Winter is a comin’

/in /by

So, yesterday The Parlour had an Important Business Meeting, also known as sitting at our dining room table trying to figure out what we’re doing for the winter (with interruptions from the cat, the dog, the other cat, the other dog, and the internet, of course.) We’ve come to a few decisions:

  1. Starting now-ish, our menu will condense a bit. We’ll have 6 regular flavors, 1 vegan flavor, and 1 sorbet, and not quite as many toppings.

  2. We’ve added French-style hot chocolate, old fashioned hot cocoa, and spiced cider to the menu, and we plan on adding chai and some sort of coffee drink as well. Right now the availability of hot drinks is contingent on weather, but they’ll be regular items once the weather’s regularly cool.

  3. Once it’s for-real cold, we’ll be pre-packing our items to go. Instead of waiting in line and then ordering and waiting some more, you’ll be able to grab something to go and take it right away. This means selections will be more limited, but it also means we will have ice cream sandwiches regularly and we will make an extra effort to vary the menu and keep things interesting.

 

 

okay let’s do this okay

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So, we put out a survey a few days ago, partly so we could figure out what our strategy for this fall/winter is going to be. And right after we posted the survey, it got a bit colder; thanks for the free market research, weather patterns! Things Mrs. Parlour has observed this week:

  • People will still buy ice cream when it’s cold and rainy. They’re much more likely to buy it if there’s somewhere close by and warm to take said ice cream.
  • No one wants soda or floats when it’s cold and rainy, but a few people want milkshakes. But only a few.
  • People DEFINITELY want hot chocolate when it’s cold and rainy, even if we accidentally write the wrong price on the menu board and it appears to be more expensive than it actually is.

It’s going to be warm again tomorrow, but the past few days have been helpful in figuring out how to keep stuff going in the fall/wintertime. When it gets for-real cold again, we’re thinking of switching out our milkshakes and floats for hot chocolate, chai, and cider. We’ll probably have a smaller ice cream menu, and more cookies and baked goods (like Ari Berenbaum’s donuts!) And we’ll try to think of some interesting ways to incorporate our ice cream into hot drinks (a customer suggested a scoop on top of hot chocolate instead of whipped cream, which seems like a great idea.)

So, what do you think? Any suggestions for how we can stay busy in the wintertime? Know any offices that would like a mid-afternoon hot chocolate and cookie break? Let us know!

Branching out

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Our bus is often spotted outside of Motorco or Fullsteam, where we have our only two regularly-scheduled appearances (Sunday afternoons and Wednesday nights, respectively). We love those businesses, and we’re thrilled to be a staple of the Rigsbee Ave. food truck scene. But we also want to visit other neighborhoods (we are mobile after all), so we can be seen by folks who haven’t heard of us yet and get closer to the fans who can’t make it to Rigsbee Ave. easily. So we wanted to let y’all know about some other locations we have coming up.

West Village, Downtown Durham

We’ve been parking at Posh or Magpie from 2:00-5:00 the last few Saturdays. We have some special events coming up the next few weekends, but we’ll be at Magpie again on Thursday the 18th, and will probably start going regularly on Saturdays again soon.

Old West Durham

Monkey Bottom Collaborative is an artist space in Old West Durham that’s having a dance party on Saturday the 20th. Bring your own iPod (or Zune or MiniDisc player) with a playlist full of dance, then take breaks from dancing to eat ice cream or vice versa.

We’re doing another event on Tuesday the 23rd at Outsider Art & Collectibles, a gallery on Iredell* that’s celebrating some renovations and the arrival of fall.

We also show up every other Wednesday at Erwin Square, 2200 W. Main*. We just stop by for an hour (3:00–4:00 pm) so folks working in the building can take an ice cream break, but anyone is welcome to show up!

*okay, we think but aren’t entirely sure, that these places are in OWD…

Points South

Infuzion is a studio on Westgate Dr. (over by Li Ming Global Mart and Toys R Us), with classes for all ages in dance, music, and martial arts. This Saturday, August 13th, they’re having a festival all day where you can sample dance classes cheap! We’ll be there from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.

The Penrith West community is having a Salsa Walk on Saturday the 20th. As we understand it, it’s an outdoor salsa contest where anyone who brings their own chips can vote for the winner. It’s at 5604 Welkin Ct. which is out by Highway 54 and I-40, almost to RTP.

If you or your friends live or hang out in any of these places, come say hi! If you have suggestions for other neighborhoods that would like to have us, drop us a line.

 

Beer floats!

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We’re trying a new new thing tonight. We’ll be at Fullsteam, but instead of bringing the truck, we’re just bringing a few flavors of ice cream to make floats with their beer, and probably some root beer too. We like to have Mondays off—well, “off”, since we usually take the time for cleaning and prep—so this may not be a completely regular thing. But we like collaborations, so it’ll surely happen more than once. Stay tuned.

Schedule changes

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We’re going to try something the next few weeks. We’ll be skipping the Accent Hardwood location during the Saturday Farmer’s Market and try to find more places to stay out later on Friday nights. We’ll also be getting to Wachovia a little earlier on Saturdays.

Also, please note some new stuff on the schedule this week! We’re…

  • stopping by Erwin Square on Main for about an hour on Wednesday,
  • scooping the Watts-Hillandale First Thursday at Oval Park on Thursday (with Pie Pushers and OnlyBurger),
  • attending an art opening at Joe Van Gogh Friday,
  • joining the Food Truck Rodeo (and arm wrestling benefit for Girls Rock NC) at Casbah Saturday

… in addition to our usual Fullsteam, Wachovia, and Motorco appearances. See you out there!