Rococo Ice Cream’s dessert bar in Kennebunk to feature bold flavors, ice cream cocktails

KENNEBUNK, Maine — When Lauren Guptill opened Rococo Ice Cream in Dock Square a dozen years ago, she took ice cream to a new level, inventing flavors with local and international flair.

Now, Guptill is taking her business to a yet another new level, relocating it to a new scoop shop and dessert bar at the Shipyard Shops center in the Lower Village of Kennebunk.

Located at 8 Western Ave., next to Federal Jack’s, the scoop shop is expected to open sometime in early June, with the dessert bar to follow later this summer, according to Guptill. You can keep your eye out for opening dates on the company’s website.

Guptill said the new location and expanded offerings are in step with her mission of being bold with her business.

“Twelve years ago, I took a chance on some very unusual flavor pairings, and it paid off with a beloved award-winning ice cream brand,” Guptill said.

Given her success, you might think Guptill has a degree in business. Guess again: instead, she has one in anthropology, and it has served her — and her customers — well during the past 12 years.

Guptill's recipes blend local and imported ingredients that allow customers to “travel to other countries with each scoop of ice cream — no passport required,” she said. She has created flavors that have celebrated Cuban, Argentine and Middle Eastern cultures, as well as others, she added.

“I pull from a global palette,” Guptill said.

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On Monday, Guptill walked through the future scoop shop and dessert bar as contractors installed the tiled floors and counters. The scoop shop will be a small, intimate space, where patrons can order cones and cups of ice cream and enjoy them at tables set up outside. The dessert bar will be an intimate space, too, but one that will seat as many as 16 people as they enjoy a mouthwatering dessert or nurse an “ice cream cocktail.”

Guptill and her staff will kick off the summer with a collaboration with their new next-door neighbor, Shipyard Brewing Company. Rococo will transform the brewery’s Sunfish Ale into a “delicate wheat ale ice cream composed of fruity notes, apricot jam, and bites of candied ginger.”

And rest assured: Rococo also is keeping fan-favorite flavors such as Strawberry Basil, Guava Maria Cookie, and Goat Cheese Blackberry Chambord.

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New dessert bar to feature 'ice cream cocktails' and more

The dessert bar will be a first-of-its-kind in the area, according to Guptill. Rococo’s press release promises a bar that will be “gorgeously designed to transport people around the world.” The tiles will be a shade of Mediterranean green. The Italian-inspired ceramic flooring will have hints of cream and gold. Golden banquettes will bring Paris to mind, she said. Patrons will seat and enjoy themselves in an area of “architectural playfulness and whimsy.”

The menu will feature a take on ice cream cocktails and ice cream-focused desserts, including a variety of ice cream floats, milkshakes, affogatos, sundaes, and such ice cream dishes as Baked Alaskans, cakes and pies. Patrons will be able to order in or take out their treats.

Guptill is turning to local professionals to carry out her vision. Woodhull Maine, of Portland, is the architect of the new sites and is leading their construction. Christy Ried and Krista Stokes, of Kennebunkport, are handling the interior design.

Guptill said she is excited to create even more flavor pairings, involving espresso, spirits, cakes and pastries.

Take the banana split, for example.

“I imagine it’s going to have some sort of twist to it,” Guptill said. “It’s going to be a new, intriguing, innovative way of thinking about a banana split.”

And she’ll do the same with, say, brownie sundaes, soda floats and milkshakes.

“I play around a lot with herbs and spices and international ingredients that generally don’t often make their way into the U.S. market,” Guptill said. “It’s those types of ideas that will be incorporated into the dessert bar.”

Guptill spoke of the dessert bar fulfilling a number of scenarios for patrons.

“I see the dessert bar as the perfect spot for a sweet nightcap or a mid-afternoon sugar rush,” she said. “The romantic in me is imagining it will be the place of many first dates, as well as a gathering spot for friends and families.”

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Rococo Ice Cream is also about serving up experiences

The inventiveness of Rococo Ice Cream has its roots in both pragmatism and an inclination toward the creative arts, according to Guptill.

She said when she wanted to open an ice cream shop twelve years ago, she knew she was going to have to offer something different from the other shops and parlors in the area. If her new shop was to distinguish itself and thrive, she would have to serve something other than Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or Mint Chocolate Chip.

The idea is to create experiences – especially ones some people might not otherwise have, Guptill said. You might pass up a bottle of saffron at a store if the price is too high, but you would jump at a chance to try saffron-pistachio ice cream if it’s just $5.50 for a cone.

“Ice cream is a great, relatively inexpensive medium,” she said.

It’s also one with endless possibilities, as Guptill has created hundreds of new flavors that she keeps in rotation throughout the season. And she leaves no doubt she will keep coming up with more.

“There are no limits for me,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rococo Ice Cream in Kennebunk, ME opening new scoop shop, dessert bar