Chill-n Ice Cream

How a Local Store Defed the Covid-19 Pandemic

written & photographed by Sebastian Jaramillo | designed by Solana Chatfeld

While most restaurants and restaurant areas are still recovering from the deadly hit they took during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are some areas that are beginning to blossom. Miami’s neighborhood of Coconut Grove has such an area in the famous Coco Walk zone. Multiple restaurants in this zone closed over the period of the lockdowns and the worst of the pandemic. However, now that the vaccine is rolling out, more people feel confdent to take a stroll outside and enjoy an evening of fne dining. Therefore, many restaurants are back in business.

Chill-N Nitrogen ice cream is one of those restaurants as it just opened a new branch of their stores in Coconut Grove. The store opened in November of 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to wane down in Miami. Chill-N ice cream is a locally owned specialty store. Their specialty comes in the way they prepare their product. They combine the extra ingredients that customers usually put on top of their ice cream and put them inside. This is because all of their ice cream is made in the shop as soon as customers order it. They have patented machines that use Nitrogen at insanely low temperatures, combined with a secret equation which allows them to make their ice cream on the spot.

Danny Golik, founder and owner of the store, thinks their success comes from catering to the communities that they serve. “In times of need, people always want ice cream and we’re happy to provide that for them,” he said. According to their website, Danny and a few of his closest friends, who are now coowners, locked themselves in a room and “after 3,456,789 brain freezes later… the almighty ‘nitrogen ice cream equation’ was perfected and Chill-N was born.” Golik also said that what inspired him to start this store was that most stores shipped their pre-made ice—cream which was made weeks and even months in advance. He wanted to show his customers how cool ice cream creation really was by giving them the “behind the scenes” experience. Thus, he devised the special equation that allowed him to make ice cream right in front of customers.

Maria Ruiz, a regular customer and a Miami native, thinks that the way they make the ice cream makes all the difference. “The reason I come to Chill-N rather than any other ice-cream store is that I can see the ice cream process right in front of my eyes. That’s something you don’t get anywhere else. Plus, the ingredients you choose actually blend into the ice cream. My favorite thing to do there is to mix a brownie with my vanilla ice cream. It’s awesome,” she said.

Gorik sees a bright future ahead of the brand and Coconut Grove in general because he thinks that customers around the area will always want a tasty treat, especially in a time of need.