Answer Woman: What's changed at Ultimate Ice Cream Co.'s shops?

ASHEVILLE - Today's burning question is about an ice cream shop's recent changes. Have other questions for our staff? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at [email protected] and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: Any idea why the Ultimate Ice Cream shop shuttered its Charlotte Street store recently as well as reduced its offerings at its flagship store on Tunnel Road? The local homemade ice creamery has been a staple for over 20 years.

Answer: What you’re witnessing is ice cream evolution.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Company’s ice cream parlors were sold, and the new owners have changed the business’s name to The Mad Dipper: The Ultimate Ice Cream Experience.

The Mad Dipper announced the store at 195 Charlotte St. would be closed on July 22. The location was open for regular business as of July 26.

The original store at 1070 Tunnel Road remains open, too.

Although The Mad Dipper announced to the public online that the same recipes and techniques are in use, loyal Ultimate customers have commented on noticeable differences in the products or like how you mentioned not seeing many of the sorbets and exotic flavors in rotation.

“If you put two people in the room with identical ingredients and recipes, things are going to taste different,” said former owner Kevin Barnes.

“When people get to know a flavor after knowing it for a long time, any differentiation of it they’re like, ‘What’s going on? This is different?’ People generally don’t like changes to their treats but that all changes in some time,” he said.

Consider giving The Mad Dipper some grace during the transition and seeing what new and creative menu items they’re rolling out.

If you’re craving the cool treats you’ve come to know and love made by the previous owners, they haven’t disappeared. But you may need to make a few extra stops to find them.

Handcrafted ice cream change of hands

It’s not the first time the Ultimate has been sold.

In 2000, Asheville was introduced to Ultimate Ice Cream Co. by the original owners, Ron and Linda Levitan at 1070 Tunnel Road.

In 2005, Kevin and Lucia Barnes bought the business and later opened other locations including one at 195 Charlotte St.

Last November, the couple sold the ice cream shops at Charlotte Street and Tunnel Road to Bob and Deanna Williamson.

On July 5, an announcement detailing the ownership change was posted on The Mad Dipper's, formerly Ultimate Ice Cream shop’s, Facebook page.

According to the post, Bob and Deanna Williamson, who were not available by the time of publication, are a Western North Carolina couple. Deanna Williamson’s family owned a local Baskin-Robbins franchise for several years where she gained ice cream experience.

“The SAME fine ingredients and the SAME great ice cream will continue. Thanks to Kevin and Lucia, the training during transition will help to maintain the same recipes and concepts there were known for,” the post stated.

From direct- to wholesale

Over the years, Barnes said the ice cream shops provided jobs to many young people, including acting as the first job for nearly 150 high school students.

“We had a lovely time with it and we’re still friends with these people and get to see them have kids and get married,” he said. “It’s like family in a lot of ways. It was a hard thing to sell.”

Kevin Barnes said he and his wife decided to scale back operations after 19 years of hauling tons of cream and running the storefronts. However, they haven’t lost their taste for entrepreneurship.

The Barneses remain the owners of Ultimate Ice Cream Co LLC/Wholesale, which operates from their commercial kitchen in East Asheville, focusing on distributing large quantities of handcrafted artisan ice cream to area restaurants and retailers.

Kevin Barnes said their commercial kitchen hosts eight farmer’s market food producers.

He said part of the business deal agreement with the Williamsons was that the ice cream shops would change names to avoid confusing the wholesale business. Also, the Barneses may not package Ultimate ice cream for individual sale.

“We had our 19 years with it and wanted to do something else. We still have aspirations to do other things and that’s what we’re figuring out right now,” Kevin Barnes said. “We figured we would give somebody else Ultimate so they could jump in and do their own bit of magic on it.”

Where to find the original Ultimate Ice Cream

To find the original Ultimate ice cream made by the Barneses, visit their wholesale clients’ establishments, 828 Family Pizzeria, Artisun Gallery and Café, Boone Street Market, Christopher Farms, Creekside Taphouse, DJPickles at the local farmer’s markets, Just Local Market, The Lobster Trap, Mission Pizza, Modesto, Mountain Valley Farm Store, RendezVous, Rye Knot, Pinnacle Relief CBD Wellness Lounge and Prescription Pad of Weaverville.

Barnes said the Prescription Pad dips the ice cream.

The 828 Family Pizzeria receives Spumoni ice cream made with dark chocolate, vanilla-cherry and pistachio flavors.

Assorted flavors are at The Lobster Trap restaurant downtown.

Artisun Gallery and Café in Hot Springs receives nearly 20 flavors, weekly.

Barnes said he uses Rye Knot’s dark beer to make an ice cream served at the North Asheville restaurant as a float.

The Ultimate produces rosemary-infused vanilla and lemon gelatos for Mission Pizza at Terra Nova Brewing Co. in the South Slope brewing district.

According to the social media post, The Mad Dipper's services will include local market events and wholesale, corporate and wedding event catering.

The Ultimate flavors

Barnes said getting into the ice cream business was “serendipitous” as he always enjoyed cooking and he and his wife were looking for something different to do from their former careers in social work for about 20 years.

Barnes said he saw an ad about the Ultimate being for sale in the Citizen Times, made the call, and “it all fell into place.”

Barnes said his favorite part of the job was flavor creation — the ice cream company's bestselling flavor is the goat cheese and Bing cherry.

“It’s almost cheesecakey. It’s salty from the cheese and the dairy. It’s one of those things that just work,” he said.

Another fan favorite is the Kahlua Mocha Almond, which he said became ritualistic for some weekly buyers. His go-to flavor is pistachio made with pistachio butter imported from Italy.

He said the high ― 18% ― butterfat helps make the “ultimate” ice cream.

“It makes it more luxurious,” Barnes said. “We made over 500 flavors, and some didn’t sell well, and some took on a life of their own.”

For more, visit ultimateicecreamavl.com and follow @ultimateicecream_wholesale on Instagram and facebook.com.

For more about The Mad Dipper, visit facebook.com/UltimateIceCream and follow @themaddippernc on Instagram.

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ultimate Ice Cream Company gets new owners, name change