Spring Break
Iggie's works with MU marketing students to hold grand re-opening
Constance Schiano
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Community
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Business Owner Sean Pennington-who also owns The Smokin' Ox with his wife Ingrid Schreiber-attributes the business's good fortune to the warmer weather and the fact that more people are becoming more aware of The Smokin' Ox's "sister restaurant."
Pennington said that he and Schreiber were surprised at the influx of people who came to Iggie's with the arrival of warmer weather.
"The number of people have pretty much doubled," Pennington said. "We see about 200 people a day now that it's warmer versus the 100 people we would see when it was colder. People are eating the gelato as fast as we can make it."
When asked if there was any competition with ice cream competitor Cold Stone Creamery, Schreiber said she didn't think there was too much since Iggie's is so unique.
"Our (gelato) product is made from milk, not heavy cream, (and it) has less fat and less calories than regular ice cream" Schreiber said. "We're a homemade, local business chain, our product is healthier and we also take customer suggestions for flavors."
According to Schreiber, aside from making more room to accommodate more people who want to sit and play one of the many board games that Iggie's leaves out for customers to enjoy, customers' flavor suggestions are one of the changes that have been implemented since Iggie's opened. One flavor the ice cream provider added was salty caramel.
"People are hesitant about salty caramel at first," Schreiber said. "But it's a mix of sweet and salty so it's becoming a hit."
Other products Iggie's offers include smoothies, homemade marshmallows and cupcakes, all of which Schreiber said are becoming very popular and a staple of the small business.
While business seems to be increasing, Schreiber said she hopes that it will become more well-known.
"Some people still don't know we are here," Schreiber said. "Miami Marketing Enterprise (MME) is helping us hold a re-opening later this month. We had a grand opening in the winter but we decided it would be a good idea to do it again."
While they could not be reached for comment, MME is a marketing group at Miami University that chooses a business uptown and then works with the owners to come up with ways to advertise.
MME is currently helping Iggie's hold a re-opening April 19 from 1-5 p.m. at the store. The theme will be "spring celebration" and people will be able to decorate their own cupcakes and sample smoothies, coffee drinks and gelato.
While some people may not know about Iggie's, others, such as Miami sophomore Mallory Jennings, are fans of the tiny gelato eatery.
"I really like it-it's really good," Jennings said. "The service is great and even though there's not a lot of tables, the atmosphere has a really homey-feeling. And, of course, the gelato is great, it tastes just like the gelato I had when I was in Italy."
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