Instead, the Dunedin-based Gourmet Ice Cream Company has had to refocus, after losing what Mr Scorgie estimated as 25% of its business, and look for new target markets.
They had supplied many restaurants and hotels in the city's devastated central business district, and Redcliffs New World - one of their top outlets in terms of volume - no longer existed.
But he remained philosophical, saying while the company had spent many years building up business in the city, its situation was not nearly as bad as those who had lost businesses, and it was picking up new business.
Teaming up with another Dunedin company, Blis Technologies, to produce Blis K12 ice cream, has provided an opportunity to get ice cream into different markets, including boarding schools, rest-homes and hospitals.
Blis K12 is a natural bacteria, promoted as a probiotic prevention of upper airways infection, bacterial sore throats, tooth and gum disease and chronic bad breath, which can be applied in powder, lozenges, drink and now ice cream.
When Mr Scorgie was approached by the biotechnology company to try out the new concept, he did not hesitate in agreeing and trials started 12 months ago.
"I'm up for anything in terms of new developments. I could see it was novel, functional and a bit of fun," he said.
Being a small business, the company had to be different.
"We can't go head to head with the Tip Tops of the world. We've got to have a unique product or unique approach of some sort.
"This is a completely different product into a completely different market and it's opened doors for us."
With the Gourmet Ice Cream Company being "right at the top end of the market", he figured the Blis ice cream needed to be more affordable, otherwise it would be out of reach to families, rest-homes and hospitals - "places that it should really go to".
Instead of making 30% milk-fat ice cream, the Blis ice cream was 10.5%, which was still "very nice", just lighter and cost-effective.
There had been a lot of testing done to ensure the product held in the mouth - and it had a very good "dwell" time - and now was the time to make it available to a wide range of people.
Since doing trials, the product has been sold for the past month or so to boarding schools and there were some "really trendy" restaurants in Christchurch selling it.
Feedback had been excellent and he saw some major opportunities in hospitals and rest-homes.
The company took some to the recent Katrina Gordon Trade Show for the hospitality industry and the reaction was "wonderful".
As far as restaurants using the ice cream, Mr Scorgie put it down to being novel and different.
"They want something different. No-one wants to be doing the same things. It seems to have hit the spot."
The company was only launching vanilla at this stage, but was looking at other possible flavours, including chocolate.
Mr Scorgie had also found the process interesting, saying "if you're making Speight's ice cream or mango ice cream day in day out, you need a change".
From Monday, the Blis ice cream will be available from the Gourmet Ice Cream Company's shop in Birch St. He hoped there was also export potential.
While it was early days yet, with people not knowing about the ice-cream, there were some "big opportunities", Mr Scorgie believed.
Blis Technologies senior scientist Jeremy Burton said the relationship between Blis and the Gourmet Ice Cream Company had been mutually beneficial.
Mr Scorgie was very innovative, which was why he was approached, and he had been extremely helpful. Being based in the same city made it very convenient.
Working together, they had to learn how to get the ingredient to deliver in a similar way that a lozenge would, including its ability to survive in the product.
Many people did not like taking lozenges or powder, especially children, and ice cream was far easier to get people to consume, Mr Burton said.
The Blis strategy focuses on the international sale of oral probiotic ingredients, and a major push in the last year had been to obtain the GRAS (generally recognised as safe) designation for Blis K12 in the United States.
That was a very important milestone for the company as it would allow use in foods as well as nutraceuticals.
The information gained through the initiative at the Gourmet Ice Cream Company could then be used to push into the US market.
