Trippple Chocolate Threat, Dreamsicle, Fair Trade Green Tea and Peach Cobbler. Karma Kream, a locally owned ice cream shop, will be serving up these flavors of vegan ice cream along with seven others starting today. The shop also serves coffee, baked goods and dairy-based ice cream.
"Gainesville is a pretty progressive place. But it's hard to find a good vegan dessert place in this town," said Kyle Fick, co-owner of Karma Kream. "We just assessed a need and filled it."
Fick and co-owner Payal Patel, have been readying the shop for roughly a year. When they began renting, they had "watch this space" painted on the shop's window, six months later it was changed to "patience, we're still at it."
The shop is furnished with 100 percent reused or recycled material, much of which came from an old Baskin Robbins, Patel said.
A painting of a tree laden with ice-cream cones decorates one tabletop, and multi-colored lampshades hang from the ceiling, all hand-painted.
A small cup of ice cream costs $3.40 , a medium is $4.20 and a large is $4.90.
"I can't even finish a small," Fick said.
Fick, a vegetarian, and Patel, a vegan, both say they have thoroughly researched foods for their own diets, which translates to an awareness of all the ingredients used in Karma Kream's products.
They are careful to make sure their organic milk does not come from factory farming, which is cruel to animals, Fick said.
Karma Kream is located at 1025 W. University Ave.
