Editor’s Note: We spoke with Sarah Gleba, the owner of A Better Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe and The Arctic Alligator Creamery with her husband Kevin. ABS is located at 70 S. Indiana Avenue and AAC is located at 3385 S. Access Road. Visit ABetterScoop.com (941-473-2650) and TheArcticAlligator.com (941-460-3647).
Sarah, what’s the history of your growing ice cream empire?
A Better Scoop was founded in 2009 and Kevin and I purchased the business in 2014. We’ve been the #1 ice cream business for many years through various award programs. We were named the Best New Business in 2015 by the Englewood Chamber of Commerce. Our staff is friendly and enjoy remembering your favorite flavor. We opened The Arctic Alligator Creamery in 2019. That’s where we make our own ice cream for both locations.
What can you share about your expansion at The Arctic Alligator Creamery?
In addition to serving tasty ice cream with a full bakery, we now offer lunch. Stop by for fresh sandwiches, soups, and salads with a special every day featuring a select sandwich with fresh soup.
Why did you decide to make your own ice cream?
We’ve always wanted to make our own ice cream to make sure our products featured the highest quality ingredients. Our prior supplier closed in 2018 and that led to our decision to create The Arctic Alligator Creamery. Making the best ice cream requires the best machines and ingredients. We use a batch freezer from Emery Thompson.
Can you give an example of a specialty flavor that your creamery has developed for a restaurant?
We made a Blood Orange Sorbet for our friends at Nicola’s Italian Kitchen in Englewood. Our process starts with the restaurant owners’ vision about a frozen dessert. From there we create a couple samples to build off of and adjust mixtures as needed. It’s rewarding to work with restaurants looking for premium desserts for their customers.
Is Salted Caramel still your most popular flavor and what are some of the other top choices?
Yes, and we make it with farm fresh praline pecans from Georgia. Most other companies use pecans shipped from Mexico that could be months old. Some of our other top sellers are Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Banana Blast, and Cookies and Cream.
What’s the latest with your daughters?
Kinleigh is almost 10 and she can’t wait to work with us. If she’s not at school, she’s playing volleyball for the Jellys, our favorite local team. Kaelyn is 2 and doing well as a full-time toddler exploring everything.
