BONNYVILLE – A local entrepreneur is hoping Bonnyville will scream for her ice cream this summer.
Allee Kirkendall officially opened Allee Scoop over the weekend, a place residents can go to enjoy a serving of hard ice cream.
When asked why she decided to open her own ice cream shack, Kirkendall said she got some inspiration after helping at her friend Izzy Watters’ lemonade stand a few years ago.
“I thought it was really cool that she had her own business,” the 13-year-old exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time so it’s really cool that I now have the chance to do it.”
After receiving a loan to start the business from her Papa J, who Kirkendall considers her silent partner on the project, planning began on what her debut as an entrepreneur would look like.
Kirkendall thought an ice cream shop met a need in Bonnyville because no other storefronts are offering hard scoop ice cream, she stated.
“I think it will succeed and it will be a good option that people can have ice cream instead of soft serve.”
The original thought was for Allee Scoop to be in an ice cream truck, however, Kirkendall and her supporters decided an ice cream shack would be a better facility to hold everything.
Kirkendall stressed she wouldn’t have been able to get through all of the work it took without the help of her family.
“It took a lot of work, but I think the shack is going to be a cool idea and, hopefully, in the future we want it to be able to be moved on wheels so we can bring it to ball games and stuff like that.”
She added, “I think it would have been a lot harder if I didn’t have all the support I had because, with all of my decision making, I would make all the decisions, but my mom, grandpa, and my dad, they helped me with all of the decisions. I feel like it would have been harder if I didn’t have all that support.”
The ice cream shack, which is located at 5004 54th Ave. in Bonnyville, will be open from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays until summer break and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. Once school is over for Kirkendall, the location will be serving customers from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the warmer months.
Customers will have 15 flavors to choose from, including vanilla, strawberry, chocolate peanut butter, bubble gum, cherry custard, cookie dough, cotton candy, and more.
Allee Scoop orders their ice cream from Foothills Creamery, a Calgary-based dairy products company that has been serving Western Canada for 50 years.
There will also be lactose-free options, something that was important for Kirkendall to offer.
“We really wanted an option for people who can’t have dairy to make them feel like they can have ice cream,” she expressed.
Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle
