An ice cream sandwich becomes a federal case
BOSTON — A battle between two dessert companies — Mister Cookie Face and 600 lb Gorillas — is heating up in Boston’s federal courthouse. And it all started with an ice cream sandwich.
600 lb Gorillas Inc., a frozen dessert maker started by a Massachusetts couple, claims another business that supplied the ice cream for its sandwiches watered down the recipe, sending sales tumbling amid customer complaints.
Chris and Paula White are now taking the ice cream supplier, Mister Cookie Face LLC, to trial for not holding up its end of the bargain to provide the frozen treats their customers used to love.
Mister Cookie Face denies delivering subpar ice cream and says 600 lb Gorillas can’t prove that problems with the sandwiches’ filling hurt the company’s sales.
At the center of dispute, which is slated to go to trial later this month, is a key ingredient for super- creamy ice cream: butterfat.
The Whites, who no longer sell frozen treats, had an agreement with Fieldbrook that the ice cream would contain 14 percent butterfat.
But when complaints in 2014 started replacing customer praise, the Whites feared something was up, according to their breach- ofcontract lawsuit, which claims the watery ice cream cost them at least $ 2.5 million.
When the Whites couldn’t get a straight answer from Mister Cookie Face, they had the ice cream tested in independent labs and found that the butterfat content was around 10 percent, the Whites say.
Mister Cookie Face and Fieldbrook dispute the Whites’ test results.
Chris White said he and his wife felt like they had no other choice but to fight the case, despite what he described as Mister Cookie Face’s “scorched- earth tactics.”
“They destroyed our business … the worst part was they just didn’t care,” he said.