Lebanese immigrant Joseph Dager started Velvet Ice Creams in 1914, after immigrating to the United States and working for a short while in a steel mill in Cleveland. Four generations later, the Utica-based business is still in the family.

Great granddaughter André Dager is co-vice president along with her two sisters. Her father runs things.

"Ice cream sales are good but they (consumers) are buying down a little bit because of the economy," she tells me. "But it is a comfort food and as a food it is recession proof."

André says the part of the business that is growing fastest is co-labeling, or producing ice cream for other companies, using requested ingredients and labeling.

Each year, 160,000 curious visitors make their way to the factory to visit the cafe and take a brief tour.

"In today's day and age that's very interesting to people. They like to know all the nitty gritty," says André. The family has been offering the tours for 15 years.

Inside the factory (top), 12 workers help produce an annual six million gallons of ice cream. Their daylong work environment is just above freezing. The freezer room, which workers go in and out of, also, is negative 110 degrees! The company claims its ability to freeze its product so quickly after mixing helps create its creamy formula.

There have been more than 500 different flavors since 1914, with 60 in circulation at any given time.
Buckeye Classic, a peanut butter and fudge flavor is the company's best seller.

My favorite part of the tour were the displays of ice cream containers from different years. Joseph Dager used to peddle ice cream on his bicycle in the tiny Chinese-takeout shaped container you see from 1920.