“Our mission is to harness the power of ice cream, like community organizers did before us,” it reads. To that end, “we are in constant pursuit of the Perfect Scoop, the Great American Scoop of Ice Cream.”
Mr. Smith chased that dream while in pandemic lockdown at home with a Vitamix blender. He started puréeing ingredients together, persistently spinning new mixtures until they were fine enough to freeze.
From those Vitamix variations, he developed a new basic formula for ice cream, with fewer egg yolks, less sugar and more glucose — a clear, syrupy sweetener with a taffy-like chew. Into the cream base, he purées whole croissants to produce Morning in Paris, swirled with raspberry jam; he blends bananas and Nilla Wafers to make Banana Pudding.
That new formula will gradually replace the original, as the couple cautiously reopens Ample Hills stores in Manhattan and Queens, and a new production facility and scoop shop in Industry City in Brooklyn. So far, they have no expansion plans beyond New York City. “We said yes one too many times,” Mr. Smith said.
Will their attempt at a second act go smoother than the first?
Their plan has a recent precedent: Last year, the Crumbs founders, Mia and Jason Bauer, bought back their brand for $300, they reinvented it as a supermarket and direct-to-consumer operation, with no stores. Their cupcakes and cookie jars are sold at New York City’s upscale supermarkets, and they’ve just raised $1.5 million toward expansion.
“All that money we spent on landlords and labor wasn’t necessary this time around,” Mr. Bauer said.
But the Ample Hills owners are doubling down on brick and mortar. “We want to know our customers again,” said Ms. Cuscuna, 53. She described the feeling of walking into the original store as “surreal.”
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