Last June, she decided to do it herself. Crowe-Seher drove across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas, talking to small ice-cream shop owners and employees. “I learned that people who come to get ice cream are always happy,” Crowe-Seher says. She apprenticed for a week at Mason’s Creamery in Cleveland, Ohio, and returned to Fort Worth to make connections. “I like the idea of forming local partnerships and using local ingredients.”
Back home, Crowe-Seher took over a coffee shop, painted an outside wall lemon yellow, and opened Melt Ice Creams. There are always six flavors available, including one dairy-free option. “It’s been really rewarding to have families with children that are lactose intolerant,” Crowe-Seher says. “For some, it is the first time the whole family has gone out for ice cream together.”
Crowe-Seher works with Stir Crazy Baked Goods to make ice-cream sandwiches and brownie sundaes, and she rotates flavors monthly. She recently twisted a lemon blueberry jam made by Moore Jam into a batch of organic mint ice cream. The most unusual collaboration? “I made dark-chocolate sauce with Rahr & Sons Brewing Company’s Iron Thistle ale,” she says. “Everybody loved it.” So it seems. Since opening in mid-April, Melt has gone from two to six employees.
