Van Leeuwen Ice Cream – the New Yor City-based brand, known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams — will open its Westport shop Thursday, Feb. 6. The Westport store is the brand’s fourth location in Connecticut, following New Canaan (December 2023), Darien (April 2023) and Greenwich (October 2022), its first suburban scoop shop. The launch also marks a return to its roots for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen, who are Fairfield County natives and whose ice cream journey began there 20 years ago.
In celebration, Van Leeuwen Westport will offer $1 scoops on opening day from 3 to 5 p.m. and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3 p.m. The scoop shop will also showcase a special limited-time offering created by Westport-based cookbook author Julia Dzafic. The vegan sundae features scoops of strawberry shortcake ice cream and banana pudding ice cream and is topped with sprinkles, hot fudge and a sugar cone “party hat.”
“We are so excited to bring Van Leeuwen to Westport and open our fourth location in our home state,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, who serves as CEO. “It’s been amazing to see how warm the reception has been in Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan ,and we can’t wait to share good ice cream, made with good ingredients, with the Westport community.”
The Van Leeuwens became ice cream entrepreneurs in 2002. The brothers rented a Good Humor truck and drove it all around Greenwich for two summers. With the money he made, Ben went backpacking around Asia and Europe and found himself most excited by the food he discovered and the revelation that good food was more accessible in other parts of the world. His travels inspired the idea for an ice cream truck serving good ice cream. Not long after, the brothers enlisted co-founder Laura O’Neill, and Van Leeuwen was born in the form of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of New York City in 2008. Today, the brand has more than 70 scoop shops in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Texas and California as well as Connecticut.
Its French-style ice cream (made with more than double the amount of egg yolks as standard ice cream) features such seasonal flavors and out-of-the-box, limited-edition collaborations as Hidden Valley Ranch, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Bigface Coffee Affogato in partnership with NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler and Espresso ice cream in partnership with singer/songwriter Sabrina Carpenter. I
The extensive menu has more than 30 signature flavors as well, including the award-winning Vanilla Bean (named best vanilla ice cream by The New York Times/Wirecutter); Honeycomb, Pistachio (made with pistachios sourced from Mount Etna in Sicily); Marionberry Cheesecake (made with vine-ripened berries from Oregon farm partner Stahlbush Island Farms); Praline Butter Cake; and Earl Grey Tea, in addition to sundaes, house-made waffle cones, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and pints to-go. Popular vegan flavors include Banana Bread Pudding, Peanut Butter Brownie Honeycomb, Strawberry Shortcake and more.
Van Leeuwen’s Westport is at 31 Church Lane and will be open daily, with opening-day hours from noon to 11 p.m.
