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Jenny keeps her cool to help the family farm
From cow to ice cream in one day. Jill Hopkins meets a young entrepreneur who aims to support the family business.
CLAD in white overalls and hat, farmer's daughter Jenny Clarkson carefully pours Bailey's Cream Liqueur into a stainless-steel bucket of milk, egg yolks and sugar.
"I'd cover your ears," she says with a grin as she reaches for a giant blender that looks and sounds like a pneumatic drill.
Making ice cream for sale is the fulfilment of 28-year-old Jenny's ambition.
"I've always wanted to have a business of my own, and with the poor milk prices, I wanted to include the farm in something like this. I looked at yoghurts to start with, but that's more technical with cultures and yeasts, then mum and I went to a demonstration of an ice-cream making machine that does everything, and we thought, 'That's it'."
Jenny runs cream into the mixture before pouring it into the top of the five-foot-high stainless-steel machine, and the batch of Bailey's ice cream is ready for processing.
Jenny's father, Jim, and her brother, Richard, have a herd of 135 Holstein/Friesian dairy cows at Hazel Slack Farm, Barkisland, in Calderdale. It's an area of rich pastureland suited for dairy cows, but in the last 15 years, the number of dairy farms has reduced from seven
to two.
"I suppose we just keep going because it's bred into us, we've always done it," reasons Jim. "But I do think that manufacturing something is the way forward, cutting out the middle man. If dairy farmers can get into ice cream, soft cheeses and yoghurts, I think there's a market for British produce."
It has taken Jenny the best part of a year to get her business up and running, and the first problem was where to house the ice-cream production.
"There wasn't really a suitable building on the farm for conversion, and I had to keep my costs down, so I decided on a Portakabin that could be fitted out to our specifications."
Jenny's mum, Jane, recalls the day the Portakabin arrived. "It was really nerve-racking as it was swung into place over the farmyard. You always wonder if you've got the measurements right. Once the stainless-steel sinks, freezers, tables and ice-cream machine arrived, we felt it was happening. Up until then it was all talk; after that, the reality set in."
The reality, as Jenny found out, involved months of decision-making about packaging, pricing and marketing and ensuring hygiene laws are adhered to.
"Before we could finalise the packaging, Environmental Health had to approve the premises to give us an approval number to put on the tubs. After that, it was Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HASAP), making sure that everything is clean, tidy, with everything recorded and accurately measured; my work as a meat inspector with the Food Standards Agency really helped with this.
"But then the second outbreak of foot and mouth disease reared its ugly head, so the inspectors couldn't come on to the farm, and that held us back a fortnight."
One of the biggest problems for Jenny was getting the right name, logo, and shape of pots for the ice cream.
"It took a lot of effort getting a name that sounded right. We tried to get something for the area or village, but nothing seemed to roll off the tongue, so eventually we came up with Just Jenny's. I wanted a simple logo that made the connection with the farm milk, so we have the cow's head."
Although Jenny uses milk produced on the farm, the two businesses are kept separate.
"I buy the milk off dad, and at the moment, because I'm only making to order, I buy on a daily basis when I need it, and book it down – then sort out the money later."
"We've got to help her get it up and running," says Jim. "Yes, she does book it all down. There's a lot of money gone into setting this up, and she's got to get it turned round to start making money."
Jenny invested her own money into the business, and was helped by a grant from Growing Roots which is funded by Yorkshire Forward with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, to support small rural businesses.
"It's not just the money that's helpful, but they provide courses and a mentor service for the first 12 months, and I do need help with the marketing because I've never done anything like this. I find it daunting."
In order to get the ice cream known, Jenny and Jane have sent out letters to hotels and restaurants, offering a bespoke ice-cream service, and arranging tastings.
"We were thrilled when the Rex Cinema, in Elland, came back with an order straight away," enthuses Jane. "And we've had a good response from the farmers' markets with the same customers coming back each week."
Jane and Jim have been on hand to help throughout the setting up, and when decisions had to be made about pricing, they were to be seen lurking around supermarket freezers.
"We went up to Scotland to look at two ice-cream manufacturers," recalls Jane. "on the way back, we stopped in Keswick, and as it was raining we went into Booth's, where they must have thought us mad as we lifted out all the tubs of ice cream to note the prices."
Pricing was a difficult task as ice cream is sold in volume.
"Our ice cream is denser because of the whole milk and cream, and as the tubs are hand-filled, there are no air pockets, so you actually get more weight of ice cream in the tubs. Before we started, we didn't realise that the same volume tubs of ice cream vary in weight," explains Jenny.
Just Jenny's ice creams come in a wide variety of flavours, including whisky and orange marmalade, Bailey's, coconut, pistachio, rum and raisin and hazelnut. The coffee ice cream has a robust flavour and would go well after dinner, while the coconut would be the perfect end to a curry meal.
"They are quite adult flavours, we're not really aiming at children, although there are the standards, like chocolate chip and toffee, that they'd enjoy. We can match the flavours to suit the market."
Now that Jenny is feeling confident with her range of ice creams, she is also bringing out a range of fruit sorbets which she hopes will develop in the summer months, using Yorkshire-grown fruit.
"I'm going to send mum out fruit picking." Jane greets the idea with a hollow laugh as she stirs a mixture of rum and raisins.
It's obvious, though, that mother and daughter work well together in the ice-cream factory, and both have the same love of spreading the word at the farmers' markets.
"We take display boards showing the whole process; from calves to cows and milking though to the end product," explains Jane. "It gives me a real buzz when people are interested and they want to know about the cows, and the milking."
Jenny has her sights fixed on a successful future, "Eventually, I'd like to have a tea room here to sell ice cream on site, but first I want to get a really good customer base, and be known for producing consistently good quality ice cream.
"And the more we can sell, the more milk we use, and the more money you can have," she says with a smile and nod to Jim.
n Just Jenny's ice cream can be bought at Far Barsey Farm Shop, Barkisland, Huddersfield and Holmfirth Farmers' Markets, The Rex Cinema Elland, and the Blue Ball Inn, Norland.
For more information, telephone 01422 823268.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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