Lofty Pursuits

What Lofty Pursuits does

Lofty Pursuits is a privately held, single-location specialty retail and food service business founded in 1993 by Gregory Cohen in Tallahassee, Florida. The company operates from a storefront at 1355 Market Street that combines four distinct retail concepts under one roof: a Victorian-style hand-made candy emporium using century-old drop rollers, a soda fountain producing 30+ rotating ice cream flavors (including vegan ice kreme and sorbet), a full-service brunch and lunch kitchen operating 7am–1:30pm daily, and a skill toy store (yo-yos, kites, juggling equipment, board games). The underlying craft capability is anchored in preserved Victorian-era confectionery techniques and a vintage 1940s–1970s soda fountain equipment fleet, with an in-house proprietary vegan ice kreme line (Vegan Key Lime Pie, Cookies and Kreme IK, Vegan Strawberry) and hand-crafted toppings.

The business monetizes through six interlocking revenue streams: in-store unit-priced ice cream and frozen dessert sales ($1.86–$13.75 per item), brunch/lunch food service ($7.50–$17 per dish), hand-made candy sales shipped worldwide through pd.net, mobile catering via the Scoop Coup bus and 1950s-era portable soda fountain cart ($350 minimum), private event hosting in 'The Barn' meeting room (capacity up to 36), and skill toy retail. Distribution extends beyond the storefront through online ordering (foodiestakeout.com), candy e-commerce (pd.net with worldwide shipping), and off-premise catering across the Big Bend region. Owner Gregory Cohen is widely cited as the country's leading expert on American soda fountains by the New York Times, and the brand has been featured in Southern Living, Food and Wine Magazine, the New York Times, and Miami Times, with a documented correspondence from Warren Buffett.

The company serves a horizontally segmented customer base spanning local Tallahassee families and individuals (primary), event planners and corporate hosts, schools and community organizations, skill toy hobbyists and yo-yo enthusiasts (a legacy of Cohen running the World Yo-Yo Contest from 2000–2014), and tourists. There is no public reporting of revenue, no external institutional funding, and the business has operated as a bootstrapped, founder-led enterprise for over 31 years with a stated headcount of approximately 9 employees.

Name

Lofty Pursuits

Legal name

Lofty Pursuits

Website

https://loftypursuits.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lofty Pursuits is a single-location specialty retail and food service business in Tallahassee, Florida, founded in 1993 by Gregory Cohen. It combines Victorian-era hand-made candy, hand-churned ice cream, full brunch service, skill toys, and mobile catering under one roof, serving local families, event clients, and tourists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Food and Confectionery Retail

NAICS

Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Confectionery and Nut Retailers (445292), Mobile Food Services (72233), Caterers (722320)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945), Retail-Convenience Stores (5412)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAFAGAC

Soft-Serve & Custard Stands

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Dessert, Ice Cream & Specialty Sweets Shops

SECONDARYCRAHAGAN

Specialty Food Gift Shops & Hampers

Consumer Products & Retail/Grocery & Food Retail/Specialty Food Stores (Deli, Cheese, Gourmet, Bakery)

Keywords

• Handmade candy
• Soda fountain ice cream
• Brunch restaurant
• Mobile ice cream catering
• Victorian candy making

Headquarters

HQ city

Tallahassee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts: In-house churned ice cream with 30+ regular flavors plus seasonal rotations. Also includes no-sugar-added options, sherbets, and vegan sorbets. Served as cones, dishes, sundaes, shakes, malts, floats, and sodas.
2. Brunch & Lunch Food Service: Full breakfast and lunch menu served 7am-1:30pm daily with extended kitchen hours Fri-Sat until 7pm. Includes omelets, waffles, pancakes, French toast, sandwiches, burgers, salads, and kids menu. Locally sourced ingredients including Bumpy Road Farm grits and Lucky Goat coffee.
3. Hand-Made Candy Sales: In-house candy making including candy canes, lollipops, and artisan confections. Ships worldwide through pd.net. Custom candy batches for parties and events.
4. Mobile Catering Services: Ice cream bus and portable cart catering for events. Serves weddings, corporate events, school functions. Pricing based on headcount, duration, and location with $350 minimum.
5. Party & Event Hosting: Private event room rental for parties and meetings. Lollipop creation parties, custom candy parties, and drop candy parties. Includes food service options.
6. Toys & Games Retail: Skill toys including yo-yos, kites, darts, juggling equipment. Board games and jigsaw puzzles available for order with delivery and pickup service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Lofty Pursuits is a single-location specialty retail and food service establishment in Tallahassee, Florida that combines a Victorian-style candy emporium, soda fountain ice cream parlor, full brunch/lunch kitchen, and toy store under one roof. The business sells hand-made hard candies (candy canes, lollipops, drop candies) made with century-old techniques, churns in-house ice cream with 250+ rotating flavors including vegan and no-sugar-added options, and serves a daily breakfast and lunch menu. It extends the experience off-site through a mobile ice cream bus (Scoop Coup) and portable 1950s soda fountain cart for event catering.

