It’s a job that attracted thousands of applications from dairy connoisseurs around the country and just three were chosen to be in Nelson this week for one lucky day of ice cream tasting.
Their mission – which no doubt they accepted with more than a little enthusiasm – is to use their taste buds to guide Appleby Farms’ creation of a bespoke flavour of ice cream for Air New Zealand’s international outbound flights for just the month of December.
Appleby Farms’ chief executive, Pete Findlay, says the Stoke company began supplying Air New Zealand with ice cream in July, which was a major coup.
Now, they seek a limited-edition flavour.
“It’s good for the local community because it helps put Nelson on the map and not just Appleby Farms,” he says.
So far, the company has been supplying Air New Zealand with 100ml tubs of vanilla and salted caramel, but through December, passengers will be given “something special”.
“It’s a pretty exciting campaign to be part of really.”
The three unpaid tasters will be flown to Nelson (if they don’t live here), have their ice cream tasting session and spend the night at Kaiteriteri, with a boat trip up the Abel Tasman coastline.
To be chosen for such a sought-after role, the trio had to have a lifelong love affair with ice cream, exceptional cone-concentration skills and a proven ability to stay chilled under pressure.
Pete says a thousand people had applied for the job on the first day Air New Zealand advertised it and by day three it was over 5000 who all wanted to head to Nelson and eat Appleby Farms ice cream.
Appleby Farms was launched eight years ago, turning local milk into ice cream.
It recently purchased the brand and IP of plant-based dairy brand Little Island after it went into liquidation, and Pete says those products will be produced at the Stoke factory.
More production and the potential of export mean the company is recruiting more staff.
“It’s nice for us to be in the process of actively recruiting because of our growth since we started.”
