Bellingham shop has delighted ice cream fans for nearly 30 years. Get inside scoop
For nearly 30 years, one Bellingham ice cream shop has been delighting dessert lovers with its classic treats and creative flavors.
Over the decades, Mallard Ice Cream has debuted more than 700 flavor combinations, according to Eat Local First, an online directory that connects consumers with local farms, food producers and restaurants.
They range from black pepper cheesecake and lavender brownie to ranch dressing and beet.
The duck-themed scoop shop is also “dedicated to supporting local farmers and producers and showcas(ing) the best of what Whatcom County has to offer,” Eat First Local said.
Ahead of National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, July 19, The Bellingham Herald took a look at what makes Mallard so special.
Here’s what we learned:
How did Bellingham ice cream shop get started?
Mallard Ice Cream started in 1997 with a booth at the Bellingham Farmers Market, The Herald previously reported.
For years, the ice cream company had a store on Holly Street in Bellingham, in a space currently occupied by Tadeo’s Mexican Restaurant.
Company founder Mike Post van der Burg originally focused on wholesale as well as retail, selling pints of Mallard ice cream in 36 grocery stores through a wholesale distributor.
However, high dairy prices and personal burnout eventually pushed Post van der Burg out of business, he told The Herald in 2001.
The original Mallard location closed in the fall of 2000, according to Ben Scholtz, who began working at Mallard in 1999 as a booker.
“The biggest problem with the business up to that point” was an issue that plagues many ice cream shops, Schlotz told The Herald. “You’re busy in the summer and then it just business dies off in the winter. So you have three or four good months, and then you have months and months (that are) slow.”
Despite this, Scholtz purchased Mallard Ice Cream in 2001, and moved the ice cream shop to its current Fairhaven location at 1323 Railroad Ave. in 2006.
What is Mallard Ice Cream like?
With its display case full of rubber ducks and bright purple walls, Mallard Ice Cream features an overall vibe that’s funky and fun.
After ordering at the yellow-and-white counter, customers can grab a spot at one of the many tables inside or snag a seat outdoors.
The magic happens at two large mixing stands at the back of Mallard’s kitchen. Each batch of ice cream is churned while the container nests in a large bowl filled with ice and rock salt.
At any given time, there are at least five or six people taking orders, scooping ice cream and creating sweet treats.
Every summer, the shop hires seasonal help to with the busy tourism season.
What’s on the menu at Railroad Avenue scoop shop?
Regulars know Mallard as an ice cream shop with welcoming staff and unique flavors.
“We started asking, ‘I wonder if this ingredient could be made into ice cream?’ “ Schlotz said.
As of Friday, July 17, Mallard was serving up flavors including black pepper cheesecake, coffee crunch, strawberry pineapple ice and cookies and cream.
A half scoop costs $4.25, while a full scoop is $6.25, a double scoop is $8.75 and a triple scoop is $10.25. The shop even offers an option for indecisive customers: two half scoops for $625.
You can enjoy a sundae for $8.50 to $10.35, depending on how many scoops of ice cream you order.
Mallard also offers a banana split for $10.75, and a flight of ice creams featuring four half scoops with two toppings for $16.
Other treats on the menu include milkshakes for $11 each malts for $12, espresso shakes for $12.75 and soda floats for $10.75.
Drink options include sodas for $3. The business also offers coffee drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos and Americanos, with prices ranging from $3.50 to $6.50.
Customers can grab packed pints of Mallard’s most popular flavors for $10 each from a freezer inside the store.
A sign on the freezer spells out which ingredients come from local farms.
Local dessert store experiments with flavors
“The defining characteristic of Mallard is we make ice cream from real food ingredients,” Scholtz said. “If you’re having coffee ice cream ...those showed up in the form of whole coffee beans. If we’re making pumpkin ice cream, we’re getting pumpkins and roasting them ...”
Sourcing from local farms gives Mallard ice creams “the most flavor” and more quality control, Scholtz said. “(We) have a lot more control over the quality of the product than if we were buying berries from whatever big grocery wholesale source.”
Mallard makes all of its ice creams in five-gallon batches, which allows the business to experiment with flavors easier.
“One of the driving forces is curiosity” and “the search for new experiences,” Scholtz said. “There’s this feeling of, ‘Here’s something new we haven’t tried. It would be interesting to see how it turns out.’ ”
“When you come to Mallard, you might have the opportunity to share in something that’s new,” he added.
What do customers say?
Mallard Ice Cream’s dedication to fresh flavors made with high-quality ingredients has made it popular with locals and tourists alike.
As of Friday, the dessert shop had an average Yelp rating of 4.4 stars out of five, with a total of 702 reviews.
Yelp user Holly T. of Beaverton, Oregon, called Mallard “such a fun place to get some ice cream.”
“The ice cream flavors are both typical and unique,” she wrote. “They had an ube cheese flavor that I had to try.”
“Eff Baskin Robbins. This is the place for ice cream,” Yelp review Barry C. of Bellevue wrote, noting that there are “lots of fun flavor combinations and more samples to try.”
Yelp reviewer Austin G. of Washington, D.C., also praised the variety of flavors available, including vanilla black sesame and cereal milk.
“What a fun ice cream shop!” the Yelp user wrote in a five-star review.