Two Roosters Two Roosters’ owner Jared Plummer describes his ice cream brand, which has two locations in Raleigh, as a “hobby turned into an obsession turned into a business.” He opened Two Roosters in 2017, with a focus on giving traditional ice cream recipes a creative twist. Two Roosters keeps a short list of regular flavors and another list of rotating “guest” flavors. The guest list centers on a different theme each month, and this practice allows Plummer to collaborate in interesting ways with other local businesses. February, for example, was chocolate month. Two Roosters worked with local chocolate confectioners Escazu, Videri, and Chocolatay on new ways to use chocolate in ice cream, creating flavors like Chocolate Potato Chip and Cinnamon Chocolate Mole Bark.
Monthly themes range from seasonal offerings to foods like coffee, cake, and doughnuts to approaches involving the local community. May’s theme, for example, is a kid chef series, with students from nearby elementary schools creating the guest list flavors. In June, the store will offer recipes created by local chefs like Ashley Christensen and Van Nolintha. By focusing the themes on local talent, it helps Two Roosters maintain flavors that are high quality, community-oriented, and always interesting. Most popular regular flavor: Sea Salt Chip Cookie Dough Most popular guest flavor: Smoky s’mores (ice cream mixed with cold-smoked chocolate fudge and homemade, seared marshmallow fluff)
Sunni Sky
Photo by MASH Photography
Customer response drives Scott Wilson’s ice cream business. Founded in 2003 and open from March through December each year, Sunni Sky (named after Wilson’s daughter Sunni and his son Skylar) is located near Fuquay-Varina and draws customers from miles around. Sunni Sky ice cream comes in a tremendous variety of flavors. Originally, Wilson had planned a regular menu of 30 flavors and a rotating menu of 12. “But,” he notes, “if you make a good one, people are mad if you take it away.” His menu has grown from 30
Photo by FoodieTeee
offerings to approximately 120, all of which are available for most of the season. “If I had a bigger store, I’d probably have 150 or 160,” Wilson chuckles. He creates the flavors himself, generally in response to customer suggestions. The Banana Pudding ice cream recipe, for example, was adapted from a staff member’s grandmother’s pudding recipe, following customer requests for the flavor. Wilson tweaked it until it got a good response. Not all recipes get a positive reception, and less popular flavors are dropped. Wilson’s trial-and-error approach has garnered Sunni Sky a 16-year run and an enthusiastic customer base, and he attributes the store’s popularity to its high-quality ingredients and its affordable prices. “We get people from Wake Forest and from Fayetteville,” Wilson says. “We live in fear on Mother’s Day.” Most popular flavors: Chocolate and Cake Batter
MAY/JUNE 2019
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