Jon Plummer, co-owner of Moomers Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City, shares how a small family dairy farm blossomed into one of Michigan’s most beloved ice cream destinations. From the national spotlight of Good Morning America to the creation of their signature Cherries Moobilee flavor, Jon shares how Moomers became more than just a place to grab a cone—it’s an experience rooted in family, community, and joy.
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So we're gonna be on national television in an empty building with
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:nothing moving and nothing going on.
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:So we got on the horn with our staff and
said, Hey, no one's required to work.
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:Anyone's welcome to work
to receive double time.
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:Then we got back out and let the word out,
free ice cream tomorrow at Moomers from
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:6:00 AM till 9:00 AM whatever time period.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Um, we had over five, 600 people.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Hello everyone.
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:Welcome back to Total Michigan where
we interview Ordinary Michigan is
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:doing some pretty extraordinary things.
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:I am your host Cliff DuVernois.
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:Today I find myself in beautiful
Traverse City and if you haven't had
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:the opportunity, make sure that you
get here because it's still a very
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:beautiful time of the year to be there.
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:One of the things I love to do when
I go to area courses is find those
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:businesses that are making a huge
impact in their local community.
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:The people that are just completely
content with taking advantage of what
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:they have to be able to service others.
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:And in my travels I discovered That
is a wonderful ice cream place,
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:and I've got such an weakness
when it comes to ice cream.
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:So this place has not only been
featured in uh, USA Today, but also
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:on Good Morning America, and that
would be Moomer's Homemade Ice Cream.
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:And to walk me through their incredible
story is co-owner John Plummer.
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:John, how are you?
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:Jon Plummer: I'm well.
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:Thanks for coming.
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:Thanks for having us here.
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:So John, why don't you tell us, and
I know it sounds a little redundant,
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:what is Moomer's Homemade Ice Cream?
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:Moomer's homemade ice cream is an ice
cream parlor next to our 80 acre farm.
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:A brain child of my mom, Nancy Plummer,
former first grade teacher for 27 years
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:in a change of career for her path.
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:Um.
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:We started as a small local Maha
employee, six to eight kids, um, and have
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:grown over 28 years now, making over a
hundred thousand gallons of ice cream.
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:Sweet.
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:Awesome.
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:Um, employ over 35 people.
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:Beautiful.
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:We were open from March
through, uh, new Year's Eve.
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:Um.
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:We're a place a bit out of the way,
five and a half miles from downtown
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:Traverse City, but also a place where
we like to have the numerous experience
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:available for those who visit.
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:Uh, ideally it's with friends and family.
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:Hopefully leave the phone in the car
and hang out and converse and enjoy
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:the time with those who you visit.
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:Maybe bring the phone to take a
picture of boomers, obviously.
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:But my point is, um, we're, we're a
destination, we're an experience all
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:around a premium ice cream treat.
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:Uh, it comes in many.
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:Different options from an ice cream
flight to the simple ice cream cone.
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:Our number one item is a scoop and
a half and a homemade waffle cone.
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:Yeah.
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:But then we can get into banana splits
and turtle sundaes and all milkshakes.
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:Um, and that's just the retail
portion of our business.
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:We also offer wholesale to
grocery stores and restaurants
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:and other ice cream parlors.
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:We cater to weddings and
graduation parties and celebration
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:of life and other corporate.
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:Functions that may feature
and need ice cream.
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:Um, so we're all things
ice cream at boomers.
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:Um, most importantly, we're a family
owned and operated, family friendly
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:destination, ice cream parlor.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So there's
a lot there to unpack.
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:Jon Plummer: Yeah, we do a lot,
but it's all around ice cream.
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:Cliff DuVernois: You, you
got your f, no pun intended.
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:You got your fingers in
a lot of pies, right.
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:Okay, let's take a step back.
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:Where are you from?
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:Where did you grow up?
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:Jon Plummer: I was born
and raised right there.
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:On the farm.
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:On the farm, yeah.
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:Traverse City, Michigan.
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:It's a beautiful place to call home
and it's a great place to do business.
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:Uh, so born and raised here.
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:Wouldn't change it for the world.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So let me
ask you this question here.
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:So you're born and raised here.
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:You're born on a dairy farm.
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:Okay.
