The company best known for its tiny colorful frozen ice cream pellets is churning out a new business in cryogenics.
Dippin’ Dots announced Wednesday that it will offer up its freezing know-how for businesses in the pharmaceutical, agriculture, aquaculture and animal feed industries.
Ice cream, shmice cream.Though Dippin’ Dots might seem like a fanciful frozen dessert, apparently there’s some heavy cryogenics science behind it.
For many people, cryogenics brings to mind freezing bodies of the deceased like the head of baseball legend Ted Williams in hopes that medical science someday can bring them back to life. In the case of Dippin’ Dots, that’s clearly not the direction it will be going.
The new company, called Dippin’ Dots Cryogenics, will use liquid nitrogen to flash freeze products, which is part of the freeze-drying process.
The Paducah, Ky.-based business sell customized versions of its stainless-steel cryogenics machines for $200,000 to $350,000, said Stan Jones, chief development officer for Dippin’ Dots Cryogenics. The tiny pellets could be anywhere from two millimeters to 12 millimeters large.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from other industries willing to purchase our equipment, it’s all been word of mouth. They’ve solicited us,” he said.
The freezing technology could be used to freeze cheese starter cultures for dairy companies, aloe vera for nutraceutical makers and probiotics for pet food manufacturers, Jones suggested.
“This is the next logical step for us as an organization,” Dippin’ Dots CEO Scott Fischer said in a statement. The cryogenics business “not only increases the Dippin’ Dots portfolio and global footprint, but also allows our systems to be utilized across various industries.”
Privately-held Dippin’ Dots, which has an estimated 250 employees, recorded $65 million in wholesale sales and four times as much in retail sales last year, according to Jones.
Dippin’ Dots were invented in 1988. Today, they’re a staple at amusement parks, movie theaters and shopping malls across the U.S. and in 11 foreign countries.
Jones said he’s not worried that the new company’s name might confuse some folks.
“We’re comfortable with the name. I don’t know how (many people) would consider it more of the dead-bodies type of thing,” he said. “The market we’re trying to reach understands the cryogenic terminology the way we understand it — as a liquid refrigerant.”
Though Dippin’ Dots doesn’t fabricate its own machines, it holds the patents, Jones added.
Dippin’ Dots was last in the news last January when then-White House spokesman Sean Spicer got into a Twitter war with the company.
courtesy= .usatoday.com
