Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Is Coming To Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — Ice cream lovers, rejoice. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is coming to Greenwich.

The popular ice cream company will open its first Connecticut location on Oct. 1 at 375 Greenwich Ave.

Opening day hours will be 12 p.m., to 11 p.m. In celebration of the launch, the shop will offer $1 scoops of all ice cream on opening day from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The scoop shop will be open Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m., and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., on Saturday and Sunday.

Guests can enjoy their treats at the scoop shop or order pints for takeout or delivery.

The expansive menu features more than 30 signature flavors including honeycomb; pistachio (made with pistachios sourced from Mount Etna in Sicily); marionberry cheesecake (made with vine-ripened berries from Oregon farm partner Stahlbush Island Farms); and Earl Grey tea (made with Rishi Tea), in addition to custom sundaes, handmade ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and pints to-go.

Van Leeuwen has an extensive selection of vegan flavors made with oat and cashew milk, including churros & fudge and strawberry shortcake.

The company is nationally known for its creative seasonal and limited edition collaboration flavors. An exclusive limited-edition flavor will be offered at the Greenwich location. Van Leeuwen has teamed up with local French bakery Raphaël's to create a flavor inspired by their Canelé pastry - a brown sugar ice cream with vanilla and rum notes with pieces of Canelé from Raphaël's.

In addition, Van Leeuwen’s fall seasonal specials, pumpkin cheesecake and dark chocolate vegan pumpkin pie, will be available until Dec. 1.

Founded in 2008, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream started out of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of New York City by Ben Van Leeuwen, his brother Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O'Neill.

Their French-style ice cream, which is made with more than double the amount of egg yolks as standard ice cream, quickly gained a loyal following.

There are now 33 scoop shops across the country, and ice cream is available for purchase at grocery stores and through nationwide shipping.

But Greenwich will be the company's first suburban location, and it marks a homecoming for the Van Leeuwen brothers, who are Greenwich natives.

"We are so excited to bring Van Leeuwen to our hometown," said Ben, co-founder and CEO, in a news release. "It’s really special that our first suburban location takes us full circle to the place where we first brought smiles to people’s faces through ice cream back in 2002 before the brand existed. We look forward to sharing good ice cream, made with good ingredients, with the community where we grew up."

Ben and Pete rented a Good Humor truck in 2002 and drove it around Greenwich for two summers.

Ben's subsequent travels in other parts of the world with the money he made from the truck inspired the idea to start an ice cream truck business of his own with a simple goal: make good ice cream that makes people feel good.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream was born, and there are now storefronts in New York, California, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

To keep up with everything Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, follow the brand on Instagram or visittheir website.