SKOWHEGAN -- Gifford's Ice Cream is scooping up more distribution outlets, winning awards and reporting what its owners say are sales gains of 7 percent to 10 percent for the year, said Lindsay Gifford, vice president of sales.

"For some reason," she said Monday, "it's still considered pocket change to go out and buy an ice cream. It's much less expensive than driving to God-knows-where for a vacation."

The company, with thousands of distribution outlets and 25 employees working in manufacturing and sales at the company's Skowhegan headquarters, in one sense is also going international.

Gifford says the company's new outlets include the United Nations cafeteria, in New York; and the company is selling its ice cream as well in the Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor stores, Rutgers and Columbia universities and the Westchester Country Club, as well as Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House locations in New York.

The new locations add to the several thousand retail and ice-cream stand locations already established throughout New England, New York and New Jersey that feature Gifford's.

Gifford declined to report her company's sales figures.

The company, whose roots in the dairy business go back five generations, is still very much a family affair.

Lindsay Gifford's father, John Gifford, is in charge of sales and marketing. His brother, Roger Gifford, handles production and the company's financial aspects.

"We work as a team, bouncing ideas off one another," Lindsay Gifford said.

This month's issue of The Griffin Report of Food Marketing names Gifford's Ice Cream to its list of "Best Places to Work in the Food Industry." The listing comes from the New England publication's 2008 food-industry survey.

Gifford's Ice Cream was "a natural fit for our 'Best Places to Work' list, for several reasons," Jack Walsh, vice president at Griffin Publishing, said in a statement. "The team at Gifford's is viewed throughout the region as being incredibly 'worker-friendly,' in terms of everything from advancement opportunities and clear communication with employees, to really living out the Gifford family's operating philosophy of respect for team members and their surrounding community."

"I might be a little biased," said Lindsay Gifford, "but we don't have that corporate feel. All of the employees can go into my uncle's and father's office to talk. We always make everyone feel welcome. If you have a family crisis, we'll support people. We all don't have the last name, but we all feel like family."

Gifford's Ice Cream's flavors and products continue to rack up culinary accolades as well. Late this summer at the Sixth Annual New Jersey State Ice Cream Festival, Gifford's earned the judges' first-place vote for its vanilla ice cream, the company reported. Gifford's new Maine Lobster Tracks ice cream also took home a top placement in the People's Choice category during the recent Ice Cream Festival.

The awards add to Gifford's growing record of industry recognition; the Maine company earned the coveted title of "World's Best Chocolate Ice Cream" at this year's annual World Dairy Expo, in Wisconsin.

John Gifford said the company is "committed to making our ice cream using fresh, pasteurized milk from local family farms, which pledge to use milk and cream that is growth hormone-free."

The company still uses original family recipes that have been passed down from his great-grandparents, he said, and the company claims to make more than 90 percent of its flavorings and ripples "from scratch."

"We're passionate about close attention to quality and detail with every single batch we craft, and it's what sets us apart from so many other brands."

Lindsay Gifford said the Skowhegan company plans to continue growing, with new distribution deals, and likely at a higher pace than that of this past year.

"As long as we're not growing so fast that we get ahead of ourselves," she said.

Global Industry Analysts, a California-based company that tracks the dairy industry, this month reported that ice cream will continue to be a high-growth area in the business as manufacturers introduce more flavors, particularly in the premium segment, and as more consumers buy it as a year-round grocery item.

George Myers Jr. -- 861-9249

gmyers@centralmaine.com