Village Ice Cream

What Village Ice Cream does

Village Ice Cream is a privately held, Calgary-based artisan ice cream retailer founded in 2012 by Billy Friley. The company produces and sells hand-crafted ice cream through a network of six retail scoop shop locations across Calgary neighborhoods: Victoria Park (2012), Britannia Plaza (2014), Garrison Corner (2016), Bridgeland, University District (2022), and West District (2026). Each shop prepares its own ice cream in 15 litre small batches using a proprietary base recipe built around fresh egg yolks, cream, and sugar, which effectively couples retail point-of-sale with on-site batch manufacturing.

The product offering centers on ten 'Always' year-round flavors — including Village Vanilla Bean, Maple Pecan, Melted Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Strawberry, Phil & Sebastian Coffee, Two Hills Earl Grey, Guide's Mint, North 49 Honeyberry, and Toasted Coconut — supplemented by rotating monthly seasonal flavors and a growing set of vegan options. The company also sells pints through a Square-based e-commerce site for bulk event orders and distributes digital eGift cards through Square. Beyond core ice cream sales, Village runs community programs including Dogs of Village (a dog-friendly pint line tied to Canadian Animal Task Force donations) and a broader donation request pipeline for fundraising events.

Revenue mechanics are almost entirely direct-to-consumer, retail-priced per scoop, pint, or sundae with no disclosed pricing, subscription, or wholesale model. Distribution is restricted to a single metro market (Calgary, Alberta), and there is no disclosed external investor, parent entity, or funding history — ownership remains concentrated with founder Billy Friley and his wife Tetiana. Growth has been organic and owner-funded, executed through incremental physical retail unit openings rather than geographic diversification, franchising, or capital-raising.

Name

Village Ice Cream

Legal name

Village Ice Cream

Website

https://villageicecream.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Village Ice Cream is a privately held Calgary-based artisan ice cream retailer founded in 2012, operating six neighborhood scoop shops that on-site produce small-batch hand-crafted ice cream for direct consumer sale.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisan Ice Cream Retail

NAICS

Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Manufacturing (311520)

SIC

Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts (2024), Dairy Products (2020)

akta.pro primary industry

Ice Cream & Gelato Shops (THAFAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Mobile Dessert Vendors (Ice Cream/Dessert Trucks & Carts) (THAFAHAG)

Keywords

• Artisan ice cream
• Handcrafted ice cream
• Scoop shop
• Ice cream catering
• Small batch ice cream

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Retail Ice Cream Sales: Revenue generated from selling hand-crafted ice cream by the scoop, pint, and sundae at six retail scoop shop locations throughout Calgary. Individual consumer purchases represent the core revenue stream.
2. Bulk/Event Orders: Village Ice Cream accepts bulk orders for corporate parties and local events through their Square site. This enables larger one-time transactions for celebrations and gatherings.
3. eGift Cards: Digital gift cards sold through Square, driving pre-paid revenue and customer acquisition.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Village Ice Cream produces and sells hand-crafted small-batch ice cream directly to consumers through six retail scoop shop locations in Calgary, Alberta. Each location prepares ice cream in 15-litre batches using a proprietary base recipe of fresh egg yolks, cream, and sugar, offering 10 permanent "Always" flavours alongside rotating seasonal flavours. The company also fulfils bulk ice cream orders for events and parties through an online ordering platform and sells digital gift cards.

Product overview

Village Ice Cream is a Calgary-based artisan ice cream company operating six scoop shop locations. Their product portfolio consists of two main offerings: (1) 10 'Always Flavours' - core hand-crafted ice cream varieties made in small 15-liter batches at each location using a proprietary recipe with fresh egg yolks, cream, and sugar, and (2) rotating Seasonal Flavors that change monthly with creative flavor combinations. Additional offerings include bulk orders/catering services for events, eGift Cards, and the Dogs of Village community initiative supporting animal welfare. The company was founded in 2012 by Billy Friley and maintains a mission focused on inclusive community spaces and quality ingredients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Always Flavours (Core Ice Cream Line) Year-round core line of 10 hand-crafted small-batch ice cream flavours including North 49 Honeyberry, Village Vanilla Bean, Toasted Coconut, Strawberry, Salted Caramel, Phil & Sebastian Coffee, Melted Chocolate, Maple Pecan, Two Hills Earl Grey, and Guide's Mint, available at all six Calgary scoop shop locations.
• Seasonal Flavours Rotating limited-time ice cream flavours that change monthly, featuring creative combinations such as Banana Toffee Crunch, Mini Donut, Iqrizzle's Kulfi Krunch, Honeydew (Vegan), Triple Chocolate (Vegan), Lemon Poppyseed Cake (Vegan), Choco Ritz (Vegan), and Skor Bar.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 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