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:And now did you, did you go off to
college, have dreams of starting a career?
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:Jon Plummer: Like everyone?
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:Yes.
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:So I went to Oak College and I'm a
biology major that was going pre dent.
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:Okay.
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:Um, organic.
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:Oh, okay.
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:You kind of got the better half of meat.
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:I'm like, I don't know, maybe
it'd be fine to go back and work.
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:For my mom and dad.
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:Yeah, probably one of the
better decisions I've done and,
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:wouldn't trade it for the world.
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:Yeah.
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:Not until I had kids did I realize
how cool family business would be.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So that's beautiful.
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:And I'll tell you this right now, organic
chemistry has claimed a lot of dreams.
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:It's a tough one.
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:It's a tough one.
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:That is super tough.
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:Now your mom has started the business,
you decided to, to come back to
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:be a part of the family business.
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:Jon Plummer: Yeah.
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:So I came back, uh, on board and just
dabbled to kinda see where I would.
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:Where my spot would be, if you will.
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:Right.
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:You know, what I could offer help
with outside of general labor.
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:Okay.
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:Um, and I started walking down the
wholesale path of, gosh, there's a
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:lot of places that sell ice cream.
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:People buy ice cream year round.
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:Um.
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:They buy it more than just
at the ice cream parlor.
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:So let's venture into some
of these other opportunities.
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:Right.
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:Um, and so that's where I kind of
came on board and started dabbling
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:in, uh, restaurants and grocery
stores other ice cream parlors.
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:And now it's two thirds of our business
is wholesale going out the back door.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Oh, sweet.
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:We Moses, you know.
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:Jon Plummer: Primary focus always and
forever is going to be our retail, right?
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:It's our bread and butter.
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:As we, the experience that we provide
here with folks walking through
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:the front, front door, us servicing
them, saying, hi, how are you?
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:How's your day going?
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:Talking about ice cream or not,
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:Cliff DuVernois: right?
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:Jon Plummer: And then leaving and they'll
remember the way they feel, right?
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:Ideally, they remember
the flavor of our product.
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:But really it's about the
way they feel when they exit.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So let's go
back here for a little bit.
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:So your mom was the one
that actually started this?
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:Correct.
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:So you're raised on a dairy farm,
you already have access to milk.
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:Why take that extra step to
make an ice cream parlor?
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:Jon Plummer: So my mom at the
time and dad both wanted to do
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:something a little different.
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:Specifically my mom, my dad's a
builder, a mason, a farmer jack of all
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:trade master, a nun, we'll call it.
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:Um, so he built a building.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Okay.
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:Jon Plummer: And, um.
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:At the time, they didn't really
know, uh, what the name was gonna be.
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:And my mom, a first grade
teacher said, uh hmm.
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:Mr.
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:And Mrs.
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:Plumber's Cone be Bob.
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:Her last name's pba.
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:Yeah.
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:Uh, when you think of plumber,
you don't think of ice cream,
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:you think of something else.
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:Yes.
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:So one of the better decisions that
they made is to call it Moomers.
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:So my mom, the first grade
teacher would call a baby calf.
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:Oh, look at the little moomer.
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:Ah, okay.
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:Everyone can say Mummers.
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:Yes.
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:So it's a Sohi name for our business.
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:Cliff DuVernois: It's a fun name.
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:Jon Plummer: Yes, absolutely.
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:Yes.
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:Where are you going?
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:We're going to Mummers,
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:Cliff DuVernois: and it's super
sticky too, and that's something
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:that I absolutely love now, coming
on board, coming into Mummers, right?
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:Trying to find.
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:Your place here.
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:You made a comment before about how this
has been going on now for 28 years, right?
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:The, the, the family business.
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:Why don't you talk to us about
maybe some of those, like initial
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:growing pains that you went through
getting this up and running?
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:Jon Plummer: Yes.
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:So some of the growing pains we've
had has been, um, in oh eight when we
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:were featured on Good Morning America
was the first growing pain that I
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:think of is we had a 35% growth year.
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:We had inquiries from more wholesale
accounts, the retail foot traffic
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:has increased significantly.
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:It's a good thing.
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:Right?
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:Right.
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:It's something to also manage,
to bring in more staff to churn
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:more ice cream, to run production,
more to physical parking spots.
