Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/195987
CHRISTMAS MILK Supporting foster children and adoption Inspired by the drink that made their adopted child happy, the founders are turning profits from eggnog and ice cream into support for children in need of homes. The marketplace responds… "Our recipe tastes more like melted vanilla ice cream than eggnog," Heidi says. A buyer at their first food show had to take the flavor profile on faith since the Fausels failed to bring samples. Heidi's story was her sales pitch. "The buyer from Kroger started to tear up and said, 'We're going to get it,'" she recalls. "It was wonderful to walk into the store with my son that Christmas and see it on the shelf." During the 2011 holiday season the Fausels sold 21,000 units. This year, Christmas Milk is expanding nationally, being stocked by additional Kroger stores, Albertsons and Pete's Fresh Market in Chicago, among other retailers. The eggnog is sold seasonally, but three eggnog-based Christmas Milk ice creams are now available year-round: original French vanilla, chocolate swirl and sea salt caramel swirl. Heidi estimates sales have increased 600 percent since they began; she projects they'll clear six figures this year. In keeping with their commitment to foster care agencies, from the very beginning of the business the couple made donations to The Gladney Center for Adoption, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Last year's bequest provided the funds to help finalize the agency's website, achildtolove.org, which profiles the children waiting for adoption, from toddlers to teens. The Fausels plan to expand their philanthropic outreach across the United States. "Eventually we'll be in a position to donate to multiple states across the country where funding is needed at legitimate, solid adoption organizations," Heidi explains. "There are so many people wanting babies they forget there are plenty in foster care." The Fausels also strive to counter any stigma related to adopting from foster care. "These kids are not behaving badly; they did nothing to deserve it," she says. PHOTO: CHRISTMAS MILK Personal joy ignites inspiration… In 2008, Heidi and Shane Fausel of Frisco, Texas, adopted a 9-year-old boy from foster care. He spoke of a beverage he particularly loved while living with another family but had trouble explaining it. It tasted like Christmas, he said. "We had no clue what he was talking about," Heidi Fausel says. "We'd give him Gatorade, whatever we could think of." Nothing clicked until Christmas season rolled around and Shane brought home eggnog. The boy (the Fausels prefer to keep his given name private) took one sip and exclaimed, "That's it! Christmas milk!" The proverbial light bulb went off in his new parents' heads. The couple bought the domain name for ChristmasMilk.com that night. At the kitchen table, they sketched out on a legal pad the idea for an eggnog company. The Fausels had no background in the food industry, so they began cold-calling dairies, brokers and distributors. Two years later, Christmas Milk entered the marketplace in time for the holiday season. Heidi and Shane, who runs an industrial sales company, adopted three more children, siblings in foster care who were at risk of being split up. The Fausels felt so passionately about children languishing in foster care that they resolved to earmark 10 percent of their Christmas Milk sales to benefit Texas-based adoption agencies. Christmas Milk's donations to the Gladney Center for Adoption provided the funds to help finalize the agency's website, achildtolove.org, which profiles the children waiting for adoption. Learning as they go… Feedback from customers has played an important role as the Fausels have perfected and launched new products. Christmas Milk has always been hormone-free and the company recently removed high-fructose corn syrup and all artificial coloring. "We're getting ready to hit 1,000 'likes' on Facebook," Heidi says, adding that they're also active on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. And they have a celebrity follower, Nia Vardalos, of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" fame, whose recent book, Instant Mom, details her adoption of a girl from foster care. When Vardalos came to Dallas for a book signing, the Fausels co-sponsored the event. "It's so exciting to go from a dream and an idea with no background, then actually make it happen," says Heidi. "And to have our kids watch us do it."—J.B. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 19