Lynsie and I have been practicing our own version of transparency, which includes things like posting our recipes for gourmet ice cream on the company blog.  But this slide (see to the right) is a new ballgame.  People ask us why Perfect Flavor does this, and the answers are pretty straightforward.

First, we want people to know what we put into the ice cream, and into the company itself.  These things are our competitive advantage, and hiding them negates them.  We want people to know that we use only local and organic ingredients.  We want people to know that our ice cream is made by hand, using the same recipes that harken back not just to your grandmother, but to Thomas Jefferson, and beyond.

Our assumption is that our customers are really very smart, well informed, and careful.  They know what they want, and hiding information about how we do business works against us.  Sooner or later, it all comes out, and so why have any secrets at all?

To that end, we’d like to nip the question “Why is this so expensive?” right in the bud.  We’ve gotten it sporadically, mostly from folks who are used to buying a half-gallon of Bryer’s ice cream for a few dollars.  When you compare the cost of Perfect Flavor against that, it’s liable to give you sticker shock.

Are we crazy to disclose the costs of our business so explicitly?  Will it come back to haunt us somehow?

Adam is the coolest.

Wow. We’ve been riding the whirlwind. Today Lynsie gave two interviews. Rowena Morrel of In The Kitchen came to visit us at home to talk about Perfect Flavor, and Lynsie made chocolate ice cream. The beat just goes on and on.

I finally put up our first cut at a press kit, and designed our first-ever print ad. I have no idea how one is really supposed to do that, but as they say, fake it ’till you make it.

“Throw it away.”

Think about that for a minute. Yes, I’m serious, a full minute. Sit back at your desk or cubicle, and take a deep breath, and think about what that phrase means. What is away? Where is away?

You might find that away represents a convenient (and fallacious) mental shorthand for “not my problem anymore”. I have been forcing myself to conduct this exercise several times over the last year or so, especially in the stark light of launching our own green business, Perfect Flavor. By degrees, it changes your perceptions.

For me, this awareness adds a painful dissonance to the mundane act of putting anything in the trash. Because, you guessed it: away doesn’t exist.

In that spirit, I offer your a link to Grist’s recent feature on what to do with some of those hard-to-recycle items: computers, running shoes, cellphones, and so on.

Repeat after me: “Nothing goes away.”

Out in Mt. Sidney, VA, you’ll find Bonny Venture Farm, which Lynsie and I visited on Monday. It’s run by Kevin Hoschar, who is an organizational coach and teambuilding expert by day. In his spare time he manages to raise Cashmere goats, like this one:

He also raises a wide variety of fruits, herbs, and so on. We’re hoping that soon he’ll become one of Perfect Flavor’s suppliers. We’re looking for quite an assortment of fruits, berries, nuts, and so on that can be grown in Virginia, but aren’t widely available on a commercial basis. For example, choke cherries, pawpaws, and quince. If you are a grower, or know where we can find one, for anything on this list, let us know.

Geisha and Samurai.  Dawn and Aaron rock.

When we tell people about our business (Perfect Flavor), we tell them that our goal is sustainability. In its simplest definition, sustainability refers to the long-term longevity of a human enterprise. Sustainability encompasses several overlapping concerns: the environment, social systems, and economic systems. One widely employed definition states that sustainable development:

“meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

With respect to the environment, one definition of sustainability means that all of the things a business takes from the Earth – the inputs like energy, fuel, and raw materials – must eventually be returned to the Earth in such a way that they can be used again.

We, like others involved with sustainable businesses, struggle with these definitions and labels. Although the terminology provides context, it can be confusing and limiting. In part, the problem lies with its Platonic “either/or” duality. We find it more useful and practical to consider things along a continuum from “less sustainable” to “more sustainable”.

The problem gets even more complex, because even the idealized notion of sustainability changes over time. Sustainability isn’t a place – it isn’t a singular and fixed destination. Like us, it evolves, as our understanding of the planet Earth and our species’ place thereon evolves. Sustainability is a process – a point of view that demands thinking, exploring, and questioning the status quo.

In that spirit, and encouraged by the notion that transparency matters, we offer a list of things we know that Perfect Flavor can improve upon. We hope that this disclosure will help our customers understand what we do, and the challenges we face. On some issues, we have had little or no choice on how to proceed because regulatory requirements are very stringent. On other issues, we have chosen to compromise because we are a small Mom & Pop business, and have insufficient capital to pursue other options.

Startup

• Building Materials: We used commonly-available materials, including concrete, pine stud framing, wallboard and so on. The Commonwealth of Virginia and federal requirements on Dairy Processing Facilities dictate many of these choices, particularly in the rooms used for the actual making of ice cream.
• Furnishings And Equipment: Our pasteurizer, batch freezer, coolers and freezers are all industry standard units. Again, due to regulatory requirements and a dearth of sustainably-manufactured units that meet those compliance criteria, we have no other choices at this time.

Ongoing

• Electricity:We strongly considered the possibility of using active-solar technology to meet some of the electrical demands of the Perfect Flavor Kitchen, but due to the startup costs, we can’t afford to do so at this time. Although we’d like to buy green power, Dominion Virginia Power does not offer any, and PEPCO, which offers a green power product to residential customers in Dominion’s service area, doesn’t do so for commercial accounts. Our only option is to purchase carbon offset credits.
• Water: The Perfect Flavor Kitchen has moderate water demands, and we are currently using water and sewer services provided by the City of Waynesboro. In the upcoming year, we will explore using rainwater harvesting for flushing the toilet at our facility.
• Transportation:Currently, all of our packaging and other raw materials come and go from the Perfect Flavor Kitchen on automobiles, using standard gasoline or diesel fuel. In the future, we hope to be able to use a more sustainable alternative, such as a bio-diesel or electric-powered delivery vehicle.

When we look at this list, we feel challenged to improve the myriad ways our business impacts the environment. The stark nature of this list illustrates just how far we are from our goal, but it heartens us to pursue the dream with passion.

If you are unhappy, you get more ice cream.  Brilliant ice cream dispenser design!

I learned this lesson early on in my involvement with startups: Ideas Are Cheap. Dirt cheap, really. The hard part is execution. The easiest way to spot a very green entrepreneur is to ask them to tell you their idea. Smart and/or experienced entrepreneurs will grin and expound at length. They’re not afraid of you stealing that brilliant idea. They want you to understand, and to buy into the idea, and to do that, they have to tell you what it is.
The folks that clam up and ask you to sign an NDA, or say, “I can’t tell you, it’s too easy to steal,” are the ones that need a few hard knocks.

The Bush administration’s lastest ill conceived food policies hasten the race to the bottom in the industrial food business. What can you do? Know what you’re eating, where it comes from, what’s in it, and how it got to your table. Sounds hard? It’s not. Go to your local farmer’s market, and when you buy, ask “Did you grow this? How?”

Try it. You’ll like it.