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Phil & Sebastian CoffeecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal Calgary coffee roasters who supply expertly roasted seasonal beans for the Phil & Sebastian Coffee ice cream flavor. Freshly ground beans are cold infused in the ice cream base for 18 hours. Additionally, Phil & Sebastian Coffee has a neighboring location in Bridgeland.
• Canadian Animal Task ForcecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDonation partner for the Dogs of Village pint program. $1 from every Dogs of Village pint and scoop sold goes to support the Canadian Animal Task Force, an animal rescue organization.
• Sweet Relief PastriesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal baker who created a deluxe mint cookie especially for Village Ice Cream's Guide's Mint flavor. The cookie features organic mint paired with dark, crunchy chocolate cookie pieces.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Salt & Straw Ice Cream: Family-run, small-batch Portland-born scoop shop chain now multi-city, known for inventive flavors, locally-sourced ingredient narratives, and design-forward interiors. Comparable to Village on craft positioning, brand storytelling, and willingness to scale by opening individual scoop shops rather than wholesale first.
• Ample Hills Creamery: Brooklyn-born small-batch scoop shop with playful flavor innovation, on-site production, and community-driven brand. Closely mirrors Village's combination of proprietary base, creative flavors, and neighborhood-gathering-place positioning.
• Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams: Jeni Britton Bauer's scoop shop brand built around a proprietary small-batch, direct-to-consumer retail model with cult flavor innovation. Operates a multi-city retail footprint with strong design and food-press credibility, making it the closest analog to Village's neighborhood scoop-shop model in a larger geography.
• Sweet Rose Creamery: Small-batch, chef-driven scoop shop with multiple locations and strong design focus in the U.S. Comparable craft and experiential positioning to Village's Architectural Digest-recognized interior.
• Van Leeuwen Ice Cream: Premium scoop shop and pint brand with a proprietary dairy base and a popular vegan line, originally New York and now multi-city with national grocery distribution. Directly comparable on small-batch craft credentials, flavor innovation cadence, and vegan extension — a template for where Village could grow next.

Broad incumbents

• Ben & Jerry's: Values-driven, flavor-forward ice cream brand owned by Unilever with strong grocery distribution and franchised scoop shops. Comparable to Village on community/values positioning and chunky flavor creativity, but operates at vastly larger scale across both retail and CPG channels.
• Marble Slab Creamery: franchised small-batch scoop shop concept with made-on-premise ice cream across North America. Comparable to Village on made-to-order in-store production, but competes at a lower price point with a franchised growth model.
• Baskin-Robbins: Largest specialized ice cream retail chain in North America with thousands of franchised locations. Represents the mass-market counterweight Village competes against for casual dessert occasions in Canada.
• Häagen-Dazs: Iconic global super-premium ice cream brand with broad retail grocery distribution and a long-standing scoop shop presence. Sets the upper-bound premium ice cream benchmark Village competes against at the experience tier, not at the CPG tier.

Regional players

• Kawartha Dairy: Ontario-based Canadian dairy and ice cream maker with retail scoop shops and grocery distribution across Ontario. Direct Canadian comparable on craft ice cream, family-owned heritage, and brick-and-mortar scoop shop model, with geographic overlap in Canada.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/Villageicecream
• Facebookfacebook.com/VillageIceCream
• Instagraminstagram.com/Villageicecream
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/village-ice-cream

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 Village Ice Cream