Product overview

Lofty Pursuits is a single-location specialty retail and food service establishment in Tallahassee, Florida, offering a combination of hand-made candy, ice cream and frozen treats, full brunch/lunch menu, toys and games, and event services. The business operates as a unified experience combining a Victorian-style candy emporium, soda fountain, toy store, and entertainment venue. Core products include over 250 rotating ice cream flavors and hand-crafted hard candies made on-premises. The service portfolio extends to mobile catering via an authentic 1950s soda fountain cart and converted school bus, private party hosting, meeting space rental (The Barn), and a community marching band. Specialty dietary options include vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free items.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hand-Made Candy Victorian-style hand-crafted hard candies made on premises, including candy canes, lollipops, and drop candies. Preserves lost candy-making skills using 100+ year old drop rollers and ships worldwide through pd.net.
• Ice Cream and Soda Fountain Treats

Quantifiable outcome

• Named one of top 10 things to do in Tallahassee
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Lucky Goat CoffeeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLucky Goat Coffee is used for the meeting space and catering services at Lofty Pursuits. Provides coffee service for events held in the meeting room.
• Bumpy Road FarmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal grits supplier for brunch menu items. Bumpy Road Farm provides locally-sourced grits used in various breakfast dishes including Grit Bowls.
• Proof Brewing Co.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLocal craft brewery whose beer is sold at Lofty Pursuits. Available by can for $6. Includes 850 American Pale Ale, Lager, Lala Land American IPA, Mango Wit.
• Bradley's SausageminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal sausage supplier used throughout the brunch menu. Bradley's sausage appears in multiple items including omelets, biscuits, and the Darrissa's Stuffed French Toast.
• Ology Brewing Co.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLocal brewery whose Ology Lofty Pursuits SE beer is available on tap at Lofty Pursuits for $6.
• Mark Hayward (World Yo-Yo Champion)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorld yo-yo champion who provided instructional videos for learning to yo-yo and is contracted to host the Tallahassee Yo-Yo Challenge world record attempt.
• Nick Walenda (Tightrope Walker)minorOthersTightrope walker who crossed the Grand Canyon; a length of his cable is part of the circus arts collection at Lofty Pursuits.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kilwins: Kilwins is a national chocolate, ice cream, and fudge franchise with experiential retail storefronts combining confectionery-making demonstrations, ice cream, and gift items. Highly comparable to Lofty Pursuits' Victorian candy emporium + soda fountain + retail model.
• Salt & Straw: Salt & Straw runs small-batch ice cream scoop shops known for unusual flavors and a strong community/institutional brand—directly comparable in artisan ice cream retail, flavor experimentation, and destination customer experience.
• Dylan's Candy Bar: Dylan's Candy Bar is a confectionery emporium combining candy retail, experiential in-store dining, gifts, and nationwide shipping—parallel to Lofty Pursuits' Victorian candy emporium identity, gift shipping via pd.net, and curated multi-product retail experience.
• See's Candies: See's Candies is a long-standing American candy retailer with physical shops and nationwide gifting/shipping—comparable to Lofty Pursuits in heritage confections, retail storefront format, and giftable specialty-food distribution.
• Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams: Jeni's operates destination scoop shops featuring small-batch, imaginative flavors with strong brand loyalty and cult following—closely mirroring Lofty Pursuits' flavor breadth (250+ rotating flavors), premium artisan positioning, and experiential parlor format.
• Amy's Ice Creams: Amy's is a single-city (Austin) artisan ice cream parlor famous for playful customer experience, made-to-order scoops, and cult brand status—a close parallel to Lofty Pursuits' Tallahassee destination parlor culture and personality-driven retail.

Broad incumbents

• IT'SUGAR: IT'SUGAR runs a national chain of candy and novelty retail shops with gifting and bulk offerings—a broader incumbent similar in function to Lofty Pursuits' Victorian candy + toy + gifting retail but lacking the artisanal, locally rooted production.
• Hershey's Chocolate World: Hershey's flagship Chocolate World attractions combine chocolate-making demonstrations, retail, and food/beverage under one brand experience—relevant as an experiential confectionery destination analogous to Lofty Pursuits' candy emporium + ice cream + brunch "everything" model, though at far greater scale.
• Häagen-Dazs Shops: Häagen-Dazs operates premium scoop shops worldwide—overlapping with Lofty Pursuits' ice cream parlor category but as part of a much larger, broad-line dairy/frozen dessert incumbent rather than a specialty, narrative-driven experience.

Regional players

• Lammes Candies: Lammes is a 138-year-old Texas confectionery with heritage in-store chocolate/candy making, ice cream, and gift shipping—an apt regional parallel to Lofty Pursuits' long-history, Victorian-era production, and specialty food retail approach, but operating primarily in Texas rather than Florida.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeloftypursuits.libsyn.com/website
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lofty-pursuits

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lofty Pursuits