Chapman’s Ice Cream factory rises from ashes in Markdale, Ontario

The 85,000-square-foot Chapman’s Ice Cream factory in Markdale, Ont. burned down last September in a fire started by a welder’s torch.

The 85,000-square-foot Chapman’s Ice Cream factory in Markdale, Ont. burned down last September in a fire started by a welder’s torch.

But, Canada’s largest independent ice cream producer is making a comeback with a brand new steel facility, as part of a revival campaign the family-owned business has dubbed Project Phoenix.

The business has been in operation since 1973 when David and Penny Chapman purchased a century-old creamery, which was zoned for ice cream production.

Since then, the business had grown to cover an entire city block.

The fire, however, destroyed all but a few containers of ice cream found frozen in cold storage and the damaged building was razed.

Instead of calling it quits, the family announced that they would rebuild.

Workers quickly converted a newly built steel-framed dry warehouse into a mini-production facility, using equipment purchased at auction in Florida.

Smaller ice cream producers have helped pick up production slack as construction commenced on the new steel-framed facility, which is almost twice as large as the previous plant.

The project broke ground in mid-November of last year, with Chapman family members taking the role of general contractor.

“It was important for (CEO) David Chapman and I to be personally engaged from start to finish and be part of the decision and selection process,” said Joe Jacobs, Chapman’s vice-president of operations.

“We hold weekly meetings with all subcontractors and design engineers to review progress and expectations.”

The Chapmans were committed to rebuilding in Markdale, located about a two-hour drive northwest of Toronto.

The plant employs more than 300 workers.

The 20-acre building site is located just a few blocks away from the original plant on land owned by the Chapmans.

“We were faced with either rebuilding at our previous site or building on green field,” said Chapman.

“Only after a thorough review of expectations and understanding some of the challenges, we decided to build on green field.”

He said the company chose a steel-framed building because of the structural support it offers and because of the speed of steel construction.

“The steel structure is designed to support our receiving, processing, production and storage requirements,” he said.

“Additional support was required to accommodate rooftop evaporator condensers and HVAC units.”

The steel frame will largely support insulated polyurethane exterior panels, with both glass curtain wall and ribbon windows designated for the front, main and employee entrances.

Construction challenges to date included a cold spell that cut into efforts to build the plant’s foundations.

“Trying to form and pour footings and foundations during a Grey County winter is always a challenge,” said Chapman.

“We invested in insulated blankets, portable tents and heating coils to help temper the ground. Once the building location was determined, we were surprised to learn that the storm sewer piping cut across the east end of the building. We mobilized a team to relocate the storm sewer over a few weeks.”

The Village of Markdale was unable to accommodate their fire protection water needs due to water pressure and volume restrictions, so the Chapmans were forced to build their own self-contained water reservoir and pump house to service the fire sprinklers for both the new building and mini-plant.

Full-out ice cream production must start as soon as possible in order to maintain market share.

The company hopes to have all construction completed this summer so ice cream production can resume in September.

“The schedule is definitely the challenge,” said Mike Hall, general manager of Shannon Steel Inc. of Orangeville, the project’s steel sub-contractor.

“As soon as the drawings are ready we’re putting them straight through the shop and out to the construction site.”