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:Those are all pinch points or
growing pains that we incurred
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:during that time period,
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:Cliff DuVernois: so, right, right.
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:Jon Plummer: Had to kind of become
a businessman and make some of
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:these decisions along with the
help of my sister, my, my folks,
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:as to where, where do we wanna go?
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:What do we wanna be and
how do we wanna get there?
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:Cliff DuVernois: Right?
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:Jon Plummer: So it's something
that you can't plan for.
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:You can't say, Hey, let's go be on
Good Morning America, but when it
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:shows up in lands in your lap, right?
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:Deal with it.
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:Yeah.
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:Figure it out kind of on the go.
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:So I'm glad that was early in the,
in the Moomer's era or earlier.
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:To help steer the boat is to answer some
of those questions of what do we wanna
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:be, we wanna be a fun, family focused ice
cream parlor featuring a premium product.
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:Okay.
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:We've got that down now.
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:Where do we wanna go?
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:Right?
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:So how do we get that product out there?
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:Right.
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:Obviously our retail store, but
then also some of the opportunity
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:that came with, um, the wholesale
portion of our business made sense,
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:Cliff DuVernois: right?
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:Jon Plummer: It's a year round
business, it's year round income stream.
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:We have year round employees.
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:People eat ice cream year round.
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:Yeah.
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:It's buy it at different locations.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So I can imagine
going back to when you were
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:talking about being featured on
Good Morning America, first off.
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:That's huge.
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:But I know a lot of people out there
would say, man, if we could just
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:get featured on this television
show or this national network.
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:Get the word out about
what it is you're doing.
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:You had that opportunity
and it swamped you.
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:Jon Plummer: It was a lot.
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:That a lot.
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:That year specifically was 2008.
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:It was crazy
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:Cliff DuVernois: because that
really put you guys on the map.
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:Jon Plummer: Absolutely what, and
I call the, I call it the blessing
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:of the national media wand.
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:It's something that you can't plan for.
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:You can't say, Hey, I wanna go out and I
want a minute and a half on national tv.
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:I don't know if we could afford
it, but when it happens, you
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:just, you run with it, right?
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:You take advantage of it and you enjoy it.
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:And, um.
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:And it's kind of a nice
stepping stone in our business.
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:Cliff DuVernois: So then let me
ask you this question here, because
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:being featured on that show, you
have all these people come in, right?
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:They've seen you on there.
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:And at first I could just see like,
you know, holy cow, this is great.
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:But like you said before, all of
a sudden it's like you, like, holy
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:cow, we gotta get more people.
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:We have to increase our, our
practice, you know, whatever it is.
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:How do you handle all
that additional pressure?
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:Jon Plummer: You have to work it.
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:You can't, some of this
stuff you can't hire out.
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:You have to make business decisions.
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:You have to decide what you want
out of your business and what true.
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:But then also like how far and like
what is capable of this business.
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:So it's this little.
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:Gray area of, of decision making, but
that's the joy of being self-employed.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Well also too, at the
curse of being self-employed, I agree.
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:Because you can, you know, before the
cameras went hot, you made a comment about
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:like, one week you work like 92 hours.
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:Right.
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:Which is insane.
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:So then if we're talking about
growing pains associated with.
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:Having all this extra business
on board at some point in time.
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:You commented on this earlier,
you were married with kids,
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:Jon Plummer: still
married with kids, right?
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:Yes.
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:So to have that life work balance and
I'm guessing most others during the
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:COVID era that put some perspective on
things that was helpful for us, or me
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:personally, I should say, to have us.
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:Put in a management bracket tier, I should
say, of our staffing and our systems
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:and our organization has really helped
us focus on our day-to-day business
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:rather than working in the business.
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:Yes, on the business common term.
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:Um, so that's been very helpful to
have other like-minded adults help
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:us run and operate our business.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Because one of the things
that I'm, I love about your story, and
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:I'd like to explore this a little bit, is.
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:You've got a great product, you've
gotten national exposure and you were
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:talking about, you know, like people
calling up and saying, Hey, do you've
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:got some kind of a wholesale product?
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:I'd love to carry your
products in my store.
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:And you're opening up, you know, all
this other, this new business, like you
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:said, two thirds of your business, right?
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:Being wholesale.
