Hands up happiness for Frankie & Jo’s plant based ice-cream which opened last week in Seattle. (Technically, it’s faux-cream – since the US dairy industry carefully regulates what can and cannot be called cream based on the milk content. But, we digress.)

Supported via a Community Sourced Capital campaign by Autumn Martin of Hot Cakes and Kari Brunson of Juicebox, the duo has created crave-worth creaminess from fresh pressed/churned nut milk and fresh fruits. In addition to being plant-based, the menu at Frankie & Jo’s is vegan and gluten free.

From a consumer perspective, we can’t efficiently describe the excitement we witnessed from patrons during our multiple visits. For many of people, visiting Frankie & Jo’s brings them back to their childhood. Guests sited that the ability to enjoy and experience a favorite food again after thinking it was gone forever was critical. Yes, there are other plant-based offerings. Yes, you can attempt to make this at home. And yes, it’s better than the other options in the marketplace.

From a design perspective, the in-store experience at Frankie & Jo's is clean and modern – with a botanical twist. Statement wallpaper acts as a reminder that organic medjool and deglet date palms grown near Coachella in Southern California are a key ingredient.

The whole experience is enough to make a cynical heart melt.