Riverdale Park’s Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe has a business model that turned out to be well-suited for the coronavirus pandemic.
After running a brick-and-mortar ice cream shop in Bowie for 18 years, Terri and Rodney Russell decided in 2018 to switch to selling wholesale, at farmer’s markets and through home delivery.
The only part of their business to suffer in recent months has been sales at corporate events and festivals, although they were at the recent Black Lives Matter rally in Hyattsville.
Terri Russell told the Hyattsville Wire that their Saturday home delivery now has around 60 regular customers. The menu can be found on Facebook and Instagram each week.
Former Air Force members, the Russells finished their last tour in Germany where they were friends with the owners of an ice cafe. They worked at the cafe while learning the trade, making European ice creams and sundaes, while Terri’s mother took a class on commercial ice cream making at the University of Maryland.
Their ice cream is handcrafted using natural ingredients and is free of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones.
Simple Pleasures’ ice cream can be found at the Riverdale Park, Greenbelt and Cheverly farmer’s markets, Dumm’s Pizza just around the corner in Riverdale Park and last week went on sale at Shortcake Bakery as well.
To sign up for delivery, you can contact them at 301-464-6777 or simplepleasuresice@yahoo.com.
