mail order," adds Richard Graeter, executive VP of Graeter's Ice Cream (Graeters.com). His family owned business, which operates 12 outlets in Cincinnati and nine in Columbus, Ohio, makes super-rich French pot ice cream. He says that Web sales have grown from four or five orders a day five years ago to 50 to 80 a day now. During the holiday season, orders jump to about 500 a day. Graeter's charges $70 to ship six pints. This year, he expects to ship 6,000 gallons, or about 4 percent, of his company's total production of 150,000 gallons.
Although prices for home delivery might seem high, the costs of shipping ice cream won't dissuade consumers with a penchant for that special flavor, Dryer says. For impatient sweet tooths, "waiting a day for delivery might be a bigger barrier," he says.
