06/07/08 – Something strange is afoot at the Mayfield Dairy. During the past year, they have discontinued their very best flavor, Caramel Coyote. This saga began last summer when my family noticed that Caramel Coyote was no where to be found in Knoxville area grocery stores. By this past winter, we were so desperate that we contacted Mayfield. The response was heartbreaking: “Caramel Coyote has been discontinued due to declining sales.”
However, the story doesn’t end there. This past weekend, I toured the Mayfield Dairy as a part of the National Moofest, and I discovered evidence that points to a full-blown ice-cream conspiracy. Therefore, in order to return Caramel Coyote to its rightful place in the Mayfield product line, I am offering this post as a virtual petition to bring back Caramel Coyote.
Caramel Coyote fans (and I know you are legion), read this post and “sign” your name by commenting at the bottom.
Declining Sales?! A Ludicrous Scenario!
As I referenced before, my father contacted Mayfield Dairy on behalf of our family. A Mayfield representative replied saying that our favorite flavor has been discontinued due to poor sales. We were shocked and outraged. First of all, such a response suggests insanity. Anyone who has ever tasted Caramel Coyote knows that a “declining sales” scenario is ludicrous! For those who haven’t tasted Caramel Coyote, a brief digression is in order:
Imagine waves of rich caramel ice cream and caramel ribbons wrapping around your tongue. As the sensation washes away, you find delightful caramel filled chocolate cups littered about like float toys waiting to be savored and enjoyed. Each bite leaves you heading out for more. You find yourself awash in a sea of creamy caramel goodness.
Alas, for the past year, Caramel Coyote has only been this sweet memory lingering in my mind and tantalizing my tongue. It is the same for the fifteen other lactose tolerant members of my family. What’s more, anytime we had guests over their comments were all the same: “This is the best ice cream we have ever tasted!”
The evidence does not match the claim! How can the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted suffer from poor sales!?
My Theory: An Ice Cream Conspiracy
Judging from our experience, I think Caramel Coyote was doomed from the beginning. Soon after my parents discovered it, my wife and I searched for it in four local grocery stores only to find it sold out or not stocked everywhere we looked. I remember many weeks with my wife and I getting home from the grocery store heartbroken with no Caramel Coyote.
I should have realized it then, but now I can see it clearly: Someone in the Mayfield Dairy was jealous of Caramel Coyote. Rather than shipping the ice cream, this conspirator was secretly diverting the shipments. I suspect he or she is a Moose Tracks, Mint Chocolate Chip,Vanilla or Chocolate fan. One taste of Caramel Coyote and he knew the flavor’s power to sway the masses. So, rather than sharing the ice cream spotlight with this new kid on the block, he devised a plan of attrition, limiting shipments of Caramel Coyote so that accounting would conclude the flavor should be pulled from the lineup.
Preposterous you say? That’s exactly what I thought until I visited the Mayfield Dairy this past weekend.
We Found the Caramel Coyote Stockpile
My friends and family can attest that it has long been a dream of mine to tour the Mayfield Dairy. I hold Scottie Mayfield in the same regard that Charlie held Willie Wonka. Arriving on their Athens, Tennessee campus, I felt like the proverbial “kid in a candy shop.” Beth and I posed for a picture in front of the Mayfield Dairy sign. I kept thinking Scottie Mayfield might pop out at any moment. There must have been forty or more Mayfield t-shirts in the gift shop, not to mention hats, postcards and more.
Then it happened. One of our friends [Mark] came over to tell me that the ice cream shop had Caramel Coyote. My eyes grew to the size of saucers. I couldn’t think. I’m sure I staggered. I wanted to be reunited that instant, yet it was our turn to tour the plant.
Despite the fact that I was getting to see the insides of the world’s greatest dairy, it was hard to stay focused. I wasn’t even interested in the Mayfield Oompa-Loompas or the songs they sang. Instead all I could think about was caramel ice cream, caramel ribbons and caramel filled chocolate cups while Peaches and Herb’s Reunited played over and over in my mind.
Once the tour was over, I strode over to the ice cream counter still wearing my protective red hairnet. A reunion never tasted so good. Five minutes later I discovered I was standing outside with Beth, Mark, Laura and Angie. I had no idea how I’d gotten there as the bliss of the proceeding moments gradually wore off.
So, Mayfield Dairy still has Caramel Coyote in their gift shop!? What did this mean? This week as I’ve thought about it the conspiracy has crystallized before my eyes: The Mayfield Conspirator is pawning off his stockpile of Caramel Coyote to the Mayfield gift shop! I even ate some of the evidence!
We Must Act Now!
If you share my passion for Mayfield Caramel Coyote ice cream, then please join me in petitioning Scottie Mayfield and Mayfield Dairy to bring it back to stores. To do so, simply share your opinion by commenting at the bottom of this post. Together we can overturn this conspiracy and return Caramel Coyote to its rightful place of ice cream prominence.
Footnotes
The story of Caramel Coyote gets even stranger when you search for it on the web. Consider these listings in order of their appearance on Google:
- Mayfield Blog: Mayfield Day at the Ice Chalet - In this blog post, Scottie Mayfield talks about visiting the Ice Chalet in Knoxville and letting the skaters sample their new flavors of ice cream. There is no mention of Caramel Coyote in the post; however, three successive commenters use the post to request that Mayfield should bring back Caramel Coyote. Furthering suspicions, commenting on this post has subsequently been disabled. I suspect whoever is running the Mayfield blog did this to silence further outcry.