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:But I could also imagine the flip side
of the coin in that people are coming to
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:you and saying how much to buy Moomers.
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:You decided to keep it family,
you decided to keep it small.
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:Talk to us a little bit about that.
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:Jon Plummer: We work with
each other every day.
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:My sister, Becky, my mom, Nancy,
my dad, Bob, we have two siblings,
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:two sisters that aren't involved.
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:Um, there was a, uh, local.
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:Video company up north.
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:Then they came to us and wanted
to do a video about our story.
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:The reason I'm saying this is one of
their questions, they all interviewed
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:us separately and one of the questions
was, um, what's the best part about
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:working with your family every day?
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:And my dad, he says, well, I
get to see my wife, my middle
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:daughter, my son every day.
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:Obviously, we all know
the follow up question.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Yep.
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:Jon Plummer: What's the least favorite
part about working with family and my dad?
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:In the exact same tone,
the exact same cadence.
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:I get to see my wife, my middle sis, or
my middle daughter and my son every day.
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:And there's this, joy of coming and
working with your family and now
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:there's, we don't know if there's
a, a third generation yet or not.
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:We'll figure that out later.
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:They'll been too young to decide.
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:Right, right.
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:But there's a fulfilling part of this
business that has nothing to do with ice
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:cream and nothing to do with business.
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:It's working with fa and that really
has come full circle the end of the day.
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:that's important to us.
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:Is to that family unit that can work
together and we can vacation together
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:and we can enjoy holidays and yes.
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:Celebrations together.
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:That's of the utmost it puts,
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:Cliff DuVernois: so let
me toss this out there.
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:You tell me if I'm off base.
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:This actually adds a whole new level
to the whole thing of do what you love.
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:Because it's not about make a
buck, it's do what you love.
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:from what I'm hearing from you, it
sounds like that that is your philosophy.
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:You do this because you love it.
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:Jon Plummer: We see, maybe I'll exaggerate
five disgruntled customers per year.
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:We'll see 2000 to 2,500 people
a day in the summer too.
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:There's people excited before they
even get in their car and wherever
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:they're coming from, before they pull
in the driveway, before they even
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:enter the building, they're excited
to go to mowers to get in high school.
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:Celebratory some sort of a
recognition or, or just an Audi, But
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:they're going out for an ice cream.
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:Yeah.
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:So to be in this business on the
other side of the counter and see
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:hundreds and thousands of smiling
good attitudes and excited people
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:that go out for an ice cream, yes.
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:Um, does make our job very
easy, rewarding, enjoyable.
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:Cliff DuVernois: I want to talk a little
bit more about the Moomers experience.
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:Yeah.
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:But right now, we're gonna take
a break to thank our sponsors.
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:Once again, you're
listening to Total Michigan.
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:I'm your host,Cliff DuVernois.
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:Today I am talking with John Plummer,
co-owner of Moomers Homemade Ice
339
:Cream, located in Traverse City.
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:We will see you after the break.
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:Are you enjoying this episode?
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:Well, I can tell you
there's a lot more to come.
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:Hello everyone.
351
:Welcome back to Total Michigan, where
we interview ordinary Michiganders
352
:doing extraordinary things.
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:I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
354
:Joining me today is John Plummer,
the co-owner of Moomers Homemade
355
:Ice Cream, located in Traverse City.
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:John, before the break, we were talking
a little bit about being featured.
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:On Good Morning America.
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:What I would like to do is I
wanna kind of explore that story
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:just a little bit more and ask.
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:How did you get on there?
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:Was there a specific flavor
that got you on there?
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:How did that whole story unfold?
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:Jon Plummer: So, good Morning
America, uh, had a contest.
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:It was America's best scoop shop.
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:There were two criteria.
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:It was an online forum on their website.
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:Before social media, before cell phones,
um, you had to own less than five stores.
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:You own one, you had to
make your own ice cream.
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:Oh,
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:Cliff DuVernois: nice.
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:Okay.
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:Jon Plummer: Yep.
373
:It was a customer nominated contest, a
customer nominated Moomers, I'm guessing.
374
:There was a plethora of nominated
ice cream parlors around the country.
375
:Good morning, America
whittled it down to 10.
376
:They then kind of voted on
those 10 on their website
377
:and narrowed it down to four.
