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Industry Outlook
12
Q & A
The National Dipper asked several ice cream shop owners from around the country to look at their business for the past year and to look ahead to predict the future of the ice cream industry in 2020. This year the participants in the Industry Outlook are: Anna Curcitt, Mercurio’s Company, Pittsburgh, PA; Sarah Ebaugh, Ebaugh’s Whistle Stop, White Lake, MI; Theresa Fouquette, Bliss Homemade Creamery, Inc., Tacoma, WA; Katie Kimball, Katie’s Homemade Ice Cream, Cape Cod, MA; Nicole Lane, Vanilla Moose, Aztec, NM; Jay Ragusa, Gofer Ice Cream, Greenwich, CT.; and Dan Sell, The STIL, Boise, ID. QUESTION : Please give a few sentences about yourself and your store. How long have you been in business? How many stores do you own? What do you serve? Etc. CRUCITT: I’m Anna Crucitt and my brothers are Michael Mercurio and Joe Mercurio. We are a sibling trio that owns the Mercurio’s Company in Pittsburgh, PA. We have two restaurant/retail locations and one gelato wholesale/manufacturing business. Our company developed over the last 20 years, starting with a gelato shop, the Mulberry Street Creamery, that our parents began in Kittanning, PA in 1999. In 2016, the three of us bought our parents gelato wholesale business. In our restaurants, we offer customers an authentic Italian gelato, 30 flavors at a time, served in cups and cones, milkshakes and floats in addition to Neapolitan pizza and appetizers. EBAUGH: Hi my name is Sarah Ebaugh I am a Realtor, I fell in love with this abandoned ice cream shop up north of my cottage, so I bought it and decided to give it a go. I had to gut the whole building and start from scratch. I opened Ebaugh’s Whistle Stop in White Lake, Michigan. I have been in business for four years now. This is my only store so far. We serve soft serve and hand dipped ice cream, broasted chicken, burgers and Coney dogs. FOUQUETTE: My name is Theresa Fouqette and I am the general man-
ager at Bliss Homemade Creamery, Inc. in Tacoma, Wash. Super premium ice cream is made locally by us in small batches using only the very best all natural ingredients. We scoop into cups and cones and we also make milkshakes, ice cream cakes and sundaes. We started by first building out a kitchen and serving from a vintage camping trailer (food truck) while the location of our current brick and mortar in a new shopping development was under construction. KIMBALL: My name is Katie Kimball and I am the second-generation owner of Katie’s Homemade Ice Cream on Cape Cod. I have been the sole owner since 2016 when my mother retired and I purchased the business. Our primary items are hand-dipped, homemade ice cream cones and cups, soft serve, and sundaes with a variety of house made toppings. We strive to produce as much as possible right on the premises. We are seasonal, open April through September every year. LANE: My name is Nicole Lane and I am the owner of Vanilla Moose in Aztec, NM. Vanilla Moose has been in business since 1983 and we have been running it for the past four seasons. We are a soft serve shop that specializes in shakes, sundaes and novelties. RAGUSA: I am Jay Ragusa and I founded Gofer Ice Cream in 2003 in Greenwich, CT. I always had the idea of expanding through franchising the concept. Today we currently have five shops with three company owned and two franchised. I’m excited to also have recently announced a renewed focus on the franchise program and our third franchise location set to open this spring. We offer both traditional premium hard and soft serve as well as a fat free and even plant based options. SELL: We are Kasey Allen and Dan Sell and we own The STIL in Boise, Idaho. We opened in July, 2017 so we are approximately 2.5 years old. Our store serves high quality, small batch ice cream in dairy, alcohol infused, dairy free, and vegan options.
The National Dipper
March/April 2020
