Sweet tooth customers that enter the new Ben & Jerry’s location at 15484 N.W. 77 Court in the Royal Oaks Shopping Center are immediately greeted by a massive mural depicting two guayabera-clad cows sipping on their cafecito and enjoying some ice cream near the Miami Beach skyline.
The mural speaks volumes about the easy assimilation into the community that owners Marcela and Ivan Kozupytsya have made following their grand opening of Miami Lakes’ newest ice cream shop.
The Kozupytsyas stumbled onto Miami Lakes while researching locations for their first franchise. Ivan had seen the Royal Oaks Shopping Center online and while it didn’t appear much different from other areas they had scouted he was mysteriously drawn to it. He abruptly ended his online research and hit the road at midnight to see the shopping center in person.
“Even at that time there were families out, walking and hanging out. Miami Lakes is a very family-oriented community which is exactly what we wanted. It was perfect,” said Ivan.
More than searching for a family-oriented community, the Kozupytsyas were looking for a place to be involved. In the several months since Ben & Jerry’s opened its doors, the shop has participated in funding campaigns for local schools, Marcela has joined the Mami Lakes Youth Activities Task Force, and most recently the shop was awarded an Appreciation Award by Senator Bob Graham for contributions and fundraising for Bob Graham Education Center.
“It’s really not like work, this doesn’t feel like we are working, this is just our life,” said Marcela.
Both Marcela and Ivan understand what it’s like to go to a workplace that feels like work. They have roots in suit-and-tie business environments, Marcela previously working as a financial advisor for eight years and Ivan as an attorney. Neither were able to find the creative fulfillment they craved within the confines of their previous professions so they sought out entrepreneurship in the sweetest business they could find.
“I loved my job. I learned a lot but it wasn’t me,” said Marcela. “I feel very free now that I get to highlight my creative side and get to apply what I learned as a financial advisor in our business. Ivan’s father and my father were both entrepreneurs, so we always knew we would want to do the same and open our own business, we just didn’t know it would be ice cream,” said Marcela.
Ivan returned to school after working as an attorney and earned his Master’s in marketing. It was there that he completed a thesis on Ben & Jerry’s branding and soon thereafter found himself steeped in ice cream.
“I come from a history of eating a lot of ice cream. A lot,” said Ivan. “And when you eat a lot of ice cream, you have to find the healthiest one. And yogurt just doesn’t do it for me. So after you research it, you find that Ben & Jerry’s really is the best.”
Ben & Jerry’s has long been known to spearhead socially conscious campaigns and for their ingredients which include free-range eggs, non GMO products and a host of fair trade items. The combination of greta flavor and social missions made it a perfect fit for the Kozupytsyas.
Among the exhaustive list of flavors created by “flavor gurus” at Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in Vermont, Marcela’s favorite is Gilly’s Catastrophic Crunch. Ivan’s favorite flavor is Tonight Dough by Jimmy Fallon, a love that extends into decoration as customers will find Jimmy Fallon’s smiling unbodied head floating among clouds in the shop’s colorful restroom. During the March 6 ribbon cutting event, Mayor Wayne Slaton tried the Wayne’s Swirl flavor, a play on words for the famous 90’s film Wayne’s World.
The ice cream shop has proven to be irresistible even to those leaving the nearby gym who slip into the shop and whisper to the Ben and Jerry’s staff “You never saw me here.”
The shop recently held a free scoop event on April 14 which boasted a line wrapping around the shopping center from the shop to Winn Dixie. A total of 4,293 scoops were scooped that day from 1 to 8 p.m. while the shop’s mascot, Woody the Cow, danced on the countertops. Another 250 free cones will be given on Mother’s Day, May 9, at the town’s “Paint A Picture For Mom” event at Miami Lakes Picnic Park West.
Flavors are offered in cones, pints, ice cream cakes and most recently in the form of a burrito (“brrr-ito”), a crepe stuffed with two flavors and toppings.
For more information visit www.benandjerrys.com/royaloaks, visit on Facebook at Ben Jerry Miami Lakes, or Instagram @BJMiamiLakes.