sugar and flavor into ice cream. For his efforts he was awarded a U.S.
patent. Over the years the machine progressed from this simple unit to
one that was chilled by ammonia. The barrel was also turned horizontally
so that the finished ice cream would flow out more easily. The machines
continued advancing forward into Freon and today, more environmentally
friendly propellants. The drive system changed from a motorcycle chain
to steel reinforced belts and the materials used became all stainless.
But the concept of making old-fashioned ice cream remains the same.
Emery Thompson batch freezers
are sold in every country in the world in ice cream parlors, hotels,
restaurants and large ships. During World War II there was an Emery
Thompson on board every aircraft carrier. If a pilot missed the aircraft
carrier and had to be rescued, there was a flurry of activity between
the other warships to rescue the pilot. They knew that the ship that
pulled the pilot “from the drink” would be rewarded with ten gallons of
fresh ice cream from the aircraft carrier. I have seen footage of a
pilot being transferred in a bosons chair over to the carrier at the
same time that the ice cream was being rope delivered over to the
destroyer! Our machines are very popular in developing countries. As
their economies develop, they want to be like the Americans. The want
steak, beer and hard ice cream. Our machines provide the ice cream,
Italian Ices, Sherbet, Sorbet, and Artisan Gelato.
My father, Ted and his brother
Emery Junior left Cornell University during the Great Depression to run
the company when their father Emery Sr. died suddenly. It was tough
times for them in the Bronx, but they persevered using any materials
they could find to build their ice cream machines. For the past seventy
years the company has been located a mile from Yankee Stadium and it was
not uncommon for Ted and Uncle June to “run out on a sales call” and
sneak down to the stadium for an afternoon with Mickey Mantle and Roger
Marris. Nobody walked or jogged in those days so they would catch the #4
subway train a block from the factory and travel down to 162nd
street to what we call the “world headquarters of baseball!”
The only true competition that
Dad and June ever faced was their own machinery. The old machines would
last 40 years or more and would be sold and re-sold numerous times.
Today the same holds true. I take numerous calls from customers who have
just bought an “Emery” only to find out it left our factory in 1948! The
difference today is I have access to welding techniques and materials
that didn’t exist in 1948. Therefore the life of the machines we are
building today will be even greater than Dad and Uncle June’s machines.
When I attended graduate school
at Rollins, my teachers all told me the way to expand Emery Thompson was
to diversify. “Build DeLorean cars or vending machines or heart bypass
machines” – things that used my expertise in stainless steel. I took a
different approach. I kept the product line firmly locked in on batch
freezers and only batch freezers! My business model says that you go to
a specialist in a given industry. Just like you buy vanilla from a
company that specializes in vanilla and you go to a chocolatier for
chocolate, we want you to come to the company that specializes in batch
freezers and only batch freezers – Emery Thompson. Today we sell more
batch freezers to more successful frozen dessert businesses than anyone
else in the world. A small company with big ideas! It’s increasingly
difficult to manufacture anything in the United States, and
manufacturing in New York City with the unions, the taxes and the
heating bills was even worse. I refuse to manufacture anything overseas
so we looked south. We found a small town in very rural Florida, which
had everything we needed…. access to major interstates, a strong and
willing workforce, a major city (Tampa) nearby and a greatly improved
lifestyle. The rest is as they say, history. We use the best materials,
the simplest designs and the most dedicated workforce of any company in
the industry. Today, the Europeans import Gelato making machines into
the U.S. but they just don’t hold up to the standards that Americans
expect from their machinery….and because of the Euro vs. the Dollar, we
cost far less. One of my customers put it best. He said, at the end of
the day, the European worker will spend time polishing their machine
making it look nice for the next day’s work. The American on the other
hand, shuts the machine off, throws a wrench at it and damn well expects
it to run “as advertised” again tomorrow! That’s what we do – build the
most durable, longest lasting all American made machines for customers
who are making an investment in their business and their future.
Emery Thompson Batch Freezers
are used to make original old-fashioned homemade hard ice cream, fresh
fruit sorbets, artisan Gelato, Italian ices, frozen lemonade and
sherbet. The quality of the machine is important but it’s the skill and
creativity of the ice cream maker that make the perfect frozen dessert!
We build them
strong and we build the simple. There are
no frivolous gadgets on an Emery Thompson. The Himalayan Ice Cream
Company in Nepal said it best… “It’s the only machine that you can go to
the hardware store to get parts for…but why would you need to?” You
might notice that our Florida phone number is actually our same old New
York City (718-588-7300) number. I kept the old number because there is
no real maintenance needed on an Emery Thompson for the first ten years.
With such infrequent phone calls coming from our existing customers, I
was worried that they might forget we moved. Thus the old number. I am
also the only CEO that I know who gives out his home telephone number
(914-643-7391). I am so confident of the quality of my machinery that if
you have a question that cannot wait till the next business day, then
call me at home and I’ll do my best to answer your question.
We’re very proud of what we
build and I think it shows in the loyal customers that we have. As we
embark on our second hundred years the 4th generation of
Thompson ice cream machine makers are in grad school learning how to
make their Great Grandfather’s machines even better.
Steve Thompson
President/CEO
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