Charly and the Ice Cream Factory

By: News Editor
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005

With the recent release of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on DVD, Cincescape thought it would be fun to look at a real life Charly, who runs his own factory.

"The Best Ice Cream in the World" has converted Hollywood's elite into fans of Charly Temmel's unique concoction.

The Austrian entrepreneur Charly Temmel loves ice cream so much that he launched his own brand of ice cream that uses natural, fresh ingredients while not over-flavoring it. He's been producing it in Austria for 25 years and has made considerable in-roads in the United States since he brought it here almost two and half years ago.

"When I was a kid, I loved chocolate ice cream and became a cook," says Temmel. "I didn't know how to make ice cream, so I had to create my own recipe, and this is a recipe that is driving people crazy."

Available throughout California (including Wal-Mart, restaurants, hotels and even some international flights) as well as Hawaii, Ohio, Illinois and soon to be available in New York, Charly Temmel Ice Cream (which currently comes in reasonably priced one pint flavors) is packaged in a Willy Wonka-esque container that features a fictional version of Charly Temmel. On the carton, it tells the story of an Austrian named Charly who climbed the highest mountain in his village, only to be abducted by aliens and dropped off in Los Angeles where he brought the joy of his ice cream to Southern Californians everywhere.

"They make ice cream different here than they do in Europe," says Temmel, who trademarked the phrase "The Best Ice Cream In the World" to set it apart from his competitors. "In Europe it's a little more creamy, but it doesn't mean it has more fat. We use the highest quality ingredients, and you can see the difference when the ice cream goes soft. It has more quality and a magic formula that nobody has."

Among the best-sellers of Charly Temmel ice cream are mainstays such as vanilla bean, cookies and cream, butter pecan, carmel creme fudge, rocky road, chocolate and chocolate chip mint. He also has a line of sorbets (lemon, lemon peach, lemon raspberry and lemon blueberry) as well as double packs where you can get two types of ice cream in one pint (including vanilla-chocolate, vanilla-strawberry and vanilla-coffee). And for more exotic tastes, Temmel has a special flavor called Stracciatella (the favorite at the CINESCAPE offices), a unique ice cream (dubbed Italian Chocolate Chip) with chocolate chips that are heated before they are placed into the mix resulting in a concoction that melts in your mouth.

"We use real chocolate and all natural ingredients," says Temmel. "It's no cocoa or liquid chocolate. The first time you try our chocolate after the third spoon you cannot stop anymore."

While Temmel is slowly taking over the U.S. pint by pint, he reveals that his ice cream has also won the hearts of some of Hollywood's elite, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (his favorite is hazelnut pistachio), Breakdown/Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines director Jonathan Mostow, actors Gary Busey and Tom Arnold, and special make-up effects guru Stan Winston.

"We know which products we have, and we know our price is okay," says Temmel. "We have this name, and I believe we are 'the best ice cream in the world,' which explains it all. It will take us the next three or four years before we go nationwide, but that's our goal. This is a really tough market to go into, but we have a great story, energy, power and luck. I've always had luck in my life, and luck is important, and I think it will make us one of the biggest ice cream companies in America."