lu.lu Artisan Ice Cream

lu.lu artisan ice cream is a small batch, hand-crafted ice cream business founded in 2012 with a “farm to spoon” mission. They use almost all local products in their ice cream – Monument Farms Dairy milk to Midnight Goat Farm goat’s milk, Last Resort Farm berries, Red Kite candies, Baldwin Creek herbs and baked goods, Stonecutter Spirits gin and whiskey and maple syrup from Schoolhouse Maple.

Owned by Linda Harmon, Doug Mack and Laura Mack, the business is operated by Laura Mack, who oversees the daily operation. The shop is located in the center of the historic business district on Main Street, Bristol and attracts both locals and tourists [Note: they’ve since moved to downtown Vergennes].  Yankee Magazine rated lu.lu as Vermont’s best hand-crafted ice cream in 2014.  They have also been featured in Travel and Leisure and in 7 Nights magazine.

A Business Builder loan from the VFF allowed lu.lu to purchase a blast freezer. This equipment allows them to freeze the ice cream product to -30 degrees in 3-4 hours.  Not only does the temperature get colder than regular freezers, it does so much quicker. Both of these attributes help to make the ice cream product less icy and thus a better product.

The blast freezer will also allow lu.lu to increase their customer base since the ice cream to produce custom ice cream flavors for institutional clients as well as a line of specialty ice cream sandwiches (including gluten-free treats) which benefit from the blast freezer quick chill.

Laura Mack at lu.lu