WASHINGTON — A new ice cream venture in the Washington area could bring back old memories for many.
Dolly Hunt, who used to own the Gifford’s Ice Cream brand in the D.C. area, is helping Kron Chocolatier at Mazza Gallerie create new ice cream recipes.
The Friendship Heights shop, open for almost 40 years and loved for its chocolate truffles, is selling ice cream for the first time.
“We’ve been blessed by being able to find Dolly Hunt and utilize her services as our consultant, and she’s wonderful,” says co-owner Mark Schutz.
He says his wife, Trish, and his son Alexander are the creative force behind the chocolate and the ice cream, and that his contribution was finding Hunt.
“I think that we’ll be able to bring our customers a lot of happiness. And that’s what ice cream and chocolate is. Happiness,” he says.
Right now, the shop is selling 10 different flavors of what Schutz calls “super premium, all-natural” ice cream: banana; coconut; honey lavender; key lime pie; mocha; peppermint; pistachio; Swiss chocolate; truffle batter; and vanilla.
The shop has been handing out free 1 1/2 ounce samples to customers.
A 6-ounce scoop in a cup sells for $3, a half-pint is $3.50 and a pint is $6.
Starting April 1, Kron will start selling ice cream and chocolate truffles at the Farm Women’s Market in Bethesda, Maryland.
Hunt also consulted on the creation of a caramel candy and three ice cream sauces — caramel, hot fudge and Swiss chocolate.
The candies are available for sale in the shop, but customers interested in the sauces would need to order them.
“We don’t want to rush into a huge amount of products at one time. We want to grow and make sure that what we’re producing is top quality [and] selling well,” Schutz says.
Because of its association with Hunt, the chocolate shop received a cease and desist letter from Gifford’s of Maine, the unrelated ice cream maker that bought the D.C.-area Gifford’s company in 2011.
Gifford’s of Maine began selling ice cream in the D.C. region a few years ago.
Kron is not allowed to use the Gifford’s name to advertise its new ice cream, but Schutz says the shop has never advertised and won’t start now.
Instead, he says, news of Hunt’s involvement has been spreading by word-of-mouth.
“The response has been very, very good. Everybody’s very excited,” he says.
