There is nothing like an ice cream treat to put you in a good mood. Whether you are celebrating something, just need a sweet pick me up on a rainy day, or want to treat the kids to something special, ice cream is the perfect choice. Tara Yoder thought the same thing about it when her and her husband, Sam, were looking to start a business. Enter Sunshine Scoop Ice Cream in Lacey.
One of Tara’s grandfathers was in the army and stationed locally. Her other grandparents were teachers in the Puyallup district and she still has family living on South Hill. It made sense to her, then, to stay in the area when brainstorming with her husband about a business to start.
“My husband and I looked into many different types of businesses, some were very costly to start up,” Tara explains. “So, I had an idea to drive a van around and sell ice cream bars. When I started to research, I found Emery Thompson, the maker of my ice cream machine, and they had a YouTube channel showing how to make ice cream. I told my husband I can do that!!! And we did!”
Opening a full ice cream shop in Lacey is a bigger endeavor than a van, especially when you decide to open during COVID. Thankfully, Tara said they didn’t have too much trouble getting up and running, other than finding contractors and things taking longer to arrive due to the supply chain issues.
The Sunshine Scoop Difference
Tara and her husband wanted to make sure their ice cream—all house made—was something you couldn’t get just anywhere. They start with dairy from Meadowsweet Farms, a family-owned business. “They are a trusted dairy distributor for over 40 years,” shares Tara. “They are also one of the only distributors with a non-corn syrup ice cream base.” That’s right, no corn syrup in this ice cream, that’s as creamy as if you had spent all day churning it yourself.
Tara’s husband can’t have gluten and her two children have dairy sensitives, so it makes sense she would make sure that these groups of people could have something at Sunshine Scoop too! “I want everyone to be able to enjoy a treat,” she explains. “I am still working on Keto/low sugar options.”
Everyday they usually have about four vegan flavors. “The way I make our ice cream is with special attention to cross contamination,” she adds. “I make any item with nuts or gluten at the very end of the production day.”
While Sunshine Scoop Ice Cream always has vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, their other flavors rotate often. For example, you may find vanilla caramel praline or butter pecan. A favorite of customers is sour gummy and pucker punch when it’s available. Typically, there are about 24 flavors to choose from, enough to make you want a much larger bowl.
And what does Tara say is her favorite ice cream flavor? “Depends on the mood I am in,” she says. I just created a masla chai that is to die for! I love our cosmic brownie, when in a chocolate mood, and our Honey Lavender is so good!”
If you are daring and like to try unusual ice cream flavors, Sunshine Scoop has a club for you! The Double Dare Ice Cream Club allows members to sample a unique ice cream flavor each month. “Our First will be cucumber wasabi, we also have jalapeno pineapple planned and a few others,” explains Tara. “When a participant completes all 12 months, they receive a t-shirt that says they completed the Double Dare Ice Cream Challenge.”
Select a Sweet Treat and Stay Awhile
The Sunshine Scoop Ice Cream parlor is designed as a place for people to gather and celebrate, not grab their ice cream and leave. They have an area for board games with crosswords, word search and coloring books, and paint dauber sheets. Or bring your own game in! They also have a foosball table and a play area for the small kiddos to burn off that sugar!
On first and third Fridays a balloon twister visits, to delight children—and adults—of all ages with his incredible talent of shaping balloons into all kinds of things. And at the end of each month, they have a special character visit, like Spiderman or Rapunzel. In the summer months they have other events, check the Sunshine Scoop Ice Cream website or Facebook page for details.
Sunshine Scoop Ice Cream
8640 Martin Way E Suite H, Lacey
360.742.9454
