A sculpin scoop? Ice cream creations hooking in customers on the Northern Peninsula
The Dark Tickle Company is creating homemade ice cream this summer, inside fish-shaped cones
At first glance, eating ice cream out of a fish doesn't seem so appealing.
But that forms the basis for a new tasty treat on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, that has lit up social media and helped boost business at a crucial time for one St. Lunaire-Griquet storefront.
The Dark Tickle Company is best known for their jams, preserves and chocolate using local berries and bakeapples, sold throughout the province and at their home base on the northern tip of the island. For years, owner Kier Knudsen has wanted to expand into homemade ice cream, but he and his staff finally took the project off the back burner this winter.
"I mean wild berries and ice cream kind of go hand-in-hand," Knudsen told CBC Radio's Weekend AM. "This winter, we finally got a chance to get at it."
After perfecting recipes to include their signature berries, the store began looking for a unique way to package their ice cream.
With some thought and local inspiration, the Sculpin Cone was born.
"We wanted to present our ice cream in a very Newfoundland-ish type package, and what could be more Newfoundland than fish?" he joked.
The Sculpin Cone includes two scoops of ice cream and a chocolate cod, all tucked into a fish-shaped cone made in-house. After posting about the cone on social media earlier in July, Knudsen said the reaction has passed expectation.
"As it's uncharted territory, [we] had no idea of really what kind of reaction we were going to get." he said. "But it's going over well, and we're getting a lot more locals in our facility than usual. Given this current time, It's great to be honest, to see everybody."
Cones a boost during COVID-19
Like many tourism businesses trying to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, Knudsen said sales have dipped from the average summer.
"Primarily we're driven by the tourist industry," he said. "Our main thing is the manufacturing of course, and our main market is especially gifts, so we supply gift shops all across the island."
But without the usual traffic through those gift shops, orders have been slow.
"If you don't have any tourists, gift shops are not ordering and that kind of shuts us down for the most part," he said.
However, the Sculpin Cone has provided a much needed boost in business from both locals and those travelling around the island this year.
"It's been a great help. We saw an increase in local traffic prior to putting that out, which we were surprised of," he said.
"And then this Sculpin Cone and the ice cream just added to it. So yeah, it's all positive."
Knudsen said the uniqueness of something like the Sculpin Cone is something he would recommend to other businesses, to try to keep momentum through the summer season.
"Keep doing what you're doing, he said. "Do something unique, to try to attract attention in the local market."
With files from Weekend AM