We are in a time of flux, and I think this presents an opportunity to change how we frame our everyday messages and shape who we are moving forward. The sheer amount of opinions, recommendations, mixed government-led messaging surrounding COVID-19, initial impacts of the economic recession, and actions for the social justice movement is enough to make anyone throw their hands up trying to make sense of it all. Pausing to reflect on what I have (usually chocolate in-hand) and what’s around me; to ask myself if I need anything; to take a moment to breathe and remind myself that I am ok and safe; centers me in all the ways I am privileged and helps me refocus on how I can use my privilege, my voice, and my actions to be an ally.
Even in these moments, my barometer remains clear that what happens on the big-picture level is not up to me, and so I focus on what I can control. I know what I can control is my own role in challenging and changing the status quo of hetero-patriarchy and white supremacy every day. It’s high time to promote, support, and actively work towards intersectional racial equity on every front. This fuels me.
I wanted to reflect on this social media post I wrote last weekend, which was impacted by everything I shared above. My task was to highlight how craft chocolate is making its way into ice cream.
Prior to posting, I went through our customer base and industry network, hunting for any QTPOC makers making ice cream from craft chocolate to promote. My hunt was unsuccessful, which is no surprise, because our industry is dominated by white entrepreneurs who have had access to the resources and networks that support them in building these high risk, passion-oriented businesses. I want to be clear that this is not to knock all of the work and struggle that goes into getting any bean-to-bar business off the ground and established successfully. However, I do want to highlight the fact that if this is a struggle for white men and women entering the craft chocolate industry, that means it’s at least two or three times more challenging for Black people, Indigenous people, Brown people, Trans people and Queer people to start a craft chocolate business. All of the challenges combined likely make the barrier to entry just too high, especially while our industry is still nascent and fighting to establish itself. There isn’t enough widespread buy-in to craft chocolate to lower the risk and make resources and opportunities more accessible to QTPOC. We all operate within an established racist financing system and corporate capitalist national ethos which supports white entrepreneurs to be the risk takers, not QTPOC.
Back to the task at hand, posting on IG. While I wanted to lead the post with a message for how our audience can work to challenge the status quo of monopolized mass-market industrial chocolate ice cream by investing in their local chocolate makers and ice cream artisans, I was limited in examples that I could produce from the chocolate industry. All this left me wondering two things: How do we expand our network and customer base to be more inclusive? And if the lack of diversity is a systemic industry problem, then how do we change the root cause of that? Why aren’t Queer, Trans, People of color starting chocolate businesses? My current thinking is that the answer lies in risk tolerance and access to resources, as I outlined above. QTPOC already lead highly marginalized lives, so even if they are passionate about artisanal food production in the bean to bar and ice cream market, they are more likely to pursue production of both as a hobby rather than as a business.
Since the ice cream market has a longer and more established history of success, and thus a lower risk profile for entrepreneurs, I thought surely I could find some examples of QTPOC there. I did! This list is primarily black owned ice cream shops, but I plan to add more queer, trans, indigenous and POC owned shops with help from some recommendations. This research also left me with the impression that someone needs to compile a comprehensive list. So, here you go:
Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color Owned Ice Cream Shops!
Cajou, Baltimore, Maryland
Taharka Bros, Baltimore Maryland
Goodies Frozen Custard & Treat, Washington D.C.
The Southwest Soda Pop Shop, Washington D.C.
Island Tropical Ice Cream, Silver Spring Maryland
Three Scoops, Huntsville, Alabama
Sugar Hill Creamery, Harlem NYC
Earthy Goodness, Houston, TX
Hank’s Ice Cream Parlor, Houston, TX
Creme & Cocoa Creamery, Brooklyn, NYC
Gerizim Ice Cream Shop and Cafe in Brooklyn, NYC
Brooklyn Bell, NYC
Lotus Scoop, Brookly, NYC
Mikey Likes it, Harlem, NYC
One Love Mister Softee, Queens NYC - soft serve truck
Hood Cream, NOLA, LA
Ice Cream 504, NOLA, LA
Sweet n Nice, Toronto, Canada
Cultureful Treats, Philly, PA
Drop the Scoop Creamery, Philly, PA
Kreme & Krumb, Bloomfield, NJ
Salaam Ice Cream Parlor, Newark, NJ
Conez Ice Cream, Jersey City, NJ
Scoops n’ Swirls, Lawrence Township, NJ
What’s the Scoop, Metuchen, NJ
Unique Sweets in North Plainfield, NJ
Kilwins Chicago - Hyde Park, Chicago Il
Shawn Michelle, Chicago, Il
C&W Market and Ice Cream Parlor, Evanston Il
Ari’s Ice Cream Parlor, St. Louis, MO
Pirtles, East St. Louis, Il
Scoop Du Jour Ice Creamery, Seattle Wa
Little Giant Ice Cream, Oakland CA
Kube Nice Cream, Oakland, CA
Miyako, San Francisco, California
King Kone, LA CA
The Local Ice Creamery (LIC) in Omaha, NE
Sav’s Chill, Lexington, KY
Cool World Ice Cream Shop – Athens, GA
Sweet Joy Ice Cream, Lawrenceville, GA
Morelli’s, Atlanta GA
I Scream Rolls, Atlanta, GA
Not as Famous Cookie Co, Atlanta, GA
Barb’s Gourmet in Tallahassee, Fl
Localicious, Fort Lauderdale & Miramar, FL
Breaking barriers takes consistent pressure towards change! Please find businesses and products created by QTPOC to support, including beyond ice cream and chocolate. Any individual can start today by supporting QTPOC ventures, and by working to open more doors for these businesses through continued visits and purchases. This form of investing in our communities sets a stronger foundation to rock the boat together as an industry increasingly harder as we work towards ethical practices and transparency for all chocolate products, throughout the supply chain and in chocolate manufacturing, as the new standard practice.
Putting this list together fostered a sense of pride since I can see so many Black and POC entrepreneurs making kick-ass ice cream. I long for the day when the chocolate industry looks more similar to this! If you have more suggestions for QTPOC owned ice cream shops and artisans in your area, please share them with me, and I’ll be happy to update and include them in this list. This is not a comprehensive list, but can be a work in progress. It’s meant to be inclusive and drive business to these establishments.
Here’s the list of the QTPOC in chocolate that Chocolate Noise published, for reference.
I am a woman of color who is first generation American, and I was told not to pursue my dreams. I think this is a common experience. At the same time, my extended family who were all at various stages of emigrating and naturalizing regularly pointed out my privilege as a US citizen, and that my freedom was more guaranteed than theirs. Culturally, I felt so many mixed messages and had limited options presented to me for what success meant. This is just one consistent and yet foundational barrier that shapes who I am today.
I believe many others creators and entrepreneurs share in this struggle and successfully beat it. Then they go onto the next huge hurdle of gaining access to capital, a supportive network and finding customers. Pushing through the barriers of being told what’s acceptable, to embrace what we love, is hard work and usually comes from a passion to share the things we love making. It’s a hard-won dream to share our creations, whether it’s ice cream, chocolate, pottery or maybe even soap. It can be anything! The dream to create and share has been fought for, and I can’t think of anything more American than supporting this dream in being a success.
-Anjuli Dharna