The Scoop Shop’s Houston Grand-Opening Includes New Local Flavor, $1 Scoops and Mural Partnership with Donkeeboy
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the nationally recognized brand known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, has announced today the official opening of its first-ever Texas store in Houston’s luxury shopping center, Rice Village. As the first of three Houston openings slated for summer 2021, Van Leeuwen Rice Village will celebrate its official grand opening at 2565 Amherst St. on May 8, 2021.
Since starting as an NYC food truck in 2008, Van Leeuwen has expanded into grocery stores across the country and opened retail shops in NYC, Los Angeles and now Texas. Van Leeuwen offers over 30 ice cream and vegan ice cream flavors made with only quality ingredients, using simple recipes, without any junk. To commemorate the much-anticipated first Texas shop, Van Leeuwen will be offering $1 scoops all day long during the grand opening.
“We are excited to be opening in Houston. As a small, family run business, the decision to expand into a new market was a really big deal for us. What attracted us to Houston was the incredible cultural and culinary diversity and the feeling of progress, growth in modernity the city radiates. The average daily temperature didn’t hurt either.” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen. “Over the past 12 years we’ve been obsessed with bringing our customers good ice cream that makes you feel good and are thrilled to be able to serve the Houston community at our Rice Village location. We’d like to invite the community to stop by to say ‘hi’ and try us out with $1 scoops on our opening.”
Each month, Van Leeuwen unveils four special flavors, two dairy and two vegan, available for a limited time both in store and online. Along with its scoops, Van Leeuwen also offers sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and a variety of toppings including items like hot fudge, honeycomb candy and housemade whipped cream. Exclusive to the new Rice Village location, Van Leeuwen has partnered with Houston’s Yellow Rose Distillery to create a uniquely-Texan opening flavor, Yellow Rose Bourbon Pecan Pie. The new Yellow Rose Bourbon Pecan Pie special flavor will be available at Rice Village while supplies last. Van Leeuwen’s Rice Village location will be open every day 11am to 11pm.
Ahead of the Rice Village opening, Houstonians can expect to see Van Leeuwen’s iconic ice cream truck popping up throughout the city, sharing samples of its ice cream goodness and special offers. To further celebrate their arrival in Houston, Van Leeuwen has also tapped local pop-culture artist and Bayou City favorite, Donkeeboy, for design of new Van Leeuwen Houston merch and commission of a live mural outside of the Rice Village Scoop Shop on opening day.
Van Leeuwen is slated for additional Houston openings throughout summer 2021, including locations in Uptown Park and Montrose Collective. The new region opening announcement closely follows the debut of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Bars, a new line of indulgent ice cream and vegan ice cream bars, available in 4-packs through Van Leeuwen’s online store and in select stores, including Central Market in Houston.
For more information about the new Van Leeuwen’s newest location and to keep up on all things Van Leeuwen, follow the brand on Instagram @vanleeuwenicecream or visit www.vanleeuwenicecream.com.
ABOUT VAN LEEUWEN ICE CREAM
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream was started out of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of NYC in 2008 by Ben Van Leeuwen, Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O’Neill, who were on a mission to make good ice cream from good ingredients that makes you feel good.
Since 2008, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream has innovated beyond the original dairy recipe and added cashew-milk vegan ice cream and oat-milk vegan ice cream to their scoopable lineup. In 2021, they launched their first line of dairy and vegan ice cream bars.
Van Leeuwen has now opened 23 scoop shops in NYC, NJ and LA, has products in grocery stores across the country and is available to order for nationwide shipping from their website. All the while, continuing the ultimate goal of making good ice cream that makes you feel good.
BECAUSE A LIFE WITHOUT ANYTHING GOOD IS BAD.
