Phyllis Dake, Charlie’s wife, introduces the “Make Your Own Sundae,” which becomes a trademark of Stewart’s Shops.
Charlie decided to deliver ice cream directly to people’s homes. “We had panel trucks with wooden freezer cabinets full of ice cream.” They would slide the wooden chests onto the trucks and hit the road. Another idea that became wildly successful, and is still a tradition today, belonged to Charlie’s wife Philly. Philly’s idea was simple: instead of employees spending time making ice cream desserts for their customers, why not just let the customers do it themselves? It would free up the employees to do other tasks and the customers would be able to create the exact sundae they desired. Just like that, Stewart’s “Make Your Own Sundae” was born. “Make Your Own Sundaes” was an idea that was ahead of its time, and iterations of the “make your own” concept would be seen throughout the next several decades. During the 50s, Stewart’s began seriously evolving as an ice cream business. They expanded the number of shops, initially renting the locations and later purchasing them. In 1950, they incorporated Saratoga Dairy, Inc. and Stewart’s Ice Cream Company, Inc. 1950 also saw the relocation of the ice cream plant to the “big barn” in Greenfield. Eventually, the milk bottling and the ice cream manufacturing were both under one roof in 1994.
Phyllis (Philly) Dake 26 | STEWART’S SHOPS 70 th ANNIVERSARY 2016
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