PETOSKEY — East Mitchell Street is about to get sweeter as Jeff Dewes, owner of downtown’s go-to spot for cinnamon rolls Tillie’s Tafel, prepares to open an ice cream parlor next door that exclusively serves Moomers Ice Cream.

The bakery added ice cream to its menu about two years ago when they partnered with Moomers to create a Tillie’s Tafel Cinnamon Roll ice cream that they sold in containers. Last summer, they started serving eight different flavors, hand-dipped in cones, which became very popular.

This year, instead of bringing back the seasonal dessert in the bakery, Dewes, his wife and co-owner Patti and their daughter/manager Allie, decided to expand into the building next door and open an ice cream parlor serving Moomers. The shop will open the Friday before Memorial Day, in time for the holiday weekend rush.

The store will also sell Grand Traverse Pies and Tillie’s cinnamon rolls after Tillie’s Tafel has closed for the day.

“We want to carry products that are all made in Michigan. Grand Traverse Pies is that, Moomers is that, we are that,” Dewes said. “We all support ourselves, we all have great relationships with each other. We feel like it was just a natural step for us.”

The ice cream parlor will serve 16 flavors, including the Tillie’s cinnamon roll. Dewes said they are planning to add some outdoor seating for customers to use. The store will be open seasonally, likely closing around October, according to Dewes.

Moomers Ice Cream is owned by Jon Plummer and includes a dairy farm and its own parlor at 7263 N. Long Lake Road in Traverse City. The company provides products to about 150 other retailers around Northern Michigan, the Upper Peninsula and a couple locations downstate.

“We're always excited for new markets and new customers,” Plummer said. “We like to deal with exclusively our product rather than half our product and have someone else's so those customers who come into those locations, Tillie's in this situation, they know that the ice cream they get is Moomers.”

According to Plummer, Moomers ice cream is sold or sent to sellers like businesses serving ice cream and retailers selling containers right after it is made. The company distributes its own product using Moomers trucks that drive to each wholesale location, which is a mix of seasonal and year-round.

Aside from Tillie’s Tafel, Moomers is sold at Toski Sands Market and Harbor Ice Cream Company in Harbor Springs, the Bay View Inn, D&W Fresh Market and Meijer in Petoskey.

More: House of Pies to reopen in May under new ownership

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“If it involves ice cream, we most likely have done it or could do it really on any level, from small, medium to large,” Plummer said. “But then also our main focus is really two things: one is quality product, the same product that we started with 26 years ago, and then secondly is to maintain and service and continue to build those relationships that we have formed.”

After the ice cream parlor was announced on Facebook at the beginning of May, Dewes said the community has shown a lot of excitement.

“It's been a very, very positive response. Our partnership with Moomers has been very positive and we really appreciate they're letting us sell their product and be a good steward of their name as well.”

— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @Tess_Petoskey.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Tillie's Tafel to serve Moomers ice cream in new Petoskey shop