MilkMade Delivers the Goods

I don't know about you, but when I’m melting into my pleather sofa in the skin-blistering heat of a summer afternoon, the last thing I want to do is get my ass up, find my other flip-flop and huck it down to the store for some ice cream. Fortunately, slothful Manhattan gourmands like myself will find salvation this summer in a hot new idea in cold cream: MilkMade.

Removing that last little hiccup between you and a pint of pure joy, partners Diana Hardeman and Michelle Truong will deliver their wares the day after they’re made to your abode, one pint a month in a three-month subscription for $50. They’ll even text you 15 minutes before they arrive.

Sixteen bucks a pint? Damn straight. Cue the drool: Crafted from organic milk, Knoll Crest eggs and pure cane sugar in a rented kitchen in Long Island, MilkMade’s flavors do for frozen ice what the electric guitar did for rock, electrifying each scoop’s assault on your palate to produce vibrant, crackling flavors.

“Everything that I eat, I now think can this be an ice cream flavor?” says Hardeman. “That’s really a fun thing.”

The duo’s greatest hits, which are never re-created, include real-life remixes, such as French Toast and Strawberries; inspired mash-ups of unexpected tastes, such as Twist and Stout, a blend of oatmeal stout ice cream with an orange twist and some chocolate chips.

But, there’s a catch: Only residents in the West and East Villages, south Harlem and parts of Brooklyn can sign up. And delivering ice cream is anything but easy.

“It seems like a great idea at first, but almost inevitably something goes wrong,” says Hardeman. “The dry-ice people are all out of ice. Or my bike breaks down. Or it starts snowing and it’s my first time biking in the city. But people are really understanding. And in the end, they’re happy because they get their ice cream.”

Hardeman, a 2009 graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business, won’t rest until her pints find a way into everyone’s hands.

“My goal has changed throughout,” says Hardeman. “Initially we just thought it was us making ice cream and serving it to our friends. And then it just blew up from there. We brought delivery into the East Village, and then we slowly expanded. We’ll be in Brooklyn this summer. And we’re starting to sell very small scoop containers and ice cream sandwiches at some stores around the city.”

Wait a minute. Ice cream sandwiches?

“Yeah, Twist and Shout we placed between two chocolate chip cookies. And we did the brown sugar and vanilla between peanut butter cookies. They’re great.”

They’re also more portable, and that’s the smart part of Hardeman’s cream dream.

“We want to continue expanding our ice cream delivery, but building a presence in markets is important to us as well, selling in shops that carry locally produced goods, as well as targeting festivals and concerts. Right now the goal is to get our ice cream to as many people as we can for the summer.”

An admirable goal to be sure.

(This article originally appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of ANTENNA.)