Guests Experience a Friendly Ice Cream Tour

Friendly Ice Cream Corporation opened its first Ice Cream Shoppe in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1935. In addition to providing a gathering place for guests to enjoy delicious, made-to-order food, Friendly’s also manufactures its own ice cream products at its plant in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.

The Friendly’s manufacturing plant makes premium ice cream using milk from area dairies for distribution to over 4,500 supermarket and retail locations. It also serves as a location to showcase the ice cream making process via plant tours to managers in training, executive VIPs and consumer groups such as school children.

While the tours are a great way to present Friendly’s to these special groups, they faced the challenge of providing a quality experience in a very noisy environment. The manufacturing managers and corporate staff also needed the flexibility to conduct multiple tours. With a pace of 10 tours per month, Friendly’s also needed a reliable product.

“We were using one of Listen’s competitor’s products for the tours. The product was adequate, but we did not realize how much we could improve the quality of our tours until Glen Aber of AdTech Systems, Inc. provided a demonstration of Listen’s system,” Chuck Shelander, Senior Manager of Training & Communications said. “We noticed the difference immediately.”

Listen provided Friendlies with an LT-700 transmitter with noise canceling microphones and LR-400 receivers with headphones. The system also includes rechargeable batteries with a charging carrying case. The Listen system provides high-quality sound, and Shelander has been pleased with the reliability of the products. “The Tour Group system has had a very positive impact to our operations. Our tours are more enjoyable and efficient for our guests and this reinforces our desire to show Friendly’s as a quality, professional organization,” noted Shelander. “We also appreciate the excellent service and support we have received through the ordering and implementation process.”

Friendly’s thanks Listen for providing a quality solution to their tour group needs.