Savor

Here's the Scoop

True North Ice Cream delivers handmade, boozy flavors

BY KATIE HOUSTON

In the middle of Southwest Michigan’s long, cold spring came the rare gift of an April Saturday when the temperature hit 80 degrees. That day, True North Ice Cream in Marshall sold 82 gallons of ice cream to 1,100 people — creamy caloric sweetness all handmade by owner Vaughn Frentz.

Even on a cool weekday afternoon, there was a steady stream of customers trying to choose from 32 varieties, including six boozy flavors (yes, you must be 21 to order) — Cherry Amaretto, Honey Bourbon, True North Slide (chocolate ice cream with amaretto and kahlua), Bailey Mountain, Rum Chata and Limoncello. Frentz says the quantity of alcohol in those formulas varies.

“It doesn’t take a lot of bourbon for the Honey Bourbon, but it takes a lot of Bailey’s to get the flavor where I want it,” he says. These spiked flavors require a longer, colder freeze (–8oF) because of the alcohol and are served only in bowls, since they melt so fast that serving them in a cone would be very messy for the customer.

Frentz, 58, makes 50 to 60 gallons of frozen goodness each day, including several dairy-free flavors, like Lemon Poppyseed and Chocolate Pecan Chip, which are made from plant-based milks, and water-based cherry, mango and strawberry-lemonade sorbets. Any necessary food coloring comes from natural ingredients such as turmeric, spirulina, beet juice and purple carrots.

Vaughn Frentz waited 30 years to open an ice cream shop. This page, top to bottom: Shakes, cones and soft serve are all on themenu; a flight of ice cream gives patrons a trio of tastes; and 10visits will get patrons a chance to spin the giveaway wheel.

With summer in full swing, lines out the door shouldn’t daunt visitors to True North, since its secret ingredient is a surprising approach to quick service: There are no glass display cases showcasing the ice cream and no free tastes offered at the counter.

“Gawkers take too long,” says Frentz, adding that keeping his super-premium ice cream in covered tubs also prevents cross-contaminating flavors with drips and dollops while scooping. As for the free tastes?

“Look, you don’t get free tastes when you’re out for dinner, but here, if you don’t like anything I give you, I will throw it in the trash and get you something else,” he says, recalling a teenager who went through three cones, which Frentz says he was happy to provide to make the young man happy.

That’s not to say he doesn’t ever share free tastes. He can frequently be found visiting with the shop's patrons holding a gallon of fresh ice cream and a fistful of spoons.

“My goal is to give away two gallons a day one spoon at a time,” Frentz says. Steady pricing & quality

Committed to selling “premium ice cream for grocerystore prices,” Frentz has kept prices steady since opening the shop a year ago, in spite of a 15 percent increase in the price of virtually all of his ingredients — like Madagascar vanilla, which is averaging around $300 per gallon. He sources his ingredients locally as much as possible.

“I don’t care what it costs to make it, it’s all about flavor,” he says. “You can get good ice cream anywhere, so if it’s not exceptional, it’s not here. Maybe people wouldn’t notice if I cut back and saved a little money, but for 10 cents more, would you give your best friend an OK cone or the best cone you could?”

When asked what his favorite flavor is, he replies, “That’s like asking me to pick my favorite kid!” He does say he likes OreoTM and Coffee Crunch and points to the trash with a smile when asked if he takes flavor suggestions from customers, though he admits that a few of the shop’s flavors have indeed been customer ideas, including Root Beer Float, Chocolate ReesesTM and Turtle Cheesecake.

Customers who rack up 10 visits on a punch card can spin a giveaway wheel for a chance to win free ice cream

True North Ice Cream

Location: 403 S. Kalamazoo Ave., Marshall Hours: 2–9 p.m.

Seating: True North offers a walk-up window and outdoor seating for 80, plus six indoor tables. Originality: Ice cream, waffle cones and waffle bowls (available as waffle chips by the bag) made from scratch.

Drinks: Lattes, cappuccino, and espresso drinks are made with beans roasted locally (available by the bag) by Blossom and Son Roaster. The beans used are a “Grande Mountain” blend named for the Alberta, Canada, region where owner Vaughn Frentz grew up.

Another local connection: Candy maker Kay Rodgers provides the key ingredient for the shop’s Old Pan Toffee ice cream.

Extras: The shop also sells frozen Bakewell quiches made in Kalamazoo.

the expense put those options out of reach. Instead, Frentz learned how to make his own ice cream in his basement. One thing led to another, and he ended up selling upwards of 200 quarts a month from home.

“People said it was so good I had to open a shop,” he says.

True North, at 403 S. Kalamazoo Ave., occupies a building that housed Side Track Ice Cream for 12 years. In 2020, Frentz asked the owner if he’d ever thought of selling, and two weeks later Frentz had bought the building. The previous owner continued to run his business through November, and the Frentzes took the winter to gut and redesign the interior.

The shop was supposed to be a side hustle for Frentz, who had been working full time for 24 years as general manager of Albion Ford Motors after emigrating from Canada with his wife. Just before the launch, the ice cream shop’s manager backed out and Frentz decided to take the helm, giving two weeks’ notice at his job.

Area residents since 1997, Frentz and his wife, Amy, who owns Harvester Flower Shop in downtown Marshall, imagined “way back when we were dating” 30 or so years ago that running an ice cream shop would be fun. Over time, they explored a Ben and Jerry’sTM franchise and selling gelato, but

Top: The exterior and outside seating of True North Ice Cream in Marshall. Bottom: Frentz scoops from tubs of handcrafted ice cream madeat the shop.

True North employs 13 staff members, including many teenagers working part time as well as Frentz’s daughters — Hannah, 25, a nurse with Grace Health in Battle Creek, and Megan, 22, a graphic design student at Western Michigan University.

On a second visit — for important research — this Encore writer spoke with two patrons sharing ice cream flights of three flavors each ($6). Of three boozy flavors, the Rum Chata was proclaimed best, and the Snickers TM was declared tops among three chocolateforward choices. Neither customer was able to finish the generous servings, and while they were sad to throw the remainder away, they were happy and full, waving to Frentz on their way out.

It’s clear that his second career has given Frentz a creative outlet and a community of fans.

“We don’t look at this as our shop,” he says. “This is not Vaughn and Amy’s shop. This is Marshall’s shop.”