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BUSINESS
GilbertSunNews.com
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GILBERT SUN NEWS | JANUARY 16, 2022
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Agritopia ice cream shop champions freshness BY MONIQUE SELEEN GSN Contributor
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hat started as a friendship between Gilbert residents James Johnston and Matt Celaya has since blossomed into a sweet business idea now known as Cream of the Crop. The unique ice cream parlor, located inside of Gilbert’s Barnone in Agritopia at 3000 E. Ray Road, Building 6, opened in February 2021 but the idea starting churning years ago when Johnston bought Celaya an ice cream maker for his birthday. “He started making ice cream and was really good at it,” said Johnston. The two had worked together for some time at other local Gilbert restaurants but when space became available
inside Barnone, they said they jumped at the opportunity to start their own ice cream business. “There’s kind of a missing market for homemade ice cream in Gilbert,” said Johnston. “We thought we can do that and we can do it well and we have a good location for it.” After some brainstorming, the name ‘Cream of the Crop’ was decided upon as a way to represent their use of fresh ingredients from the Agritopia Farm in the ice cream flavors. All of the ice cream is made on site in small batches and Celaya said it took reading several books about ice cream to develop the perfect ratios of ingredients to use. “Once we found our base recipe it was
see CREAM page 27
Cream of the Crop ice cream shop is located inside Barnone in Agritopia. (Special to GSN)
State’s first candyland-bar opens in Chandler BY KEN SAIN GSN Staff Writer
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abdi Hess said it wasn’t hard coming up with the inspiration for a new kind of tap room. She and her husband Kyle have a threeyear-old child. “We wanted something different,” Zabdi said. “There’s lots of tap rooms in the area, but we wanted to stand out, and offer different pairings with candy and beer.” So that’s how she came up with the idea to open The Sugar Bar at Warner and McQueen roads in Chandler. It’s Arizona’s first bar and candy store. It’s a family-friendly place where a couple can bring their children. While they are sampling craft beers, the kids can eat candy or select one of the
Zabdi and Kyle Hess have opened The Sugar Bar at Warner and McQueen roads in Chandler. It’s Arizona’s first bar and candy store. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)
board games to play. “Outside of downtown Chandler and downtown Gilbert, between them there’s not much in terms of craft beer availability,” Kyle said. “We did our demographic research too, and around here there’s a ton of that 30-to-45 year range, … one or two kids, so that family demographic that we’re looking for.” The Sugar Bar opened in early December and Kyle said they’ve been very happy with the turnout. “It’s been awesome man,” Kyle said. “We’ve been busy pretty much every day. Mondays and Tuesdays are a little slower, per the usual, but every weekend is busy.” Before opening their combination bar and candy shop, Kyle worked
see SUGAR page 27