378
:And those four stores around the
country, they went and visited.
379
:Oh wow.
380
:An audio video, a feature that they
debuted on Good Morning America,
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:uh, a week before Memorial Day.
382
:Okay.
383
:And at that time it was America's vote,
so you would've to go to abc news.com
384
:to vote on your favorite ice cream parlor.
385
:We did let our customer base know that
if they would like to go and vote, it was
386
:simply a piece of paper on the counter.
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:To go vote if they wish.
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:Cliff DuVernois: Yeah.
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:'cause this is before social media.
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:This is 2008.
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:You
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:Jon Plummer: had email chains
and you had phone chains if
393
:anyone chose to do any of those.
394
:So we, uh, a week before Memorial
Day weekend, which is really the
395
:kickoff for our season they called the
Friday of that weekend and said, oh,
396
:how's the weather in Traverse City?
397
:By the way you guys won and we're
gonna be there tomorrow morning
398
:sounding camera coming up from Detroit,
where simul cast out to New York.
399
:Yeah.
400
:Um, at 6:30 AM Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
401
:Like, dad's not even in the barn.
402
:Milk of cows at 6:30.
403
:No one's here at 6:30.
404
:So we're gonna be on national
television in an empty building with
405
:nothing moving and nothing going on.
406
:So we got on the horn with our staff and
said, Hey, no one's required to work.
407
:Anyone's welcome to work
to receive double time.
408
:Then we got back out and let the word out,
free ice cream tomorrow at Moomers from
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:6:00 AM till 9:00 AM whatever time period.
410
:Yeah.
411
:Yeah.
412
:Um, we had over five, 600 people.
413
:Oh, yes.
414
:I love that.
415
:So it was, it was a point in time where we
also had to declare our signature flight.
416
:Yep.
417
:They asked us to ship ice
cream out to New York.
418
:We politely did.
419
:And, um.
420
:It was almost a few other common
flavors, but nothing unique and,
421
:and story worthy of Traverse City,
Michigan, the cherry capital of the
422
:world that we are proud to call home.
423
:Cliff DuVernois: Yep.
424
:Jon Plummer: So we
chose Cherries Moobilee.
425
:Okay.
426
:Cherries Moobilee became a our signature
flavor specifically from that, but.
427
:To back up and explain cherries Mobil
Lee, the flavor itself, it is a black
428
:cherry based ice cream with local
traverse city black cherry halves.
429
:Cliff DuVernois: Yeah, f fudge
430
:Jon Plummer: brownies
and a chocolate swirl.
431
:Back in the day when my dad used
to dabble in making ice cream, he
432
:was making black cherry, but then
there was still some brownies and
433
:chocolate swirl on the counter.
434
:And instead of putting those
back to where they belong in the
435
:cooler uh, in those packages, he
simply dumped it in black chair.
436
:Now we have a flavor that
we don't know what to call.
437
:And so the next day we said,
what do we call this flavor?
438
:We said, let's have some
fun, let's have a contest.
439
:So we had it out in our display freezer.
440
:We had customers nominate their flavor.
441
:I think they won a free t-shirt,
a half gallon of ice cream
442
:and obviously bragging rights.
443
:Yeah.
444
:We whittled it down to
three or four cherries.
445
:Moley ended up winning that flavor name.
446
:Great play on our name and that flavor.
447
:Well,
448
:Cliff DuVernois: great way to
get your customers involved too.
449
:Hundred percent.
450
:Yeah.
451
:Jon Plummer: Everyone will tell
you what they want to eat and they
452
:will tell you if it's good or bad.
453
:More or less.
454
:Everyone's an expert in
ice cream, especially when
455
:they're paid for it, right?
456
:Cliff DuVernois: Yes, yes.
457
:Jon Plummer: So Jerry's moley, it
was so back when the Morning America
458
:came around, we're like, oh, well,
what flavor should we feed short?
459
:There it was Cherries Moobilee.
460
:So we used to make maybe a batch or two
a year of this cherries milk leaf flavor.
461
:We now make three to four
batches a day in the summertime.
462
:It's our one copyrighted trademark
signature flavor featured at
463
:Moomer's homemade ice cream,
celebrating the cherry capital of
464
:the world, Traverse City, Michigan.
