Local Vendor of the Month: Lick Honest Ice Cream
To Lick, "honest" simply means they use the purest ingredients they can find in their artisanal ice creams. What doesn’t go into their ice creams is just as important as what does. They never use artificial colors or flavors, high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, ever! They can trace every single ingredient they use to its source. Ice cream shouldn’t just taste good — they believe it should also be good.
Lick Honest Ice Cream takes great pride in witnessing their milk and cream as it journeys from the cow to your scoop. All of the milk and cream used to make their ice creams comes from family owned dairies in Texas and Wisconsin; and everything from the sauces, syrups, cookies, cakes and marshmallows is made by hand in their kitchen. They churn every batch and pack each pint by hand in their kitchen. They roll each waffle cone made from their homemade recipe in their shops every single day. All in an effort to serve up the freshest, most honest ice creams possible. They are also committed to sustainability by using only compostable cups, spoons and napkins in their shops.
Anthony and Chad opened Lick Honest Ice Creams in the fall of 2011 because they wanted to offer “honest ice creams” to savvy palates in Austin. Both grew up in small rural communities, enjoying homemade ice cream: Anthony from Hallettsville in South Central Texas and Chad from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The two met in New York City in the winter of 2005 and immediately connected (small town minds in the big city). As the years passed and after many train rides to Lancaster, Anthony began to truly appreciate what Chad grew up with…local, small town ice cream shops that made seasonal flavors with locally sourced ingredients: fresh, unique and delicious! With each lick, Anthony wondered what kind of flavors he could craft from the ingredients he grew up eating in Texas. Chad never ate ice cream at a chain, and from 2005 on, Anthony didn’t either.
In New York, Anthony (who had actually moved to the city with hopes of being a writer for a food magazine) worked as a caterer and event planner, where he deepened his love of working with food. He became inspired by the menus and dishes he helped develop and began mentally storing this inspiration for future use. Eventually, Chad's career took them away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan to the Midwest. There Anthony joined a local bakery and continued to dream of ways to include all of his favorite dishes and desserts into one thing. As several years passed, the dream of honest ice creams began dancing in their heads. All the while, with each trip to visit Anthony’s family and friends, Chad was falling more and more in love with Austin and becoming inspired by its creative spirit and local flavors. Finally, the right time came and the decision was made to sell their home and move to Austin. Thus began the realization of a dream and the building of
