Smith and Cuscuna are greeted by a well-wisher at their flagship shop on Vanderbilt Ave. Wednesday (Dadvid Doobinin)
Ample Hills Creamery reopens its flagship shop under its original owners
The founders of the beloved Brooklyn-born ice cream shop have officially regained control (and plan to take it slower this time)
Let’s all scream for ice cream because Ample Hills Creamery is back, under new-old management.
The Brooklyn-born company reopened its original store in Prospect Heights on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a new lease on life under original owners Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna.
Turns out Wednesday, the longest day of the year, was a perfect day for ice cream: Locals, fans, friends and supporters all turned out for a scoop (or three) and were greeted by a jubilant Smith and Cuscuna.
“We live around the corner and have been walking by wistfully missing Ample Hills,” local Lily Remert told Brooklyn Magazine over a heaping cone. “Days ago I saw the sign they are reopening, and we all came today at 1 p.m. So excited!”
From left: Caroline Ragland, Lily Remert and May Selcraig (David Doobinin)
It’s been a rocky road for the ice cream makers, who enjoyed wild success out the gate for delicious and creative flavors like “Salt Crack Caramel,” “Ooey Gooey Butter Cake” and hyper-local creations like “It Came from Gowanus.” The two saw their fortunes melt after of a rapid over-expansion and financial difficulties that ultimately forced them to sell their home-churned brand, which had won accolades from the likes of Oprah and Disney’s Bob Iger.
In a March 2021 interview with “Brooklyn Magazine: The Podcast,” founders Smith and Cuscuna were candid about what went wrong under their watch. Ample Hills was sold after bankruptcy in June 2020 to the new owner, Schmitt Industries.
Perhaps obviously, Schmitt, a company that makes “highly precise test and measurement products,” wasn’t the right fit to take over the ice cream company. Hints of trouble started churning last year when Schmitt abruptly shuttered Ample Hill’s 12 locations as the parent company searched for additional funding. They never reopened.
In the meantime, Smith and Cuscuna opened a new ice cream shop in Prospect Heights called The Social, which the couple says they will continue to operate.
Last month, the two bought back Ample Hills for just $150,000 (they had sold it for $1 million). They admitted to the New York Times that they’ve “made every mistake it is possible to make” and that they’re taking it slow. This iteration is helped with funding from Norm Brodsky, an 84-year-old entrepreneur, who admired the couple’s moxie.
Smith, left, and Cuscuna chat with a customer (David Doobinin)
“They built a brand that’s already been through bankruptcy twice and still exists,” Brodsky told the Times. “That doesn’t happen unless you’re doing something pretty special.”
Only three of the former Ample Hills locations will reopen, and they have eyes on an Industry City location. There are no plans to expand it beyond New York City — for now. “We said yes one too many times,” Smith told the Times.
(Photo by David Doobinin)
