summer flavors and responsible business

it isn't that i don't love keeping my friends, family and customers up on all things ice cream.  it isn't that i'm hiding our upcoming flavors from your curious minds.  it isn't that i've fallen into a black hole of milk, sugar and organic cherries (well, actually, that sounds close).  it's just that i've been so crazy, insane, out of control busy!

i want to thank everyone who comes to the ice cream shop for coming. and eating. and tasting. and eating some more.  thank you for keeping me so busy!  i haven't had much time to update the blog.  i said i'd be good about it and i haven't been.  so here is a little update and a tiny promise that i'll try harder...

lots of things are happening at molly moon's.  we've been open almost 3 months now and are really feeling like we're getting things down!  we've got 15 people on staff.  15!  we've got 3 ice cream makers, churning out our deliciousness nonstop.  we've got plans a-spinning for more molly moon's coming to a neighborhood near you!  we've got some awesome new, summer flavors.  AND -- we've even got all of our employees hooked up with great health insurance!

as for the flavors, we've rolled out raspberry already and it's killing!  it's slightly tangy -- like that perfect raspberry that's been sitting in the sun getting ripe for just the right amount of time.  creamsicle is still around and selling fast and furious.  but the thing i'm absolutely, jump-up-and-down excited for is the release of cherry ice cream!  a couple weekends ago, a cute little lady named abigail came into the shop on a sunday night and told me and dana that she was a farmer out on vashon and was about to harvest a ton of organic cherries and did we want any.  well yes!  we did!  later that week she brought us 5 bushels (100 pounds) of cherries.  they were perfect and beautiful.  i spent the rest of the week pitting each cherry by hand (with lots of help from friends -- thanks for the margarita popsicles caroline!).  so very soon, ya'll should have some ridiculously tasty cherry ice cream in your bellies!  i think i'll do some that's just plain cherry and some with some local chocolate chunks in it.  i can't wait to see if people love it!

the other most exciting thing of the month is that we now have molly moon's health insurance.  anyone who works at molly moon's more than 25 hours/week gets it.  it's great, covers prescriptions and naturopathy and having babies and broken arms and massage therapy and everything else one needs health insurance for.  this is all good, and i'm so happy to offer this to my employees, but i found myself getting angry today as i was looking at the first bill.  not because it was too high, but because i found myself thinking WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE DO THIS?  it is absolutely stupid what a small cost to my business this health plan is.  i am paying $217 per person per month.  this is a small, small price to pay in comparison to my other costs of doing business.  it baffles me, and yes -- makes me slightly angry, that more businesses that are doing at all well don't insure their employees.  i see it as my responsibility if i am at all profitable, until the government can figure out a better system.  my employees are the lifeblood of molly moon's and are working hard for me.  they deserve, as anyone does, to be healthy.  i never realized, before owning a business, what a small percent of my costs health insurance would be.  i guess i'm just shocked that it is not the norm to insure your most valuable business asset.  

o.k. o.k. that's my rant.  and my update.  i hope everyone's summer is going fabulously.  see you all at the shop soon!