- Mayfield Blog: Nurture Milk by Mayfield - Even stranger is the first comment on this post about Nurture milk (i.e. keep in mind the post has nothing to do with ice cream). A commenter known as “searching for caramel” writes, “Where is Caramel Coyote? It is our favorite and usually only ice cream and I haven’t been able to find it for months!!! Please do not abandon this ice cream! There is no other like it.” This is followed by a comment from Jan Montgomery in Mayfield Consumer Affairs who scoops out the same “discontinued because of poor sales” schpeal.
Beyond the above listings, there simply isn’t much else on the web mentioning Caramel Coyote. Therefore this post should serve as a point of action for the many disenfranchised Caramel Coyote lovers out there. If this is you, be sure to comment and let your voice be heard.
20 Comments
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I now realize that your educational endeavors were worth it. To be able to embrace such a noble cause with such poetic grace is the application of an educated gift to the highest order. It is clear that this is a cause well worth fighting for. Do we need a jingle? Love, Dad.
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Sign me on! I’ve scoured store freezers for months looking for the ellusive Caramel Coyote. It’s my daughter’s favorite ice cream. Listen to the masses, Scottie: Give us The Coyote!
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I surely want to add my name to this list! Caramel Coyote is the best ice cream I have ever eaten!!
“Come on Scottie
Listen to us
We want to be nice
And not make a fuss..
But to keep the masses
From such a great flavor
Is right up there
With…Oh Gee, I never was good at rhyming! Help!
What rhymes with flavor and fits here?
A poem without an ending leaves you hanging like a freezer without Caramel Coyote!
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I too, have fond memories of Caramel Coyote. For sure, it’s MUCH better than Moose Tracks!
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I’d sign the petition even though I’ve never tried caramel coyote, I tried the inferior banana pudding. By the way I was the one to discover Mayfield’s dirty little secret; that they were hoarding caramel coyote at their dairy ice cream shoppe.
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@All - Thanks for being early adopters to this cause. I have a feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s only a matter of time as more and more Caramel Coyote fans start finding this forum to express their latent cravings!
@Mark - Thanks for the reminder. I’ve amended the post to give you the credit you deserve. You’ll have to forgive me for not being able to recall…learning that the Caramel Coyote lives momentarily short-circuited my powers of observation.
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I’ve never tried it either, but now I’m mad that I can’t!
Where do I sign??!?
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@Deb et al - You have “signed” your name by simply commenting and expressing your opinion. Consider your vote counted and your voice heard!
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Caramel Coyote? I’ve never heard of it. Go ahead, reach out and smack me with a virtual backhand. When I think of the Wenders and ice cream, I think of a graduation trip to the beach and a Kroger? brand ice cream that was awesome!!! Could it really compare to Mayfield? I don’t know, but I know that when shared with friends, it was memory making (truly since it has been 15 years since I had that ice cream). So there you have it (or don’t if they don’t bring it back for you), you will always have your memories. One day, a smell will enter your nose, and you’ll be taken directly to the moment you were hanging on a cardboard cutout of your dairy hero.
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@Scott G - Well, well, well…my old friend from way back! Thanks for sharing a memory that takes me back to those wonder years of the mid ’90’s.
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I have been looking for this ice cream for the past two years!!!!! I want it back!
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Many people in my town discovered this flavor and bought it constantly. It was in all my friends’ freezers! Now it’s gone. How can they say “declining sales”? I agree with the conspiracy theory.
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BRING IT BACK! Caramel Coyote was my favorite flavor of ice cream of all time! I have been looking for it forever and I get online and find out it’s been discontinued?!?!? That must be the dumbest thing mayfield ice cream has ever done! So I agree, 100%, BRING BACK OUR BELOVED CARAMEL COYOTE!!!
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My husband and I buy Caramel Coyote ice cream at Winn Dixie in Florida every winter when we snowbirds are there, but can’t find it here in NC. We used to have it here at WalMart but haven’t found any there this summer. Last winter we had to have a friend in Florida at Winn Dixie to save us some each week! It is the best ice cream in the world.
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This is bad news! I have a husband that is a complete caramel coyote addict. He has sent me all over town looking for his favorite ice cream. He has even argued like a child with his friends about this being the best ever. Well, I guess we will save gas and have nothing to argue about anymore. How sad…
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I am from Ohio and discovered Carmel Coyote about 6 years ago when I was in Tenn. I am not one who eats ice cream all the time, I’ve had my favorites growing up but never in my life loved a flavor as that. I ate more ice cream that week that I was here than probably ever before. Everytime we go through Tenn. I try to find it. Well I’m back in the area this week and have been looking everywhere for it! I’m bummed I can’t find it anywhere, that’s how I found your site! Please bring it back!!!!!
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We go to Tenn. every year and when we went to the mayfield ice cream place and had some Carmel Coyote ice cream, it was the best. Each year since we can’t find it. IT MAKES US VERY SAD. PLEASE BRING IT BACK I’M ASKING FOR ALL OF MY FAMILY PLEASE PLEASE —— THANK YOU
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Michael, you might let Headquarters know about the support you have gotten for their poor selling Ice Cream. Dad.
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@Charles M. Wender - You can bet I will let them know. Plus, me and my friends over at Knoxify have talked about doing a little something special.
@Everyone - Thanks for all the stories and comments so far. Keep them coming! We’ve only just begun to fight!
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I agree, caramel coyote is simply the best tasting stuff in the world!! I am not a food channel expert, but this stuff should have it’s own show. Wait a minute, not just on the food channel, but every networks national news should start and end ,proudly displaying a large bowl of it. I’m sure it would ease tension on all news items. The worries and problems would seem to fade at just the sight.
Better yet, the government should give up of the financial bail-out, and provide a supply to each and every American. Heck, I bet we could ship some to the Al Qaeda crazies, and they would fall in love with America!!
Please email me with any updates.
Blessings, and may your dreams be filled with the thoughts of seeing it in every retain location in the U.S. of A. ,
Jon