Stewart’s Shops is introducing a new half gallon ice cream flavor inspired by a Saratoga Springs couple.
Mike and Linda Toohey bid $50,000 at a Saratoga Hospital Foundation gala last year in exchange for the rare prize of naming a new Stewart’s ice cream flavor. They selected the name Dake’s Passion, a vanilla ice cream with blueberry and raspberry swirls, sprinkled with an oatmeal cinnamon crumble to add a little texture and crunch.
Dake’s Passion ice cream is now available in half gallons for a limited time at Stewart’s Shops.
“I never thought Stewart’s or the Dake family got enough credit for what they’ve done for the entire region,” Mike Toohey said. “It is not just Saratoga Springs. It is every community where they have a shop and they have more than 400.”
The Tooheys have spent decades serving on the boards of the hospital and Saratoga Performing Arts Center. But they chose to name the ice cream to recognize the Dake family.
“It’s one heck of a history of having a company that produces a high quality product that is recognized throughout the state, that is good to its employees, who they uniquely call partners, and if you hang in there long enough with Stewart’s you can retire a millionaire. There is no other company I know that does something like that. Then, there is the generosity to the communities where they do business,” Mike Toohey said.
Long before Stewart’s Shops was founded in 1945, the Dake family produced Dake’s Delicious Ice Cream.
“We haven’t used the name Dake’s Delicious Ice Cream for 100 years,” said Stewart’s chairman Bill Dake. “There is no way we could deny the Tooheys’ request because of the significant contributions they have made to the growth and vitality of Saratoga.”
The Tooheys saw the ice cream naming as an opportunity to support the hospital while recognizing the Dake family for their community impact.
“This is just the cherry on top of the sundae,” Mike Toohey said.
