Clumpies adding new Southside location near the Choo Choo
Clumpies taking its ice cream to the former home of the English Rose Tea Room
Clumpies Ice Cream Co. plans to sweeten sales with the opening of a new shop downtown across from the Chattanooga Choo Choo as the business opens a third year-round retail location in the city.
The locally based ice cream maker that started in Chattanooga nearly two decades ago will add a 2,050-square-foot scoop shop at Market and 14th streets in space that formerly held the English Rose Tea Room for many years.
Clumpies, bought by See Rock City in December 2013, has seen sales grow by four times over that period, said Doug Chapin, the ice cream brand’s senior manager.
The new shop, with an investment of about $225,000, should help drive revenues to hit six times the mark in 2013, he said.
“We knew we wanted to grow,” said Chapin. “It was where in town should we grow.”
Last fall, the company readied for the expansion by completing a new production location at a site near St. Elmo. The new kitchen is four times the size of the old one. It includes a bakery and brings all the company’s processes in-house, according to Clumpies.
Susan Harris, See Rock City president, said innovation is part of the Lookout Mountain attraction’s success for generations, and that continues with Clumpies.
She said the company looks forward to “bringing the best micro-batch, hand-crafted ice cream in Chattanooga to the Southside.”
The new shop at The Grand Hotel building is in addition to its first location on Frazier Avenue, which is roughly the same size as the new site. Also, Clumpies opened a second shop in May 2015 in St. Elmo. A year later, it opened seasonal space on Lookout Mountain next to the Battles for Chattanooga museum.
Chapin said the newest shop, featuring a full lineup of 32 flavors dipped daily in addition to house made pops, ice cream sandwiches and pints to-go, will help bridge the blocks between the Innovation District and the Southside.
Plans are to employ about 20 people at the shop, which will push the company’s headcount to about 50, he said.
The shop will be located down the street from other local product makers such as Tennessee Stillhouse Micro-Distillery, Hot Chocolatier and Wildflower Tea Shop and Apothecary.
“It’s what we do and who we are,” said Chapin, 28, the son of See Rock City CEO and owner Bill Chapin.
Doug Chapin said there’s a lot of growth on the Southside to tap into.
“We knew what we wanted to do as a business was to create memories worth repeating,” Chapin said, adding the new location will give patrons “the best experience people can have in an ice cream shop.”
Clumpies was started in 1999 by Chattanoogan Marshall Brock, part of the family that for many years operated Brock Candy Co. in the city.
SRC Inc. operates Rock City Gardens on Lookout Mountain, the Battles for Chattanooga museum, Grandview Conference Center, the Blowing Springs Farm in Flintstone, Ga., as well as Clumpies.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6318.
“We knew we wanted to grow. It was where in town should we grow.” – CLUMPIES’ SENIOR MANAGER DOUG CHAPIN