TEENworks, Chocolate Shoppe collaborate on Apple Cider Donut ice cream

By Dave Link, Eastside News

When the hot days of summer come, who doesn’t love a scoop of ice cream? In mid-July, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream released a new flavor — Apple Cider Donut — and it was created with help from Goodman Community Center’s TEENworks youth.

Chocolate Shoppe holds an annual create-a-flavor contest where the public can submit flavors — even if they are a bit out there. Apple Cider Donut was selected as the 2024 winner. Chocolate Shoppe was already planning a partnership with TEENworks to help select ingredients and taste-test prototype batches of whichever flavor was selected.

“The teens had the opportunity to prevote on a flavor and they also selected Apple Cider Donut,” Vernon Hill, GCC high school programs manager, said.

Over the next several months, the teens acted as a focus group with Chocolate Shoppe’s staff, visited the company’s Daniels Street factory and learned how the manufacturing process worked.

Yonnie Jones was one teen from the group involved in the project.

“It was fun being able to create new things and collaborate with Chocolate Shoppe,” Jones said.

Apple Cider Donut ice cream is available at retail outlets and Chocolate Shoppe’s storefront locations. It’s also donating $1 to Goodman for every carton sold.

“We approached the Goodman Community Center about this project because we believe in investing in our community, and that starts with creating opportunities for the next generation to learn, lead, and grow,” Rebecca Stoffs, director of brand marketing for Chocolate Shoppe, said. “We know how powerful the hands-on experiences TEENworks provides can be, and we wanted to contribute and give the students a chance to see how their ideas could turn into something real (and really tasty).”

The opportunity left an impression on the teens.

“It was totally a new experience for me,” Bubacarr Bojang said. “I like to learn new things.”

“I enjoyed making my own ice cream (flavor),” Natasjah Stamps said. “Not many kids get to do that.”

Staff at Chocolate Shoppe also noticed how the kids savored the experience to be involved in the creation of an ice cream flavor.

“It was pretty cool at the very beginning of the project to see the excitement when they realized a flavor they worked on would actually be in all of our shops,” facility manager Khathy Thach said. “From that moment on, the energy just skyrocketed.”

Going forward, Hill said TEENworks and Chocolate Shoppe are working on more collaborations — and possibly the next create-a-flavor winner.

So the next time you see ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe, it’s possible some of Goodman Community Center’s teens were involved somewhere in the process of its origin.