465
:Cliff DuVernois: That's interesting.
466
:Copyrighted ice cream flavor.
467
:Yeah.
468
:And one thing I would like to
explore here, and I, I know I wanna.
469
:I wanna make sure we've got some time
to talk about some events that are
470
:coming up here at Moomers is this entire
exploration of mixing combinations
471
:together to come up with unique flavors.
472
:When it comes to ice cream.
473
:So first off, that's gotta be
the funnest thing in the world.
474
:Jon Plummer: It's endless.
475
:It's endless what we can do.
476
:That's the fun part of our job.
477
:Cliff DuVernois: And then this is part
of something you do with your employees?
478
:Jon Plummer: Yes.
479
:So we have in November when
there's not much going on at an
480
:ice cream parlor and could be cold
outside, hunting what do you do?
481
:You have a staff flavor
contest is what Moomers does.
482
:We end up.
483
:Having all the staff that wants to
participate, which is all of 'em
484
:create name and make their own flavor.
485
:So if they don't work in the
production room, they go back in
486
:the our make room and they get to
make for the mix of the machine.
487
:They get to flavor it, they get to
sprinkle in the inclusions and there
488
:gets to the swirls they get, and
then we package that flavor into one
489
:ounce souffle cups a thousand times.
490
:We do that for 17, 18 employees.
491
:Then we package all of those 18 different
flavors in a, we'll call it a candy box,
492
:but I call it an ice cream box, right?
493
:And then we sell to our customers,
and on there is a QR code that that
494
:customer will snap, which is a vote.
495
:So you go on to vote.
496
:Your favorite, your least
favorite, most creative, best use
497
:of ingredients, most colorful.
498
:That list can go on and on.
499
:Really what it comes down to is
bragging rights for that employee if
500
:they win and they're proud to win.
501
:So I bet
502
:Cliff DuVernois: you they are.
503
:Jon Plummer: We'll take the winning
flavor or two and then remake 'em for
504
:a while for the rest of the season.
505
:Mm-hmm.
506
:Then we'll also remake ' em in the
spring, when we're open in March.
507
:Cliff DuVernois: Beautiful.
508
:Jon Plummer: So it's a great way for our
staff to get involved, customers to try
509
:something that they've never tried before.
510
:We might have the next best
Cherries Moobilee made.
511
:I don't know.
512
:So we're always concocting new
flavors and creating new ideas
513
:Cliff DuVernois: and
getting experimenting.
514
:Oh, I love that.
515
:Now, so we, so you said this
takes place in November.
516
:We're walking into fall.
517
:So is there something you
got planned for October?
518
:Jon Plummer: Yeah, so October
is our I Spy Wagon rides.
519
:This stemmed an idea or.
520
:This was an idea that was stemmed when
I had, when my kids were younger mm-hmm.
521
:Is you can go do pumpkin
and cider multiple times.
522
:going to get ci, you
know, donuts and cider.
523
:But what else is there to do?
524
:So we came up with this ideas on our
80 acre farm, and we have a wagon
525
:Cliff DuVernois: Right.
526
:Jon Plummer: Specifically
for transporting.
527
:And so we take that wagon around our farm.
528
:It's a 25 minute ride where we, I
spy things, gear to H two to 10.
529
:So we on this.
530
:There's a cow and a silo,
and a skeleton and a witch.
531
:Not to be spooky, scary, but
an outing for that family to
532
:go do something in the fall.
533
:Cliff DuVernois: Beautiful.
534
:I love thisor.
535
:Yeah.
536
:And
537
:Jon Plummer: 99% of 'em stop
in for ice cream afterwards,
538
:Cliff DuVernois: So October.
539
:Is your kinda like version
of the I spy hayride?
540
:Yeah, absolutely.
541
:November is employee staff flavor contest.
542
:Mad scientist flavor contest.
543
:What's in December?
544
:Yeah.
545
:Jon Plummer: December's
holidays and gingerbread.
546
:So we turn into a
gingerbread making factory.
547
:Great.
548
:Make blank gingerbreads that we can
sell to take home or you can come
549
:in and dine here and decorate it.
550
:Uh, we've had families come in for
years to decorate gingerbread houses.
551
:But then we get into our, our holiday
treats of Yule logs and seven layer pies.
