Getting the Scoop

It was a few minutes before noon and people were already collecting outside the serving window at Scoop Ice Cream on Mill Street in Elora.

“I love working here,” said store manager Christine Eves. “I love making ice cream. You get to make people happy all day long.”   

Store owner Mandy Morrison opened Scoop Ice Cream last September with a simple concept in mind.

“Our priority is to make things with fresh, local produce,” said Morrison. “We try to ensure we aren’t using any artificial flavours or colours or anything along those lines. Our catch line is ‘Simply Good’.”

The simpler, the better.

“The whole idea is that it is ice cream made very simply,” she said. “Most ice cream products have anywhere from five to eight ingredients if you read the ingredient declaration at the grocery store.”

A big part of Scoop’s appeal is what they don’t put in their ice cream.

“We are doing something really different and unique from what everyone else is doing and offering options like gluten free and vegan, which has really been popular for us,” said Morrison. “I work in dairy, so I don’t really know the vegan world, but we have a really good following from vegans and others who have more dietary restrictions.”    

Some might say Morrison has ice cream-making down to a science.

“I have a science degree from U of G, where I majored in nutrition and nutraceutical science,” she said. “Nutrition was obviously about eating healthy and how the body works with vitamins, minerals and everything. The nutraceutical side was how you use foods to prevent disease, basically.”

It is a hot topic these days, but her degree put her a little ahead of the times in the job market two decades ago.

“That was kind of new in 2004 when I graduated,” she said. “A little too early to find a job so, I was kind of taken in some different directions after university.”

She eventually found her way back.

“The last 10 years I have worked in the food industry in product development and that is kind of what led me here,” said Morrison. “The last five years or so of my career were at Gay Lea Foods in Guelph.”

She appeared to have all the ingredients necessary for a secure and successful career in the dairy industry, but something was missing.

“It’s a great place to work but I was just really unhappy with my career as a whole,” she said. “The stress of it all wasn’t worth it for me. I wanted to be doing something I love and that’s when I opened reFIND.”

Morrison and her husband Sacha Pavic have been operating reFIND Salvage on Mill Street for about six years.

“Half of the business is selling antique goods that have a lot of purpose left in them,” she said. “Instead of throwing things in the garbage, find a new purpose or a different purpose.”

The other half of the business was helping people restore their vintage items.

“The space where Scoop is now was actually our crafts and art studio,” said Morrison. “We used it as a workshop, and we rented the space out for private events.  I always thought it was an amazing spot for a takeout window. So, it was always in the back of my mind.”

Ironically, it was a global health crisis that drew Morrison back into the food industry and forced her to shut down half of the reFIND Salvage business.

“When COVID hit last year, I quickly realised we had to close the workshop studio space,” she said. “I didn’t want to give up that space beside the Mill with the riverside behind us and I felt Elora needed something new and fresh in terms of ice cream so, that’s what we went with.”

Morrison didn’t have to look far for a store manager.

“My traditional work history is all culinary,” said Eves. “I was looking to kind of break away from that so, I started working at reFIND Salvage for Mandy and it kind of clicked that this would be a better fit for me and that has definitely been the case. It has been a really natural transition into this position.”

Morrison couldn’t be happier.

“We have an amazing team put together,” she said. “Christine is freakin’ amazing.  She makes better ice cream than I do. I couldn’t have found a better manager.”

Selling a happy product like homemade ice cream seems to have softened the impact of the pandemic for everyone.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Eves. “I know everybody is having a hard time, but I really feel for the kids that can’t just go out and have fun with their friends so, they can come and get a scoop of ice cream and it makes them feel a little bit better.”