INSPECTORS praised the team spirit when they awarded Purbeck Ice Cream an Investor in People award.
They hailed morale at the company, based at Kingston, near Wareham.
Investor in People (IIP) is the national standard for organisational excellence in improving performance through the development of staff.
It covers all aspects of business planning, management, training and every day working procedures.
Remarks of the assessor included: Purbeck Ice Cream has one of the happiest workforces I have had the pleasure of meeting and I heard lots of light-hearted banter and friendly insults over the course of the day'.
The assessor went on to say that this was a tribute to the skilful way the directors have set up and managed the business'.
Purbeck Ice Cream began 18 years ago when Peter and Hazel Hartle diversified from dairy farming into producing ice cream using farm milk and cream.
Mrs Hartle said: "The team has a wide balance of strong personalities each complementing the others' skills, each member having a voice that is heard and acted upon to improve the business and make every day challenging, exciting, rewarding and above all else fun."
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