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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
JULY
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2004
Glow-in-the-dark ice cream hits stores
The Associated Press
SALINA — It took liquid nitrogenformed ice cream and glow-in-the-dark Popsicle-like treats to give Jim and Glenda Clark their just desserts.
The Clarks are the vendors behind the popular Dippin' Dots food booth at the Smoky Hill River Festival. Dippin' Dots is the brand name of ice cream that uses liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream into tiny individual beads.
The Clarks, based in Tulsa, Okla., have operated the Dippin' Dots booth for three years at the festival and last year introduced a new taste treat that appealed to kids and adults alike: Lick'em Lights. They are white cherry, blue raspberry and lemon-lime treats with blue, yellow and pink glow sticks in the center that illuminate the product in the dark.
"It's the only patented Popsicle around because of its design," Jim Clark said. "The stick is actually a hollow tube where we insert the glow sticks. People eat the Popsicle, and after it's gone the kids have a glow stick to use as a sword, light saber or magic wand."
The Clarks own the oldest Dippin' Dots franchise, which was invented by a mutual friend from Kentucky, and have sold the unique treat for the past 15 years at fairs, festivals and fund-raisers in
Oklahoma, Kansas and throughout the region. Lick'em Lights are Jim Clark's own invention, inspired by watching fair vendors sell glow-in-the-dark necklaces.
"It started me thinking about selling something with a glow to it, because kids really are drawn to things that glow in the dark." Jim Clark said.
"It was such a simple idea that I didn't know why anybody didn't think of it before, but a lot of great ideas are simple."
In May 2002, the Clarks started a company in Tulsa, Poppin' Glow, to produce Lick'em Lights and other confections. The couple recently signed a distribution contract with Good Humor, the world's largest distributor of novelty ice creams and a division of Unilever, a Netherlands-based global supplier of food and consumer goods.
Dippin' Dots are scooped up for a customer at the festival. Good Humor has placed Lick'em Lights in more than 3,500 7-Eleven convenience stores across the U.S. and are in negotiations to place them with the QuikTrip chain. Glow pops also have been featured on CNBC and the Food Network, the Los Angeles Times and in USA Today, which named it one of the best new food items for 2004.
"We've been in the concession business for 16 years, and it's amazing how something like this jump-starts you to another level," Glenda Clark said.
"It started me thinking about selling something with a glow to it, because kids really are drawn to things that glow in the dark."
Jim Clark Smoky Hill River Festival Dippin' Dots vendor
"By next year, we should be global," Jim Clark said.
The glow stick inside the tube stays illuminated for six hours. The Clarks' company, which employs 17 people, also produces Kookie Poof Cotton Candy and Glowing Birthday Candles. Jim Clark expects the glowing candles to appeal to an even bigger market than glow pops.
"They will make a kid's whole birthday cake glow in the dark," he said.
The Clarks hope to place Lick'em Lights in major grocery stores. Unlike Dippin' Dots, which have to be stored at temperatures of 40 degrees below zero to keep the dots solid and prevent them from sticking together, glow pops easily can be stored in less-frigid grocery store freezers.
When customers purchase Lick'em Lights, they are instructed to snap the
glow stick, which causes the chemicals within to mix, then shake the plastic tube and insert it into the hollow tube. The chemicals are entirely safe, Jim Clark said, and the resulting glow will last up to six hours.
"I've had nine or 10 different businesses in my life, but nothing has taken off like this," Jim Clark said. "Now that the company is getting so big, I hardly have time to travel to festivals and fairs anymore."
Although the Clarks are happy to be in retail stores, they agreed that fairs and festivals are the best places to sell novelty ice creams and Popsicle-like treats. The couple travels about three months each year, mostly in early spring or fall, and spends the rest of the year in Tulsa, doing business and school fund-raisers.
Selling both Dippin' Dots and Lick'em Lights is advantageous, Jim Clark said, because people will buy the ice cream during the day and the glow sticks after dark.
"We only have about an hour to sell glow pops here, because the festival closes down at 10 p.m. and it's barely dark by then," he said.
Despite the early closing time, the Smoky Hill River Festival remains the Clarks' favorite festival, and they hope to keep coming back with dots and pops for years to come.