Rollipop brings rolled ice cream trend to Iowa City Marketplace

Rolled ice cream is one of the coolest food trends in America right now, and it has come to Iowa City.

Rollipop Rolled Ice Cream opened inside the Iowa City Marketplace, right in front of the Sycamore Theatre, on Jan. 11.

With Rollipop's opening comes the first restaurant in eastern Iowa to serve the unique ice cream treat that features ice cream made in front of customers and rolled into tight spirals.

The only other rolled ice cream business in Iowa currently is Sweet Swirls Rolled Ice Cream in Ankeny. 

With Rollipop's opening, the marketplace that once had several unoccupied storefronts is just one major business away from being full.

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Rolled ice cream at Rollipop is made in a style that was pioneered in Thailand and has been growing in popularity across the U.S. since 2015, according to Forbes. 

Ingredients and flavors are chopped finely on a surface chilled to about 6 degrees. Milk-heavy cream is then poured over the ingredients, mixed together and spread thin onto the cold surface until it hardens just a bit. Then the ice cream is scraped off the surface and rolls into a tight spiral of ice cream. 

"It's entertainment. We get to show (customers) the science of making ice cream as well," Jack Hur, owner of Rollipop, said Monday. "From liquid to ice cream, they get to watch it right in front of their eyes." 

The unique spirals of ice cream also come in 10 vibrant flavors, such as strawberry shortcake, made with strawberries and graham crackers; the Matcha Mania, with matcha powder, an Oreo cookie and Nutella; and the Mango Tango, mango, strawberry and condensed milk. 

Since the ice cream is made fresh in front of customers, Hur said that Rollipop's product contains no preservatives. He added that once the seasons change and grow warmer, they will incorporate more seasonal, local ingredients into their ice cream. 

"Come in, eat fresh ice cream and you won't get any stomach ache," Hur said.

With set hours of noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday, Rollipop can seat roughly 30 people at circular tables located inside the storefront and a few tables in the hallway that leads marketplace customers to the Sycamore Theatre and Hobby Corner. 

Before opening Rollipop, Hur visited similar rolled ice cream shops across the country. "I was in Chicago and San Francisco and I saw people liking it. I tasted it and thought I could do better than this," Hur said. 

When the Rollipop idea was presented to Jon Arlotti, vice president of CORE Realty Holdings’ commercial projects, he knew he had to pounce to bring the trending business to the marketplace CORE Realty owns. He himself had some rolled ice cream in Kansas City with his grandchildren this past summer and it was a hit with both generations.  

"When they came to us, I was all over it. I was not going to let (Rollipop) go anywhere else in Iowa City," Arlotti said.

Since opening, Rollipop has regularly sported long lines of customers in the evening hours. Audiences walking to Sycamore Theatre the Friday night after they opened saw a line of over 40 people waiting for ice cream. Hur said lines of 30 to 50 people have not been uncommon, but are surprising considering that the ice cream shop has proved popular during a bitterly cold Iowa winter.

"When it's colder outside than the ice cream is, it's amazing that people are coming in," Hur said. When the weather warms up, Hur said he hopes to have tables under large umbrellas sitting in front of the business. 

Arlotti said "when the college students find out about Rollipop, and when it gets to spring and things warm up, I think the place is going to be hugely popular." 

Rollipop is the latest new businesses that has been brought into the Iowa City Marketplace over the past three years.

"We've had a high jump in occupancy over the past few years," Arlotti said. Noting that JoAnne Fabrics will relocate from Riverside Drive to the marketplace in May, the location that once saw a exodus of businesses will be almost full.

When they open in May, JoAnne Fabrics will occupy 22,000 square feet and later expand 5,000 more. Only one more large open spot exists in the main structure of the Iowa City Marketplace and Arlotti said he's aiming to bring a furniture retailer to the storefront. 

"It will be completely different from the store that's presently in Iowa City," Arlotti said. "It will be probably twice the size." 

After Von Mauer left the space that was then called the Sycamore Mall for the Iowa River Landing in Coralville in 2013, the marketplace was without a central anchor store. Planet Fitness was added in 2014. The arrival of Lucky's Market in 2015 at the former Von Mauer space was another major step forward. 

Though other businesses have left in the years between Lucky's arrival and Rollipop — Defunct Books, Radioshack, Sears and others — the eastern portion of the Marketplace, anchored by Panera Bread, has its storefronts filled. The opposite side, where the theater, Hobby Corner, Pizza Ranch and now Rollipop are located, now features just the one space open, which is where Arlotti hopes to put a furniture retailer. 

Arlotti said that there will be "other tenants that will jump on" after the opening of JoAnne. 

"We worked with the city and the city manager Geoff Fruin very closely to figure out what tenants to get," Arlotti said. 

Spaces are still open in the building in the northern part of the complex that houses the popular Mexican restaurant Avocado and the longtime pet shop Petland. 

"We are making the Iowa City Marketplace a destination in the area. Movies, shopping, pizza, ice cream, it's a destination for people to have a good time," Arlotti said. 

Arlotti credited ownership for putting money into the space for remodels both on the exterior of the structure and remodeling the spaces inside over the past few years. 

Even the McDonald's that sits in the same parking lot as the marketplace saw extensive expansion and remodeling in the latter months of 2017. 

"We're looking for more up-to-date businesses. Lucky's is a very forward-thinking organization. A lot of these tenants are forward-thinking," Arlotti said. "We want to add more businesses that are trending." 

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.