Scooping sweets

Mary A. Castillo

SHE IS: feeding the need for ice cream

Not as easy as it looks

On any given Friday morning, Monica Condon is busy making ice cream

and brownies at Cold Stone Creamery.

The ice cream machine groans while the freezers, holding batches of

ice cream, hum contentedly. The sweet, gooey smell of brownie is enough

to weaken the most disciplined of dieters.

So how has the 20-year-old Condon stayed in shape surrounded by fresh

waffle cones, 43 different mix-in ingredients and nine different ice

cream flavors?

“When you have to lift 50-pound boxes of ice cream and help lines of

people that go out the door,” she explained, “You don’t need a gym after

an eight-hour shift.”

An unlikely family tradition

Condon, a psychology major at Chapman University, has worked for Cold

Stone for two years. However, her acquaintance with the palace of

temptation started when she and her family discovered it during a trip to

Del Mar about four years ago.

“We used to make a whole trip out of driving down to San Diego just

for a Cold Stone ice cream,” she recalls with a roll of her eyes.

Condon’s fate was inevitable when her sister found out that the store

on Olive Avenue was about to open.

“She gave me an application and told me that I had to work there,”

Condon said.

A few days later she was hired and received more than just a summer

job, she found a supportive, fun environment.

A great place to work

“I can really count on the people I work with,” she said. “We spend a

lot of time outside work hanging out.”

She also credits her bosses, Jan and Jerry Holdren for making the shop

such a great place to work. After her first summer working with them,

they promised to hold her job while she attended school full-time. When

she moved out of the dorms to live with her parents, Condon returned and

was later made shift leader during the day hours on the weekend.

“They try to give people a chance to prove themselves,” she said. “And

they’re very protective of us.”

The summer crunch

As the busy summer months approach, morale among the troops is

critical. With customers walking in from the beach Condon and her

co-workers easily go through 15 batches of ice cream on a Saturday night.

It is not unusual for someone to spend five to six hours during season,

just making waffle cones.

But the crew, Condon maintains, has a ball in spite of the summer

rush. Singing songs with titles like “Olde McCold Stone” as they scoop,

mix and sling customized ice cream flavors, Condon and the crew keep the

mood light for the hot and hungry who sometimes wait 45 minutes to walk

up to the counter.

“I’ve never had a customer get upset with us,” she said.

And who would if they walked out with scoop of chocolate ice cream

dotted with a freshly baked brownie in a waffle cup?