comscore Zippy’s Restaurants scoops up Dave’s Ice Cream to supply its 24 locations | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaii News

Zippy’s Restaurants scoops up Dave’s Ice Cream to supply its 24 locations

Honolulu Star-Advertiser logo
Unlimited access to premium stories for as low as $12.95 /mo.
Get It Now
  • DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Dave Leong, left, owner of Dave’s Ice Cream, and Daniel Bulatao, operations and marketing manager, showed off a batch of ice cream. The company will now supply Zippy’s Restaurants directly. Dave’s previously supplied Zippy’s through Meadow Gold Dairies-Hawaii since 2004.

    DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

    Dave Leong, left, owner of Dave’s Ice Cream, and Daniel Bulatao, operations and marketing manager, showed off a batch of ice cream. The company will now supply Zippy’s Restaurants directly. Dave’s previously supplied Zippy’s through Meadow Gold Dairies-Hawaii since 2004.

  • DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Brandon Caopito, left, and Everet Souza of Dave’s Ice Cream painted some of the company’s equipment during a slow period. They will get back to making ice cream with the new contract with Zippy’s Restaurants.

    DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

    Brandon Caopito, left, and Everet Souza of Dave’s Ice Cream painted some of the company’s equipment during a slow period. They will get back to making ice cream with the new contract with Zippy’s Restaurants.

Zippy’s Restaurants has agreed to continue scooping a lot of locally made ice cream in a deal that helps sustain Pearl City-based Dave’s Ice Cream Inc.

The Hawaii restaurant chain announced Tuesday that it signed a contract to serve Dave’s in all of its 24 restaurants.

Zippy’s said the arrangement will result in at least 23,500 gallons of vanilla and 16,000 gallons of chocolate ice cream from Dave’s being served annually in its restaurants as dessert and in milk shakes.

Dave’s has supplied Zippy’s since 2004 indirectly through Meadow Gold Dairies-Hawaii, which turned to Dave’s to supply restaurant customers after Meadow Gold discontinued its own ice cream production in Hawaii in 2003.

Recently, Meadow Gold’s Dallas-based parent, Dean Foods, informed Dave’s that it planned to supply Zippy’s and other Hawaii restaurant customers with its own ice cream made in Utah starting next month in the wake of Dean Foods seeking to shed debt in bankruptcy.

Dave Leong, owner of Dave’s, said the change stood to cripple his 37-year-old company because Meadow Gold was his biggest customer.

Leong expressed gratitude for the support from Zippy’s.

“I’m just trying to keep my staff employed during the holidays, and as long as I have a few more local companies like Zippy’s to jump on board, my 20 employees will continue to have jobs,” he said in a statement. “I can’t thank Zippy’s enough for their help and association.”

Paul Yokota, president of Zippy’s parent FCH Enterprises, said the firm is committed to supporting local product suppliers.

“We buy about 18 tons of ground beef from local ranchers for use in our famous chili each month,” he said in a statement. “We buy fresh, local eggs. Buying ice cream, or any other local product, from small local producers presents the risk of continuity of supply, but we urge other local companies to look at local producers, especially when the product is as high of a quality as Dave’s. We believe that local companies need to support each other. It’s good for jobs, for the economy, and for our shared food security.”

The contract with Dave’s goes into effect immediately, according to Zippy’s.

Comments (40)

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines.

Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.

Click here to see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news tip.

Be the first to know
Get web push notifications from Star-Advertiser when the next breaking story happens — it's FREE! You just need a supported web browser.
Subscribe for this feature

Scroll Up