Supply challenges affect county’s favorite places for sweet treats

It’s summer once again in Tompkins County, a time when many residents flock to their local ice cream shop to cool down with a sweet treat. This year, the county continues to enjoy plenty of cold offerings, but regulars might have noticed a few changes at their favorite spots — new serving cups, different-tasting ice cream and maybe even higher prices for menu items.

These changes all stem from the biggest challenge facing practically every ice cream shop in the county — supplies, including cost hikes and shortages. We spoke with some local shop owners and managers about the challenges they’re facing, and while all are glad to continue serving up residents’ favorites, they know all too well that doing so this year hasn’t been and won’t be easy.

Richard (Dick) Brecht is the owner of three ice cream shops, two of which are in Tompkins County — The Frosty Cow in Dryden (facebook.com/TheFrostyCow/) and the Red Caboose in Groton (facebook.com/littlered.caboose.3). He spoke to some of his issues regarding supplies.

“The only reason we run out of stuff, basically, is because of supply chain issues,” he said. “I’ve gone through so many different brands of sundae cups that I had to stop carrying lids to go because they wouldn’t match when I bought. … My dairy’s gone up. Now, we’re getting fuel surcharges. That’s a big challenge with those things.”

Melissa Kenny, co-owner of Sweet Melissa’s Ice Cream in Ithaca (sweetmelissasicecream.com), explained that she’s had to make do with alternatives due to the shortages.

“Supply shortages are absolutely a struggle, but we find what we can use,” she said in an email. “Mainly it’s been our paper products. Sometimes, we have been out of random things like peanut butter cups, but usually the customers understand.”

It’s a similar story at Scoops of Lansing (sites.google.com/view/scoopsoflansing/home), as owner Laura Morse explained.

“Our ice cream has gotten very expensive,” she said. “Paper products have gotten very expensive. New York state stopped allowing Styrofoam containers this year too, so that, combined with the supply chain issues, has made dishes a lot harder to get. So, I had to buy almost all my dishes in the springtime in the hopes of getting them before other people could and stockpiling for the season because I know some places haven’t been able to get dishes, and it’s something you never would have thought would be a problem a few years ago.”

Kathy Perkins, owner of Toads Too; Ice Cream Oasis in Freeville (facebook.com/ToadsTooIceCreamOasis), has also had to cope with changes due to the Styrofoam ban.

“New York state did us no favors by taking out the foam cups because that was a major headache for everyone in the industry because everybody had to go to paper and substitute plastics, which, … it’s just as bad,” she said. “And the problem with paper products is weight. They weigh substantially more [and] cost twice to three times the amount as a foam dish. So, now I’m lifting boxes that weighed maybe 5 pounds up on a rack to 20 pounds on a rack.”

Renee Rose, general manager of Cayuga Lake Creamery’s (cayugalakecreamery.com) DeWitt Mall location, explained how every stop along the supply chain is facing similar challenges.

“Our milk and cream supplier is Upstate Niagara Cooperative, … and they can’t do as many deliveries as they did because they’re short staffed,” she said. “And so, we only have so much space, so we get all the milk delivered to make the ice cream. Then, we make a bunch, and then we get more delivered. We do that three times a week usually. So, going from that to two is radically different because you can’t just have twice as much delivered. We don’t have the space for it.”

Owners also spoke to the fact that the rising supply costs — amplified by supply shortages — have put a strain on businesses’ pocketbooks, and it’s been a struggle trying not to pass that extra cost on to consumers.

“I need people to be able to afford coming back,” as Brecht explained. “So, it’s a fine line of affordability and keeping a profit.”

Despite all of the supply challenges, there are still plenty of positives for businesses as well, such as the dedication and understanding from residents and staff alike. Sources spoke about what draws people most to their local spot.

“We’re kind of all over the map,” Rose said. “So, we do very classic ice cream stuff — and making your own cones is a little bit old fashioned — like stuff like our butter pecan, or my standards are rum raisin, maple walnut, those types of standard flavors that have been around forever. I think we do those well, but we also have kind of our renegade, wacky flavors like our maple bacon and our lavender, and we’ll try just about anything.”

Rose said that particularly “wacky” creations from the Creamery’s past include tomato and asparagus ice creams, which were both prepared for festivals going on in the area.

Brecht is also in the business of traditional combined with fun, new creations, with his favorite contemporary offering being the red Solo cup sundae.

“When our whole family was coming back from vacation, one of those early spring breaks, … the song ‘Red Solo Cup’ came on, and they said, ‘Hey, why don’t we make a red Solo cup sundae?’” he said. “And so, my daughter threw some ideas out there and we went back and forth, and we created a red Solo cup sundae. And that’s been a hit.”

As the name implies, the sundae is served in a red Solo cup and consists of three scoops of hard ice cream — White House Cherry (vanilla mixed with maraschino cherries), strawberry and Rocky Mountain or Roadrunner Raspberry — each with its own toping, and, of course, whipped cream and a cherry on top.

If you’re more of a soft serve fan, Sweet Melissa’s has you more than covered. Kenny explained that staff “put a lot of effort” into having the “best soft serve around.”

“My husband grew up with his parents having a soft serve shop in North Syracuse, so he cleans out the machines very regularly and sets the air ratio based on the busyness of the day so it is smooth and creamy all the time,” she said. “My go-to is the classic soft serve cone with rainbow sprinkles or what I refer to as the Cone of Happiness, or if I’m feeling like a sundae, I get our Twist with Peanut Butter and Hershey Syrup.”

For other, smaller operations, the focus is much more on community, as Perkins can attest to.

“You stick with things that people are familiar with in their past because it’s usually a happy time. You introduce new stuff to [the] younger crowd because they like to experiment,” she said. “We don’t have any kind of thing that would attract tourists, so we have to rely on people who live here, work here and raise their families here.”

Scoops of Lansing also has that small-town feel, and Morse said people particularly enjoy the shop’s proximity to the Lansing Center Trail.

“We like working with the Lansing Center Trail,” she said. “I have a trail sundae that we do, and we donate 50 cents from every sundae. … We love having the trail here, though, because it’s right there. People can get their ice cream and go for a walk on the trail.”

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to them at editorial@VizellaMedia.com.