Penguin Ice Cream brings cool treats to Copley

It started with an almost-forgotten ice cream maker.

Travis Monty-Bromer, 33, of Copley said he had found the ice cream maker, which was his wife's, after they had moved in together. It had been stashed away in a closet.

"I pulled it out one day and I just started using it," Monty-Bromer said. "It became a passion."

That passion has translated into Penguin Ice Cream, which officially started serving scoops and other cold treats Thursday in its new home at 1245 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road. It is among several businesses that has opened in Copley in the past couple of years.

Shop grows out of catering business

Penguin Ice Cream's storefront wasn't just a way to fill a niche, but a culmination of Monty-Bromer's ice cream catering business, which he started in 2018 and still operates.

"It's just grown and grown to the point where I wanted to open an ice cream shop to go with the catering business," he said. "I didn't have a real food-service background. I have a general business degree. I was working sports and events before this."

Monty-Bromer said he and his wife have lived in Copley for six years now. He said they were surprised when they could not find a local ice cream shop when they first moved to the township.

"They had chain places, but no local," said Monty-Bromer, who moved to the township from Pittsburgh. "We wanted to be community focused, have a family feel to it.  focus on locally made or locally sourced."

Monty-Bromer said, however, that his own homemade concoctions will not be on the menu.

"Ohio is extremely strict in terms of homemade ice cream," he said. "So we won't be jumping through that barrier."

Instead, he will partner with other suppliers, including Pierre's French Ice Cream Inc. in Cleveland, and Cardinal Cakes and Coffee, a fellow Copley business.

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Dairy-free, gluten-free options — and focus on sustainability

The menu for Penguin Ice Cream is straightforward, and includes options for dairy free and no sugar added, Monty-Bromer said.

"That's a question we get asked constantly, if we have those two things," he said.

Penguin also has gluten free options as well.

Ice cream flavors range from the standard chocolate and French vanilla to coconut-pineapple, green tea, spumoni and, Monty-Bromer's personal favorite, black raspberry. In addition, Penguin Ice Cream will offer dairy-free sorbet, ice cream sandwiches, sundaes, milkshakes and even "pup cups" for the area's canine residents. Penguin will donate 25% of sales from its pup cups to One of a Kind Pet Rescue.

"We are very much community focused," Monty-Bromer said.

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Another highlight at Penguin Ice Cream is the company's efforts on using items that are easier on the environment.

"One of the items Penguin Ice Cream has been very passionate about is using environmentally friendly supplies," he said. "Our ice cream cups are made of compostable paper, our spoons are made from cornstarch and our drinking straws are paper straws. We do our best to avoid single use plastics in our business."

Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Stashed-away ice cream maker leads to sweet success for Copley man