Thirty years experience
McConnell's Master ice cream maker, Mr. Michael Vierra, Vice-President of operations, has worked for McConnell's Ice Cream since 1980. Mike was born and raised on a dairy farm in Gustine, California, and he tells us his earliest memories revolve around early morning milking of their dairy cows! Mike is a true dairyman through and through!
"It is a challenge but also fun making ice cream for a living... everyone seems to love what we do!" says Mike. "I enjoy the process but it certainly takes a tremendous amount of effort to make the best ice cream in the world." A true "legacy" member of our valued McConnell's family, Mike is a graduate of Dairy Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in 1979 with a concentration in dairy manufacturing.
Mike tells us that one of his favorite memories of his first year with our company is when one of our operators mistakenly added a large quantity of maple flavor to a batch of French Vanilla ice cream. Thinking on his feet Mike came up with our newest flavor: Vanilla/Maple Mistake... and it blew out faster than many other flavors. Some customers kept asking for it for several years actually.
There is art and skill involved with making the perfect ice cream. With the crew that has been working with us, some for over 20 years, we are able to make the highest quality commercially available, super-premium all-natural ice creams available in North America. In 1988 McConnell's delivered Ice Cream to Seoul Korea for the Summer Olympics. It was a big hit and Mike was subsequently hired as a consultant to help develop an ice cream manufacturing plant in Korea the following year. He was also asked back in 1993 to further improve the facility.
Among the many, many fun projects that Mike has been involved with over the last quarter century at McConnell's was custom-making for President Ronald Reagan a Jelly Bean Ice Cream for a special Western White House vent in the early 1980's. Mike was able to formulate the ice cream and deliver it on time and to presidential reviews.