It’s rare to find a place where the entire family can get a treat, especially if you want to include the dog. Humble Cow Ice Cream in Olympia is joyfully filling that need with chilly ice cream treats for everyone, even those with dietary restrictions. And even your four-legged best friend.
Humble Cow Ice Cream owner Meegan Cronk moved to Thurston County with her family six years ago from Port Angeles because they wanted their children in a certain school district. A former school counselor, Meegan also was doing foster care, which she did fulltime for a while. When she decided to return to the workforce, she wanted to continue to serve the community, but in a different way. “I just I really wanted to do something that was happy,” Meegan shares. “School counseling is giving back to the community but it’s just a different way, you know, and I wanted to do something that brought joy to the community. When I first saw the rendering of the building that Dr. VanCleave was doing, I immediately thought that something needs to go there that people can go to. I live just a mile and a half away, so I knew the need for walkable places for families, kids and seniors. And I love Ice cream!”
Driven by the beautiful rendering and the love for her neighborhood, Meegan began to work on a business plan. That was two and a half years ago, right before COVID. But for her, COVID may have been a blessing in disguise, it gave her the time to learn about being a small business owner, something she had never done before. “I took classes through the WCWB and the EDC and just kind of got as much knowledge as I could. And, you know, we kept using this moniker like, ‘This is not a good time to start a business, but it’s good time to plan a business.’”
All those classes from the Thurston County Economic Development Council and the Washington Center for Women in Business paid off, as Meegan successfully opened Humble Cow Ice Cream on January 15, 2022. And business has been good, regardless of the lingering pandemic. “It certainly has not deterred people from coming out and buying ice cream,” she says. “And we have outdoor tables so people who are not comfortable being indoors have that option, or they can take it to go.”
Local Ingredients, Fresh Flavor
Meegan wanted her ice cream to taste good, and she knew that part of the key to good taste was fresh, quality ingredients. Her dairy ice cream comes from a farm in Bellingham, meaning it has less travel time and is fresher, without the need for all those preservatives. “I could get an ice cream base—which is basically milk, cream and sugar—from Indiana for half the price of the local, but it doesn’t taste as good and has added preservatives,” explains Meegan. “Plus, I like to support local!”
In addition to local dairy, she plans on using fresh fruits and vegetables in her sweet treats as they come into season.
You’ll find about 16 fresh, creamy flavors each time you visit Humble Cow. They will always have the staples, such as chocolate, vanilla, mint chip and rocky road. But the other flavors will rotate so there will always be something new to try too. “We’ll always have a coffee ice cream but like right now we have freckled coffee, which is coffee with flakes of dark chocolate,” she explains about the rotating flavors. “Before that we did a coffee Oreo and a coffee almond fudge.”
Ice Cream for Everyone
In addition to their freshly made diary ice creams, they will always have four vegan ice creams as well, including one sorbet. Meegan takes as much care into the flavor of the vegan ice cream as she does the traditional, using fresh ingredients and making sure the taste and texture is right. This means not using the powered bases you can buy for non-dairy ice creams, but instead using a mix made from fresh ingredients. “We use coconut and oat milks in our vegan ice cream because I have found them to be the creamiest, with the best texture,” she explains.
Meegan’s favorite ice cream flavor is peanut butter chocolate, and she says their vegan one is just as good as a traditional ice cream. In the vegan version, she actually makes a fresh base with peanut butter milk, so the ice cream has a heavenly peanut butter flavor, with vegan chocolate flecked throughout. “So, you get chocolate and peanut butter in every bite,” she says.
Most of their ice cream flavors are gluten free, both vegan and dairy, so those who stay away from gluten can still enjoy a sweet treat too, just ask for available flavors.
And we can’t forget about Fido! Humble Cow will soon be offering Pup Cups! Yummy cold treats for your four-legged friend to enjoy, made with dog-safe ingredients like peanut butter, banana and oat milk. “It’s actually our most requested item,” Meegan says. “People are excited for the Pup Cups!”
Ice Cream for Every Occasion
Also coming soon are ice cream cakes for your next party or celebration. They will have a few grab-n-go ones, but will also be able to take custom orders including gluten and/or vegan ice cream cakes! Humble Cow will also have homemade, fresh ice cream sandwiches made to order, so no frozen, hard cookies here.
Next time you’re craving something sweet, check out Humble Cow and bring the whole family. Learn more at the Humble Cow website.
Humble Cow
4528 Maple Lane Southwest, Suite 104, Olympia
360.915.8019
