After an epic meltdown, Ample Hills Creamery wants to rise again

Our mission is to harness the power of ice cream as community organizers before us did. To that end, “we are constantly on the lookout for the Perfect Scoop, the Great American Scoop of Ice Cream.”

Mr. Smith chased that dream while in pandemic lockdown at home with a Vitamix blender. He started pureeing the ingredients together, constantly turning new mixtures until they were fine enough to freeze.

From those Vitamix variations, he developed a new ice cream base formula, with less egg yolks, less sugar, and more glucose—a clear, viscous sweetener with a taffy-like bubblegum. In the cream base, he mashes whole croissants to make Morning in Paris, sprinkled with raspberry jam; he mixes bananas and Nilla Wafers to make banana pudding.

That new formula will gradually replace the original one as the pair tentatively reopens Ample Hills stores in Manhattan and Queens, and a new manufacturing facility and premiere store in Brooklyn’s Industry City. So far, they have no expansion plans outside of New York City. “We’ve said yes too many times,” said Mr. Smith.

Will their attempt at a second act go more smoothly than the first?

Their plan has a recent precedent: last year, the Crumbs founders, Mia and Jason Bauer, bought back their brand for $300, reinventing it as a grocery store and direct-to-consumer operation, without retail stores. Their cupcakes and cookie jars are sold in New York City’s upscale supermarkets, and they just raised $1.5 million for expansion.

“All that money we spent on landlords and labor was not needed this time,” said Mr. Bauer.

But the owners of Ample Hills are doubling down on bricks and mortar. “We want to get to know our customers again,” said Ms. Cuscuna. She described the feeling of walking into the original store as “surreal”.