LAKEPORT — From the owners of Fresh & Bangin’ there is “different and fun” at C&E Corner Creamery on the corner of Lakeport’s Main Street and Third. That’s how co-owner John Arslanian put it.
Arslanian and partner Scott Price told of how they came up with the name for their creamery. Price’s niece, Cora is the ‘C’ in the name and Emma, John’s niece is the ‘E’. “It’s all about family and fun for us.”
They source their ice cream from handcrafted Northern California creameries; Cowlicks, Frozen Art, Davis and Gunthers. Plans to develop their own unique flavors are in the works. Currently they have 29 flavors with new ones being added.
Lists of flavors are chalked up on the giant blackboard on the brick wall, along with choices of toppings, cones, sauces, shakes, floats and sundaes. Price’s favorite is mushroom and Arslanian’s is the specialty sundae, The Big George. All specialty sundaes were created by family members; Emma’s Sweet Surprise, Cora’s Summer Mint, Nathan’s Mint Express, Katin’s Crazy Campfire. The Big George, Mom’s Magic Mint, Bruce & Pam’s Dancing Duo.
Arslanian and Price spoke freely about their plans for the future of Lakeport. “We traveled around to small towns and saw how they have people walking around the towns. We wanted there to be a reason to walk around Main Street in Lakeport. With ice cream, people can walk down to Library Park and enjoy the lake, enjoy the views rather than simply eat at a restaurant and go directly back to their car. People can come here to get ice cream after their dinners. I’ve seen people eating ice cream and playing in the park in front of the museum, which I’ve never seen before. It’s just nice to see people eat ice cream and enjoy the beautiful downtown that we have.”
They have no plans of stopping at their two businesses. “We want to see Main Street full of businesses. No more empty stores.” They threw out ideas for future business. “But nothing in concrete at this point,” said Price.
In Lucerne at their first Fresh & Bangin’ restaurant, they employed five people, including themselves. The Creamery employs 12 high schoolers from Clear Lake High School. With their Lakeport Fresh & Bangin’ they have a total of 35 employees. This is the first job for most of their creamery staff. Soft spoken Amberli Eckhardt, 16, said, “I love working here. Everybody’s so sweet here. We’re like one big family. We do pick on each other sometimes, but that’s just part of being a family.”
Shaelyn McIntyre, 16, is a pitcher for the Clear Lake HS softball team when she’s not working. Price said, “She’s awesome. I got the chance to see her first playoff game. It was great.” McIntyre said, “It’s fun to come to work. We look forward to it because we get to see each other and spend time together even though it’s work, it’s fun.”
Price told how they make time for their employees school and family schedules. He proudly told how one of his long-term employees told them she had never considered going to college outside of California until she worked for them. She’s graduating this year and going to Iowa for school for nursing.
Their customers vary from “Judges, kids going to the park who want something sweet, grandmas and their grandchildren, father-daughter dates. Everyone. Who doesn’t love ice cream?”, said Arslanian. “I think the allure of having awesome creameries from all over – people don’t have to drive two hours to get great ice cream – and our bubbly personalities who work here. I hired 17 of my students from the culinary classes I teach at Clear Lake HS.”
“One customer, who isn’t a fan of ice cream,” said Price laughing, “comes in just for our milkshakes. We even have vegan options.”
Arslanian interrupted, “Our Fresh & Bangin’ clientele actually skips our cheesecake dessert to come down here for ice cream!”
Lourdes Thuesen from Lucerne dashed into C&E Corner Creamery to wait out Thursday’s storm. “I had hot caramel and hot fudge sauces with white chocolate bits and vanilla ice cream combined for a deliciously sinful sundae. They have a wonderful selection of flavors from a variety of boutique creameries and the youthful workers helped everyone make their way through a very creative menu of goodies. Our new creamery is sure to delight locals and entice tourists. Good luck to this new Lake County addition.”
Sarah Johnson and her father Justin, from Kelseyville, stopped in for chai tea ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, chocolate fudge sauce with cookie dough. As Johnson tasted it, she said, “It’s really good.” It was their first time at the shop and they said it won’t be their last.
Arslanian said, as he rushed off to Fresh & Bangin’ to work on the lunch menu, “If you want something different, something fun, if you want to experience different flavors that you can’t get anywhere else, come check us out. Come check out our amazing crew and our delicious ice cream.”
