Owowcow Creamery is looking to expand their brand’s reach by collaborating with new retail partners.
The local company, which has a popular location on North Union Street in the City of Lambertville, is looking at it as a way to bring their signature, homemade ice cream to a new audience. Yet they’re still staying true to their values of using natural ingredients and giving back to the community they serve.
“I decided I was going to make ice cream for two reasons. One is I wanted to offer something that came from me and the other is I didn’t want to sell anything, so I figured if I make an amazing product people are going to want to gravitate to it,” Owowcow’s Founder John Fessuoglio said. “I wanted to do something that was tied to the community. That meant I was going to make ice cream that I sourced locally.”
All of Owowcow’s ingredients are sourced from local farms, such as Manoff Orchards in New Hope, among many others. These ingredients include local cage-free eggs, raw honey, strawberries and candy products from Raymer’s Homemade Candies in nearby Doylestown.
In fact, Owowcow is one of the few ice cream companies in the U.S. that are licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make their ice cream base from scratch.
It is an incredible accomplishment when you factor in that Owowcow’s shops go through more than 10,000 gallons of organic ice cream per year.
Owowcow’s ice cream might be homemade and authentic, but they also intend to make the overall experience of visiting Owowcow memorable, as well.
“Anytime we open up a shop, that evolves and takes a life of its own,” Fezzuoglio said. “All of our shops are located deep within the community. So you’re not going to find us in a shopping center. And so, each shop feels like it belongs within that community. In many cases, you kind of have to find us. So that speaks to a desire to be authentically integrated within the community and anybody that wants to find us can and will.”
With five shops in trendy locations such as Ottsville, Wrightstown, Easton, Chalfont and Lambertville, Owowcow’s ice cream is enjoyed by Bucks and Hunterdon counties’ residents. But the homemade ice cream chain with a strong following is looking to grow even more.
Owowcow is looking to expand by partnering with like-minded, mission-driven businesses who support local farms.
The owner said it will let the retail partners sell Owowcow’s ice cream in their store. The move is a creative way to give their ice cream to a new audience without having to open a storefront. New retail partners will carry hand-dipped pops, seasonal flavors, as well as sorbet and vegan options.
This new business initiative is for a good cause.
“We’ve decided that a portion of the proceeds from all of our new retail partnerships will go to Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, an amazing non-profit that works with area farmers to distribute fresh, healthy produce and organic meats to food-insecure communities,” Owowcow’s managing director Shira Tizer Wade said.
To date, Rolling Harvest has distributed more than three million pounds of locally-grown fruits, vegetables and high-quality organic meats to hungry families since its inception in 2010.
“The Rolling Harvest shares really similar values with us,” Wade said. “What they’re doing spoke so strongly to us and we really wanted to make sure we worked with them on helping them achieve their goals.”
Some of Owowcow’s new retail partners are New Hope’s Stella and Dave’s Backyard Farms in Huntingdon Valley.
They’ve even expanded to the Jersey Shore. Birdy’s Cafe on Long Beach Island and Harvey Cedars is one of their retail partners by the beach.
Even with a large scoop of retail partners, the artisan ice cream shop is always looking for new partners who align with their values.
Besides donating to Rolling Harvest, Owowcow also gave away free seed packs to all of their customers to help feed the bees during April.
Similarly, they donated money to a local beekeeper association that provides financial support.
One of the last ways they help the community is by hiring local youth to work there, especially for summer jobs.
Regardless of where Owowcow’s signature ice cream goes next through their retail partnerships, one thing will always stay the same;
“We aren’t selling ice cream, we’re serving it,” Fezzuoglio said.
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