Cape Pond gambles on new line of ice
The raw materials for the ice sculptures of playing cards and slot machines that decorate Sunday brunch at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut each week have their origins on Cape Ann.
The casino's chefs carve 335-pound blocks of ice delivered from Cape Pond Ice's plant in the Fort to create five sculptures for the weekly brunch.
Over the past year, Cape Pond Ice has invested in equipment capable of freezing clear blocks of ice with few imperfections -- ice prized by sculptors for its beauty and strength.
With this product, the company has cultivated two major clients -- Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun Casino -- in the past two months. Cape Pond Ice company president Scott Memhard said the new business has the company delivering an average of 12 blocks of ice, weighing a total of two tons, to the Connecticut casinos each week.
Expanding its ice sculpture business is one of the niche markets Cape Pond Ice is targeting in its quest to survive slow times in the fishing industry.
The 155-year-old Cape Pond Ice -- Gloucester's lone ice company since the Gloucester Marine Railways left the ice-making business in the 1990s -- continues to load ice into the holds of fishing boats, helping fishermen preserve their catch. The company's Commercial Street ice house was designed to serve the fishing industry, and the company is at its most efficient in this capacity, Memhard said.
But the fishing industry no longer demands the 350 tons of ice Cape Pond Ice's 15 to 20 employees can produce each day, even during the busiest period at the height of summer, he said. Fishing was about 80 percent of the company's business when Memhard's family bought Cape Pond Ice in 1983.
"I can shed a tear over those good memories because that's all they are," Memhard said.
Today fishing makes up about 30 to 40 percent of the business. Fishing rules restricting the number of days fishermen can work and a growing number of boats using on-board refrigeration have slowed the industry's demand for ice. The fishing boat business declined 20 percent this year from 2002, Memhard said.
Cape Pond Ice is exploring other avenues in the ice-making business while it waits for the fishing industry to bounce back.
The company received one unexpected windfall from the massive Big Dig project in Boston. Concrete for the tunnels and highways needed to set at certain temperatures to make the final structure strong. But keeping the concrete at 70 degrees during a 90-degree day required ice from companies like Cape Pond Ice.
The Big Dig became a sizeable chunk of the company's business -- equal to the fishing industry -- from 1996 until last year, Memhard said. But the concrete-pouring portion of the project came to a close last year.
Cape Pond Ice continues to conduct a reliable side business selling company T-shirts -- featured in the 2000 movie "The Perfect Storm" -- and other merchandise. Memhard said online and in-store merchandise sales constitute 8 percent of the company's business.
But the tourism side of the business doesn't have the same growth potential as ice sculpture production. Cape Pond Ice has been selling ice sculptures carved in-house and blocks of ice for others to sculpt for about 15 years, Memhard said. But the company's refined process for producing clear ice has increased demand for the sculpture blocks, which cost about $20 more than a regular $40 block of ice.
Natural ice has a cloudy color from the air particles trapped as the water freezes. Cape Pond Ice uses air compressors and filtered water to purify the ice, creating a clear block, Memhard said. The clear ice has to be frozen at a slower rate and requires more supervision, he said.
"We can now make an absolutely flawless clear block of ice," he said.
If this process isn't followed correctly, the final block of ice will have a large cloudy section in the center called a feather. This portion of the ice can shatter while it is being carved, said Derek Henry, who carves designs ranging from swans to luges on commission for Cape Pond Ice.
"It's all air bubbles, so that area's weaker," he said.
Clear ice also highlights the intricate details, such as an eagle's feathers, the sculptor has chiseled into the design, said Mark Genereux, executive sous chef at Foxwoods Casino, one of a team of five chefs who carve the casino's ice sculptures.
Some ice companies can't supply the quantity or the quality of ice the chefs need to carve six to 12 sculptures each week, Genereux said. Cape Pond Ice has been able to meet the casino's needs, he said.
"It's a good quality block of ice," he said. The blocks are 4 feet tall, 2 feet long and 1 foot wide.
Memhard said he hopes the company will survive for many years by continuing to adapt to changes in the demand for ice. But he said Cape Pond Ice will not lose its focus on the core market of fishermen in its search for new niches.
"It's a balance between the main thing, your traditional markets, and expanding into new ones," he said.