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Two scoops


Fat Guy

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Many if not most ice-cream shops offer "one scoop," "two scoops" and perhaps "three scoops." I've got to say, I have never once received that number of scoops. If I order one scoop, it takes two or three dips into the pail to create that cone or cup. I've never seen anyone take the scoop, dip it into the pail once, plop that scoop on a cone and serve it. Likewise, a scoop without more is not an actual measure.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Many if not most ice-cream shops offer "one scoop," "two scoops" and perhaps "three scoops." I've got to say, I have never once received that number of scoops. If I order one scoop, it takes two or three dips into the pail to create that cone or cup. I've never seen anyone take the scoop, dip it into the pail once, plop that scoop on a cone and serve it. Likewise, a scoop without more is not an actual measure.

When in high school, I worked at a regional ice cream shop. We were trained in a specific technique that should have yielded a 4 ounce scoop (dip) in one motion. No piling it on required.

Of course, in practice, it sometimes took more than one motion.

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

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Forget about 1 or 2, there's no standard for child's size either :-P Last saturday my friend and I went to get ice cream, but after he received his 'child's sized' I didn't order any and we just split what he got (At least 1C. if not 1.5)

Two men in their late 20's splitting a child's size ice cream cone... even I looked at me funny.

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I had Jeff's experience as well (Friendly's, for those in New England): taught to scoop out a 4-ounce portion. Sometimes I'll still see the kids weigh the scoops before putting them on cones.

Around here, Sunshine Creamery in East Providence has massive scoops, at least 6 ounces each, whereas Ben & Jerry's on Thayer is positively scrooge-like.

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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Many if not most ice-cream shops offer "one scoop," "two scoops" and perhaps "three scoops." I've got to say, I have never once received that number of scoops. If I order one scoop, it takes two or three dips into the pail to create that cone or cup. I've never seen anyone take the scoop, dip it into the pail once, plop that scoop on a cone and serve it. Likewise, a scoop without more is not an actual measure.

Likely you've never seen a shop owner dip ice cream for a customer who wasn't a friend. You want one perfect scoop wait until he's doing the dipping.

I too dipped ice cream one summer. We used scoops that loosely rolled the ice cream into the scoop rather than carving out a solid chunk. Marketing. Gave the perception of receiving a lot more ice cream than actually ended up on the cup or int the cone.

Further marketing - we would add another quarter-rolled scoop to the top of the cone so customers would think they were getting a bonus. Over time that token gesture has evolved to a full extra scoop or more.

Over-scooping is a constant frustration of ice cream shop owners. Ice cream is one of the few areas of food service where the portion size is controlled by the person serving you. Ice cream dippers, wanting to be liked and having to look their customer in the eye, would rather risk over-dipping than under.

Ice cream dipping is a skill. Someone who isn't properly trained or isn't supervised can give away 20 or 30% more product than they should. Ice cream is one of the toughest food costs to control.

Nowadays many places are doing small, medium and large instead of one two or three scoops. Makes it easier to trade up customers. People are more likely to order a medium than a decadent double scoop cone.

Holly Moore

"I eat, therefore I am."

HollyEats.Com

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I had Jeff's experience as well (Friendly's, for those in New England): taught to scoop out a 4-ounce portion. Sometimes I'll still see the kids weigh the scoops before putting them on cones.

Around here, Sunshine Creamery in East Providence has massive scoops, at least 6 ounces each, whereas Ben & Jerry's on Thayer is positively scrooge-like.

Geez Chris, brought back memories for me. Stopped at the Friendly's in EP near Haynes Park when returning from fishing. Remember the "Awful, Awful" from Newport Creamery? Daydreaming, lol.

Tom Gengo

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I had Jeff's experience as well (Friendly's, for those in New England): taught to scoop out a 4-ounce portion. Sometimes I'll still see the kids weigh the scoops before putting them on cones.

At Bart's in Amherst, the scoops are weighed. At other shops, it seems to be more dependent on the cup size--there's a cup for each size, so a "scoop" is what fills a one-scoop cup, I guess. So you generally get about the same amount in each order, regardless of who scoops or what scoop they use. And some places do use "small, med, large" instead of "scoop" for that reason. At a chain like Friendly's, I can imagine they want to try to make it as uniform as possible, though I can remember when I was a kid and we'd go to the Friendly's down the street, it did seem to vary a bit depending on who was behind the counter.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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The ice cream shop where I worked sold it by the size ... small was 5oz, regular was 8, large was something obscene.

But the customers always wanted to know how many scoops. Drove me nuts. I'd give smart ass answers, like, "I guess that depends on the size of the scoop."

Notes from the underbelly

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There's a dairy/ice cream shop in the exurbs of Philly (the Chester Springs Creamery at Milky Way Farms) that weighs every cone or dish, and charges by the actual weight. This seems eminently fair, but as you might guess, the line takes forever, as you try to explain how much you want, and then they put it on a scale (which doesn't happen to display either weight or price to the customer, but you can eyeball it) and ask if that's OK. Then the same person takes off her latex gloves and takes your money. Uugh, it's maddening. But the ice cream is pretty awesome, so I put up with it...

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

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There's a dairy/ice cream shop in the exurbs of Philly (the Chester Springs Creamery at Milky Way Farms) that weighs every cone or dish ...

Probably an exasperated attempt at portion control. One of the hardest aspects of managing an ice cream store is keeping the employees from giving away too much.

I met Jerry of Ben and Jerry's several years ago. He said that they practically went out of business, because he and Ben couldn't even control themselves when scooping. They were so grateful to have customers that they gave away mountainous cones, along with any hopes of a profit.

They realized they didn't have the right temperments to give away less, so they got out of retail and into the pint business. The idea was that you can't put more than a pint in a pint container. The result was a minor empire.

Notes from the underbelly

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