Brian Stubbs still remembers the first time he tasted frozen custard—when he was a little boy his parents drove eight hours from Indiana home to Ontario, packing it in a cooler just so he could try it. Now, decades later, Stubbs and his partner Shannon Hartwig are serving up that same nostalgia in Vancouver.
The couple have launched Lucy's Frozen Custard & Cookies, now a weekend pop-up shop in an East Van storefront.
A staple in the U.S Midwest, frozen custard is similar to ice cream, but by definition is in a category of its own with precise regulated specifications.
Thanks to its use of egg yolks and the particular equipment used to churn the base, frozen custard emerges dense, silky, and deeply flavourful, like a meld of traditional gelato and familiar soft serve.
Stubbs says spent his childhood enjoying frozen custard when visiting his grandparents in Indiana and has long yearned to have the treat here in Vancouver.
Last fall came the realization: If no one else was going to sell frozen custard in Vancouver, why couldn't they?
"It's been brewing in my head for a while," Stubbs, an engineer by trade, tells V.I.A.
The project began by sourcing the appropriate frozen custard-making equipment from a company in Michigan.
By February, Stubbs and Hartwig "scoop school" students in St. Louis, Missouri, learning from the pros how to build recipes.
While the goal was to be churning out fresh frozen custard in the spring, the couple didn't count on the machine arriving broken, which ruffled the timeline a bit.
They were able to enter the testing phase in April and May, using friends as tasters to help them nail their base vanilla and chocolate flavours.
Named for their eight-year-old daughter (who admittedly wondered if being the custard biz namesake would vault her to Taylor Swift stardom status), Lucy's is essentially a side hustle, but one Stubbs and Hartwig have really dedicated themselves to.
They knew they wanted Lucy's to be part of their cherished Commercial Drive community, and had been getting the word out in the neighbourhood to see if they could set up shop somewhere as a pop-up. Word got back to the owner of Liquids & Solids, a soup and sandwich café with a retail space on Franklin Street, not too far from The Drive, who welcomed Lucy's Frozen Custard.
The Franklin Street shop gives Stubbs and Hartwig the manufacturing space needed and the front of house to run their weekend scoop shop.
Stubbs gets in early in the morning to make batches of frozen custard in about a half-dozen flavours, which includes their signature vanilla and chocolate, a dairy-free vanilla (made with a chickpea base), a sorbet, and a couple of rotating feature flavours.
Coming up with flavours is part logic (what can they make to ensure there are dairy-free and vegan options?) and part engaging with the community. Lucy's has been asking guests what flavours they'd like to see next, which has them on joyful missions to make it happen. The highly-requested S'mores is being worked, but they've already nailed a coffee frozen custard, using an extract made locally using beans sourced from Mount Pleasant's Honest to Pete's.
The connection to Honest to Pete's, initially by way of the local "flavour-maker" who produces both the vanilla extract and the coffee one Lucy's uses, as now the little coffee shop serves their frozen custard "ice cream" sandwiches. The goal is to pair up with more local spots to stock their products, too.
Those relationships among local small businesses have been clutch for Stubbs and Hartwig, but it's the opportunity to create a welcoming, friendly, fun space in the neighbourhood they love that means the most to the entrepreneurs.
Hartwig, who runs the front-of-house operations on the weekends, says she loves being in the mix with customers, particularly when they come in not knowing what frozen custard is.
"That’s the fun part for me! People are surprised and intrigued," describes Hartwig. "Part of this for us is building community."
And Lucy herself is most assuredly part of that.
Hartwig says they jokingly call Lucy "the mayor" of the neighbourhood; everyone knows her.
The youngster's first taste of food-fuelled fame came when Stubbs built a custom "cookie cart" for Lucy to use for a school fundraiser.
"We raised about $500 in 90 minutes for Britannia Elementary's playground project," shares Hartwig.
Now, Lucy delights in a half-hour "shift" each weekend day at her namesake shop, though she does take the business seriously.
"She told us we needed to talk about royalties for using her name," Hartwig says. "She asked 'what's my cut?'"
Like her parents, Lucy is enjoying this debut summer for the family frozen custard business.
"We really found joy as a family doing something entrepreneurial," Hartwig adds.
While the family is focusing on being present and the current summer pop-up for Lucy's, the future is on the table.
"I'd love to be able to make this a bigger thing," says Stubbs, describing a shop with longer hours and the set-up in which they can do like Midwest frozen custard shops do and turn out fresh product on demand every couple of hours.
“That’s the dream!” he says.
Stubbs is also keen to explore ways he can put his engineering background to work in a way that engages frozen custard shop guests, like a mechanized toppings bar, for one. A real "STEM frozen custard shop."
But for now, it's all about making sweet summer memories. Since Lucy's late June launch, the family has logged a handful of shop days and are excited to carry on through the season.
That means meeting their guests, being open to feedback, and making adjustments to the menu.
Lucy's does frozen custard by the cup or cone (sprinkles are free) or pint and in "Mixies" which are like familiar fast food cold treats with things like candy bar pieces or Lucy's cookies mixed in.
Stubbs says they've experimented with chopping up their cookies (like their signature brown butter) and adding them to the custard mix as it comes out of the machine, with tasty results. Now they're going to try doing the same with fresh fruit.
"We're learning what people really want," says Stubbs.
And if what people want is to try creamy, intensely flavoured, smooth Midwest frozen custard right here in Vancouver, they'll have to make plans to visit Lucy's at their pop-up shop this summer.
Lucy's Frozen Custard & Cookies is at 1695 Franklin St in Vancouver on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 9 p.m. Follow them on Instagram: @lucy.s_van.
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