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Full-Stack Partnership

A 100-Year Brand Needed a Marketing Partner — Not Another Vendor

Toft Dairy hired Crabtree to run marketing and support their internal team. What started as a strategic partnership uncovered a broken website, an underdelivering agency, and an opportunity to do things right — one project at a time.

100+
Year Legacy Brand
Full
Stack Partnership
12+
Services Delivered
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Toft Dairy Website — Launching June 2026

Launching

June 1, 2026

This story is for you if: ✓ Oversold and underdelivered ✓ Need a partner, not a vendor ✓ Want one team that knows your brand

The Backstory

This One Was Personal

Some of my favorite childhood memories are walking into Toft Dairy's ice cream parlor with my grandparents — picking out a flavor at the counter, then the three of us sitting together in those old wooden seats. The same ones still there today. I grew up in Sandusky, Ohio. Toft's has been part of my life since I was a kid.

Toft's original ice cream parlor counter
Toft's original wooden booth seating

Toft's original ice cream parlor. Those wooden seats on the right? Still there today.

When I saw Toft's job posting for a Director of Marketing in June 2024, I didn't apply for the job. I pitched them something different.

"I'm not looking to be your employee. I have an agency. But I know this brand — I grew up with it. Here's what we can do together." — What I told Toft in our first meeting

Toft hired us to run marketing and support their internal team. We work directly with ownership. One project at a time, through completion — strategy, execution, results, then the next one.

"Robert understood our brand from day one. He didn't just see us as a client — he saw us as the place where he made memories with his family. That matters."
— Logan Meisler, Toft Dairy

The Discovery

A Premium Investment. An Incomplete Website.

Right away, we found Toft's existing website was built on WordPress Hello Elementor — a page builder known for bloated code and slow performance. Despite a significant investment, the site was incomplete and riddled with flaws. We spent months working with the original agency to finalize it, but the site couldn't meet Toft's needs. They'd been oversold and underdelivered.

What They Were Given

Template site built on Hello Elementor

  • ❌ Bloated code — 500KB+ of unnecessary CSS/JS
  • ❌ Incomplete pages and broken functionality
  • ❌ Tracking pixels that didn't fire
  • ❌ Mobile experience that drove users away

What Crabtree Delivered

Custom build on WordPress + Bricks Builder

  • ✓ Significantly under every competing quote
  • ✓ More features and pages delivered
  • ✓ Full custom copy — human-guided, AI-trained
  • ✓ Future e-commerce phases planned in

Toft secured multiple apples-to-apples rebuild quotes — all came in steep. When they asked if Crabtree could do it, we spec'd the project with more delivered for significantly less. Custom design, custom code, custom copy — no shortcuts.

The Work

Strategy First. Then Execution. One Project at a Time.

Before we ever touched the website, we were already deep in Toft's marketing — building campaigns, producing content, and delivering results. Here's how the partnership unfolded.

Completed

📱 Brand & Social Content

Our first projects together — social campaigns, branded content, and community-building creative. Click any image to explore.

Toft Social Concept Presentation
Moo-licious
Love and Ice Cream
Princess
Tilly Rain
Family
Chocolate Lovers
Blueberry Waffle Cone
Milk Labels Rotating
Completed

🎬 Professional Video Production

We produced these commercials for Toft using professional food styling, high-end camera equipment, and expert post-production. Real ice cream. Real craft. Real results.

Toft Dairy Commercial
Toft Dairy Commercial
Toft Dairy Commercial
Toft Dairy Commercial

Creative Direction: We advised Toft on concept, scripting, and production approach for this brand video, produced by a partner studio.

Toft Dairy Brand Video
In Progress

🌐 Custom Website Build

After delivering social, video, and paid campaigns, we turned our attention to the website — a full custom build with every page designed from scratch, human-guided copy on an AI-trained brand voice model, and future e-commerce phases planned in.

Under Construction
June 1, 2026

Toft's new website is being built from scratch — custom design, clean code, full custom copy, and future e-commerce phases planned in. Almost ready.

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Want a site like this? Let's talk

Why We Chose Bricks Builder Over Elementor

Toft's original site was built on Hello Elementor — a popular page builder with a reputation for bloated code. Here's why we're building the new site on Bricks:

40%
Faster than Elementor in GTmetrix tests
0
jQuery dependencies or bloated libraries
100%
Clean, semantic HTML/CSS/JS

Elementor sites can load 500KB+ of unnecessary CSS and JavaScript. Bricks generates lightweight, modern code using Flexbox and CSS Grid — no bloat, no workarounds, no performance penalties.

Features in Development

🔄
Product Rotator
Interactive carousel
Reviews by Flavor
Customer testimonials
🍦
Scoop Shop Locator
Find nearby locations
📧
Newsletter Signup
Email capture

The Partnership

One Team. Every Capability. One Project at a Time.

We don't just build websites. We handle the full range of marketing Toft needs — strategy through execution — so nothing falls through the cracks.

🎯
Strategy & Planning
Marketing roadmap, campaign planning, vendor coordination
🌐
Website Development
Custom build with full copy, e-commerce roadmap
📢
Paid Ads & Social
Campaign management, content creation, community
📸
Photography & Video
Commercial shoots, food videography, post-production
📍
Local Presence
Google Maps, Google Business, reviews management
🤝
Vendor Support
Vendor relations, project coordination, accountability

Want a partner who handles all of this?

One team. No finger-pointing. No gaps. Let's talk about what that looks like for you.

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Zero pressure. Real answers. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you — and point you to someone who is.

What This Means For You

One Project at a Time. Through Completion.

We don't disappear after launch. We handle one project through completion, then move to the next — always building on what came before.

Strategy First
We learn your business before we touch a single pixel. No guesswork.
Build It Right
Custom design, clean code, SEO baked in, tracking that actually works.
Make It Convert
Paid ads, content, email — whatever it takes to turn traffic into revenue.
Keep It Growing
Monthly optimization based on real data. Continuous improvement, not neglect.

Sound Like Your Situation?

See What Ownership Looks Like for Your Business

30 minutes. No pitch deck. Just a real conversation about your business, your challenges, and whether we're the right fit.

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20 min · No pitch · No pressure

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