Battle for Buford Highway

Within one tiny quarter mile stretch of Buford Highway, just past the Chamblee-Doraville line, sits not one but three rolled ice cream shops. All have opened within the past year. All can be walked past in the span of five minutes. Yet, each seems to be thriving. Welcome, Atlantans, to the Bermuda Triangle of rolled ice cream.

What is rolled ice cream, you ask? A Thai trend that made its way across the ocean to New York in 2015 and to Atlanta last year, the sweet treat is made by pouring a liquid cream base over a chilled metal plate that gets as cold as -15 degrees Fahrenheit. Customers can watch the cream harden quickly as metal paddles chop and smash in toppings like candy and fruit, spreading the mixture into a thin layer. In just two minutes, the firmed-up ice cream is scraped into chubby rolled cylinders and artfully placed into a paper cup. More toppings, like whipped cream and chocolate sauce, are added and — voilà! — a dessert unlike any other.
No value assigned

8°Fahrenheit is the rolled ice cream pioneer of Buford Highway, not to mention last year’s CL Best of Atlanta winner for best ice cream (and a show). Founder Peiquin Lin opened the spot in March of 2016, hoping to bring Instagram-worthy treats to an area already ripe with the tastes of the East. In October, entrepreneur Rajiv Shah bought 8°Fahrenheit along with its other Duluth location.

Every inch of the shop’s glass walls are covered with Post-It notes so fans can rave about the ice cream or brag they “wuz” there. For $5.99, customers can select their flavor bases and add toppings, or choose from the chef’s creations: Sexy Georgia has a Thai tea base with peaches; Minions, a mango base with pineapple; and Fifty Shades of Grey is chocolate with banana. On weekends there’s Dragon’s Breath, with added liquid nitrogen that puffs out of the eater’s mouth and nostrils with each bite.

“Americans try everything for the sake of trying it once,” Shah says.

Across the street is I-CE NY, which opened its first Atlanta location here in August. Shah said he doesn’t see the other shop as a competitor because their bases are made with different recipes. He believes 8°Fahrenheit’s is creamier, yet this is precisely the same distinction I-CE NY owner David Pibool Koonvirarak makes for his recipe. “We try different creams and temperature settings to come up with the creamiest ice cream,” he says. “Yelp compares us to our competitors and they say we are the best in town.”

No value assigned

I-CE NY has deep roots in the Thai rolled ice cream phenomenon. Koonvirarak’s friend Kajtisa Premwimol was the first to start opening rolled ice cream shops in Thailand in 2011. Within the first six months, there were 30 I-TIM-PAD rolled ice cream locations in Thailand; in five years, there were 250. This success inspired I-CE’s American expansion to New York City in 2015 and Atlanta the following year.

“When we first introduced this, some people asked if the ice cream was cold or hot because the gesture of the ice cream making process looks like we are stir-frying something,” Koonvirarak says with a laugh. “Our original idea is the play on words with ‘ice’ and ‘I see.’ We make ice cream and people can actually see it being made right in front of them. Hence, I-CE NY.”

No value assignedLocated between BoBo Garden and Subway in Pinetree Plaza, I-CE NY has a little Lady Liberty statue out front to greet customers and “Empire State of Mind” included in its pop playlist. The menu features a mix of Asian and Southern flavors, from matcha green tea and lychee to peach and banana pudding. The Chocorilla features chocolate ice cream, banana, Oreo, Pocky and Nutella sauce while the Cookie Spree blends vanilla ice cream with Oreos and brownies.

Koonvirarak says he didn’t know the shops would be so close together; both I-CE NY and 8°Fahrenheit renovated their spaces at the same time. “I chose this location because I love Buford Highway,” he says. “This is the area where people come for ethnic food and yet I want to change what Buford Highway looks like. Most of the shops are mom and pop, that serve good food, but they don’t care as much about customer service.”

It’s possible the ice cream shops’ proximities are are secretly strategic, which is common practice in Southeast Asia. The theory of location competition says businesses that cluster together succeed in creating a central location for their target audience, minimizing the distance consumers have to travel.

No value assigned

Which brings us to the third rolled ice cream shop to open up in the very same quarter mile stretch. Smack in between the two aforementioned shops, Roll It Up debuted Jan. 21 in Asian Square. Owner Tony Garcia started looking for a location back in July and chose the location because it faces Buford Hwy. He might be late to the game, but hopes to keep up with the competition by offering a waffle cone modeled into the shape of a fish called the “Rollie” and liquid nitrogen ice cream during all business hours. Inside the shop, three retro-looking mixers add bursts of liquid nitrogen to quickly churned cream. “The way the crystals form when you are mixing and adding liquid nitrogen makes this creamiest and freshest ice cream you can get,” Garcia says. “If you feel you have a better product, close proximity will help customers compare you to the others.”

That may be so, but choosing between these three rolled ice cream shops may ultimately come down to whether you make a left turn or a right.

I-CE NY. 5177 Buford Highway, Doraville. 470-275-3762. www.icenyicecream.com.

8°Fahrenheit. 5090 Buford Highway, Suite 101, Doraville. 404-918-1191. www.8ficecream.com.

Roll It Up Ice Cream 5150 Buford Highway, Doraville. 470-545-0357. www.facebook.com/RollitupIceCream.