(ROCHESTER, N.Y. – July 29, 2008) Ice cream’s best buddy – the Buddy System, a polystyrene cone holder – celebrates its 10-year anniversary in August, announced company founder and inventor Robert C. Sotile.

“What a decade it has been for the Buddy System!” he exclaimed.

The recyclable prophylactic device provides an essential level of food safety for ice cream retail operations. Ice cream cones are one of the few foods where people eat the container, so it is inconceivable to Mr. Sotile that people would eat something where germs might be transferred from dirty hands or gloves.

Many ice cream lovers and restaurant chain owners agree, based on the growing popularity of the Buddy System (www.buddysystemusa.com). More than 200 million Buddy System cones have been shipped from its Boxart St. production plant in Rochester, N.Y., to nearly every state and 14 different countries. The 2007 sales for the Buddy System exceeded 60 million units.

When Mr. Sotile patented The Buddy System in 1998, it was the first patented improvement for the ice cream cone in nearly a century. Cones were introduced to ice cream at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Unlike paper-jacketed cones where the soggy paper sticks to the cone as ice cream drips, the Buddy System provides a reservoir to catch the drips, and zero-permeability for bacteria to affect the edible portion.

The device won accolades as the top Food Safety Product in North America in 2001. It won national acclaim with a hilarious interview segment on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in 1999, which has been rebroadcast on numerous “best of” shows since. Jon Stewart and Vance DeGeneres dubbed it the “Cone-dom.” It has been featured in many of America’s top restaurant chains that serve ice cream and custard, including Carvel’s, Dairy Queen, Stew Leonard’s, Subway and Culver’s Butter Burgers. It has also been featured in stadiums and entertainment venues that include the Calgary Saddledome, the Bronx Zoo and Central Park. It’s been featured in news segments and articles, feature photos across the country and in national restaurant industry trade magazines. It’s been used as candle holders in candlelight vigils at places as diverse as Graceland for Elvis Week memorial services and at the George Eastman House and International Museum of Photography. While the decade brought much growth and excitement for the Buddy System, Mr. Sotile sees an even brighter future for the product.

“Billions of ice cream cones are sold annually, so the potential market share growth is immense for the Buddy System,” he predicts. “As more people see and use the Buddy System, the more people want it. Food safety and healthy serving practices are growing more than ever, with no retreat in sight. We’ve grown every year, and I see that continuing.”

Buddies are manufactured in four different sizes and shapes to accommodate almost every cone. The Buddy System Cone Company, with offices in Brighton, N.Y., can be reached on the internet at www.buddysystemusa.com or by phone at (585) 427-9940.