Van Leeuwen Ice Cream opens in Wesptort
In celebration, the store will offer $1 scoops on opening day from 3pm-5pm and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3pm
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the NYC born and nationally beloved brand known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, will open a scoop shop in Westport on February 6. The Westport store is the brand’s fourth location in Connecticut, following New Canaan (December 2023), Darien (April 2023) and Greenwich (October 2022), which was its first suburban scoop shop. The launch also marks a return to its roots for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen who are Fairfield County natives and whose ice cream journey began here twenty years ago.
In celebration, Van Leeuwen Westport will offer $1 scoops on opening day (Feb. 6) from 3pm-5pm and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3pm. The scoop shop will also showcase a special limited-time offering created by Westport-based cookbook author and creator Julia Dzafic (@lemonstripes). The vegan sundae features scoops of strawberry shortcake ice cream and banana pudding ice cream, and is topped with sprinkles, hot fudge and a “party hat” AKA a sugar cone.
Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen became ice cream entrepreneurs back in 2002. The brothers rented a Good Humor truck and drove it all around Greenwich for two summers. With the money he made, Ben went backpacking around Asia and Europe, and found himself most excited by the food he discovered and the revelation that good food was more accessible in other parts of the world. His travels inspired the idea for an ice cream truck serving good ice cream. Not long after, they enlisted co-founder Laura O’Neill and Van Leeuwen was born in the form of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of NYC in 2008.
Its French-style ice cream (made with more than double the amount of egg yolks as standard ice cream) quickly gained a loyal following. They are known nationally for creative seasonal flavors with a genuine focus on good ingredients and no unnecessary stuff, and for out-of-the-box limited-edition collaboration flavors such as Hidden Valley Ranch, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, BIGFACE Coffee Affogato in partnership with NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler and Espresso ice cream in partnership with singer/songwriter Sabrina Carpenter. Its extensive menu features more than 30 signature flavors including its award-winning Vanilla Bean (named best vanilla ice cream by The New York Times/Wirecutter), Honeycomb, Pistachio (made with Pistachios sourced from Mount Etna in Sicily), Marionberry Cheesecake (made with vine-ripened berries from Oregon farm partner Stahlbush Island Farms), Praline Butter Cake and Earl Grey Tea, in addition to sundaes, housemade waffle cones, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and pints to-go. Popular vegan flavors include Banana Bread Pudding, Peanut Butter Brownie Honeycomb, Strawberry Shortcake and more.
“We are so excited to bring Van Leeuwen to Westport and open our fourth location in our home state,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO. “It’s been amazing to see how warm the reception has been in Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan and we can’t wait to share good ice cream, made with good ingredients, with the Westport community.”
Van Leeuwen’s Westport scoop shop is located at 31 Church Lane and will be open daily. Guests can enjoy their treats at the scoop shop or order pints for takeout or delivery.
Opening day hours on February 6 are 12pm-11pm.
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