Callestick
Over twenty years ago the Parker family made a decision to diversify from a traditional dairy farm. Little did they know, they would become one of the South West’s leading ice cream brands, epitomising quality and provenance.
The family run farm, set in the picturesque surrounds of Callestick village, in mid Cornwall, has maintained a herd of 100 cows since the launch of its ice cream business. The secret to its success is the company’s desire to remain focused on its small herd, managed by three generations of Parkers. Angela Parker explains: “When we decided to make ice cream, we wanted to ensure we would never compromise on quality. The husbandry of our animals is of the utmost importance to us. We believe that in ensuring the well-being of the herd, that better quality milk is produced, providing us with a fantastic base for our ice cream.” Testament to this is the company’s Red Tractor accreditation – one of the only ice cream producers in the UK to secure this status.
As cows produce milk every day, the farm never needs worry about not meeting demand. Helping to secure the company’s position as one of the county’s leading ice cream producers, has been its investment in state of the art facilities, enabling it to produce the significant volumes and a wide range of ice cream. As a result, over 5000 litres of ice cream can be produced at its peak in August in its 1800 sqft factory and kept in the 1500 cubic ft cold storage, ensuring continuity and quality are always achieved. On average the farm can produce 1.5m vanilla scoops a year – quite an achievement as it maintains its commitment to the ethos of a small family farm. Callestick’s point of difference to other ice creams outside of the West Country is its use of Cornish clotted cream, and fresh milk helping to provide the luxurious taste it has become famous for.
Callestick has developed scores of flavours over the years, at any one time there will be about 30 stocked and available for a season. As well as the traditional flavours of vanilla chocolate and strawberry, the farm also produces some unusual flavours such as Gooseberry Fool, Butterscotch Pecan and Orange & Cointreau -to mention just a few. “One of the most pleasurable parts of running the business has been trialling new flavours and making bespoke ice creams” Angela adds. The team choose the finest ingredients- sourced locally where possible - good quality confectionery and uses no artificial sugars, commonly found in mass produced ice creams
As well as supplying to large retailers locally, independent grocers, farm shops and leisure site caterers , Callestick also works with a number of the county’s leading chefs, who trial the latest seasonal flavours , creating choices to appear on leading restaurant menus across the UK.
Cornish ice cream is recognised for its quality nationally and Callestick is striving to be available thoughout the land, through a network of national distributors.
For a number of years Callestick has been pre-scooping ice cream in interesting flavours such as Mango & Bell chilli peppers Tomato & Basil or Peanut butter and even good old Clotted Cream Vanilla for Ascot and Wimbledon, to assist chefs serving hundreds of diners in double quick time whilst not compromising on quality.
Angela concludes: “We have seen a significant resurgence in interest and concern from consumers around provenance and quality of food. We are immensely proud of what we have achieved as a Cornish-based family run farm. Despite our considerable growth over the years we have been able to stay true to our core values, and continue to ensure consumers enjoy the Callestick experience.”