Kayla Willardson servers up a bowl of Fat Boy Ice Cream a new offering made by Casper’s in Richmond.
RICHMOND – Casper’s Ice Cream recently introduced a new product of Fat Boy Ice Cream into the local market with hopes of it being popular enough to make it in the national market.
Over 95 years after Casper Merrill introduced his Casco Nut Sunday, with his original vanilla ice cream recipe rolled in chocolate and sprinkled with peanuts, the Cache Valley company added a Fat Boy Ice Cream in 56 oz. tubs as its newest product.
“We launched our Fat Boy tubs in the spring to a few of the Associated Food Stores, but when COVID hit it kind of slowed the process down,” said Casper’s President Kyle Smith. “It’s maybe slow going, but we feel it is going to be a good addition to our band block.”
Fat Boy Ice Cream is made from the tried and true Casper’s original ice cream recipe with some great variegates added.
“We did a lot of the independent tests with the product and so far, we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback,” Smith said. “We are excited to see how it does.“
Casper’s in-house research and development teams started with a concept, did what they need to do and then passed it on to an outside R&D team. From there, they took it to outside focus groups before starting full production.
As with any new product, they do value the feedback from the customers.
In 1925 when Casper Merrill took the milk and cream from the family dairy cows and developed his own ice cream recipe for his nut Sunday on a stick, he probably had no idea the products would grow to touch every state in the country.
Merrill made ice cream bars, known as Casco Nut Sundaes, in a ten-gallon milk can and sold them at the Richmond 4th of July celebration and with time and innovation they have become one of the top ice cream novelty producers in the world.
Soon after he developed his second product idea: the Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwich.
Today, Casper’s grandson, Paul Merrill, manages the company and strives to ensure the original recipe and products continue to spread throughout the world.
“We do make the Red Button Ice cream found in local grocery stores,” Smith said. “Casper’s also bought the Jolly Llama, a non-dairy brand five years ago and we’ve started dairy free and gluten free bands.”
One of the company’s newer brands is Churn Baby Brand, a premium innovative product with four gourmet cookies in a 7 oz ice cream cup with decorative variegates. It is a high-end super style ice cream.
“We do have some at the malt shop and you can find it in grocery stores,” he said. “Our company has prospered over the years not only because we have a great product, but because we have some great dedicated employees.”
One of those employees is Kelsey Dodge who has worked as the Malt Shoppe Manger for two years. She has been with Casper’s a total of six years.
“We have something for everyone here at the Malt Shoppe,” Dodge said. “We have gluten and dairy free products as well as regular ice cream.”
She said during the summers they stay busy with customers stopping for ice cream, malts and other dairy treats.
“We are really busy from May until mid-August,” she said. “Things begin to slowdown from about Thanksgiving until February.”
Dodge said Casper’s opened their new 75,000 square foot production facility addition in September of 2017.
“We have approximately 200 employees,” she said. “And our products can be found in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and some military facilities all over the world.”
Dodge said they deal with over 5,000 purchasing outlets.
For almost a century, Casper’s has been a staple in Cache Valley that buys locally-produced milk and invests in the people and economy of the area.