552
:Yes.
553
:Ice cream, all those traditional ice cream
treats to celebrate the holiday season.
554
:Cliff DuVernois: And then
you're closed January, February.
555
:Jon Plummer: So we
closed retail in January.
556
:Okay.
557
:New Year's Eve.
558
:Okay.
559
:We closed January and February for retail.
560
:We still come in and produce year
every week for grocery stores, cleaning
561
:stores, restaurants, anyone who carries
our product at a wholesale setting.
562
:During that time period, we also
clean the store, a little bit of
563
:downtime, reset for the next season.
564
:It's a good little break.
565
:Mm-hmm.
566
:And then we reopen the
first Friday of March.
567
:Cliff DuVernois: And then in
March, that's golden ticket time.
568
:Jon Plummer: That is, so our opening
weekend, the first Friday, Saturday,
569
:and Sunday of March is the only
three days of the year that you
570
:can obtain Moomer's special ticket.
571
:So what that special ticket with purchase
that weekend is, is good for you and your
572
:group to bypass those long summer lines.
573
:Walk up to the bar and
get served immediately.
574
:So you and grandma and grandpa and kids,
aunts, uncles, or the whole cheerleading
575
:squad or football team, whoever you're
with, you'll get served immediately.
576
:So our law, our lines do tend to
get a bit long in the summertime.
577
:I bet you they do most every
other ice cream parlor.
578
:Yep.
579
:But it's a good way to pay a bit
of patronage to our local to say
580
:thanks for supporting us year round.
581
:Thanks for coming in in March.
582
:But also a good way to, to tell
everyone, hey, Moomers is open for
583
:the year, it's March, come on in.
584
:Yes.
585
:Rather than a slow, snowy March storm.
586
:It's a fun activity opening weekend
587
:Cliff DuVernois: So for a lot
of, because you said, you know,
588
:lines can get pretty long.
589
:Summertime, everybody's,
you know, swamping here.
590
:Let's say that someone.
591
:Never heard of you before,
never been here before.
592
:Come to Traverse City.
593
:They see this interview,
they hear this interview, and
594
:they're like, you know what?
595
:I need to check Moomers out
because I'm an ice cream fanatic.
596
:So they're coming here for the first time.
597
:What would be a couple flavors that
you would recommend that they try?
598
:Jon Plummer: As a first timer at
Moomers, um, our number one item is
599
:a scoop in half and a waffle cone.
600
:And you can split any scoops.
601
:You could do two flavors in any size.
602
:The real, as of recent, the real
way that I to experience Moomers,
603
:I think was an ice cream flight.
604
:Cliff DuVernois: Oh.
605
:It's
606
:Jon Plummer: a board with
five smaller SCOs of five
607
:different flavors you can share.
608
:You do not have to share.
609
:Gotcha.
610
:So that's my recommendation.
611
:Unless you know you want the
chocolate malt, 'cause that's
612
:all you drink is chocolate malt.
613
:Yeah.
614
:But to come in here as a first timer.
615
:I'd recommend try Cherries Moobilee.
616
:Try one of our seasonals.
617
:Try something you may have
never heard of before.
618
:Sample our vanilla.
619
:Vanilla will tell you a lot about the
quality of all of the other flavors.
620
:It is no matter where you go,
621
:Cliff DuVernois: and I gotta say this
right now, vanilla is so underrated.
622
:Jon Plummer: Vanilla will tell
you a lot about everything else.
623
:You have to perfect it though.
624
:Cliff DuVernois: if somebody is
coming here for the first time,
625
:how can they connect with you?
626
:How can they find you?
627
:Where can they find you online?
628
:Jon Plummer: Yeah.
629
:So numerous.com.
630
:Easy one.
631
:You can join us on Facebook
and doing this on Instagram.
632
:We're five and a half miles from
downtown Traverse City, all the country
633
:Cliff DuVernois: John.
634
:Thank you so much for
letting us come here today.
635
:We really do appreciate it.
636
:Thank you for sharing your story with us.
637
:And for audience, you can always
roll on over to Total Michigan.com.
638
:Click on John's interview and get the
links that he mentioned down below.
639
:We'll see you next time
when we talk to you.
640
:Another Michigander doing some
pretty extraordinary things.
641
:We'll see you then.