- Unveiling Saturday February 6th, 2021 - 

Open Saturday-Sunday 12pm-6pm

+ Holiday Mondays

Where are you from?

I am originally from just outside of Boston and moved here in 2012. I lived downtown for the first few years I lived here while I was studying interior architecture at the NewSchool of Architecture + Domus Academy. I moved to North County when I was offered an opportunity to help a friend of mine design the brewery [Viewpoint Brewing Co] he was planning to open.  

How did you get into creating ice cream?

My history with ice cream is relatively concise actually, but when I think about my history it starts to make a lot of sense as to how it came about.

Back when I was born...just kidding haha

Before the first shutdown in March, I was working as a bartender at Jeune Et Jolie in Carlsbad. I have wanted to open a restaurant for a long time and it made sense to me that I would work at a John Resnick project to learn from him while we found the right space. He is someone I really look up to in the industry as he has such a handle on the intersection of hospitality, food + design.

Anyway...the shutdown really hit restaurants hard. The doors were closed on the 15th and three or four days later the whole state went into mandatory quarantine. 

Meanwhile back at Viewpoint, the restaurant was converted from a full-service restaurant to a drive-thru in a matter of days. We had a skeleton crew basically working around the clock to make it happen. We didn’t have a dessert offering and I suggested I could start making ice cream to sell as it was something I had been recently playing around with as a passion project. It definitely took off more than I ever thought it would. The same people were coming back time and again for the ice cream. They would give us their feedback and we would adjust the recipes accordingly. It was all very exciting. 

I love this new venture because it encompasses everything that I am passionate about.  I think of making ice cream similarly to the way I have been taught to think about cocktails; where the whole should be greater than the sum of all parts. Building a brand definitely supports my design bone and the fact that ice cream is a product that is designed to make people genuinely feel good satisfies my need to be in the hospitality sector. I am so excited to see where this all goes. 

What's the inspiration/story behind Little Fox?

I am very inspired by the idea that Little Fox can sit at the intersection of hospitality, culinary arts, design + sustainability. The design of our food system has such a huge impact on our environment, this is not new news. We do not want to build a company that continues to mindlessly contribute to the problem but rather be a big part of the solution in bringing us to a more ecological food product. There are little things that we are doing now to start moving down this path including the fact that all of our packaging materials are compostable, we use local farms to supply many of our key ingredients and we make everything that goes into our ice cream from scratch so that we have a high level of control over the origin of those ingredients as well. We have a lot to learn about our food system and how we can help to improve it. We anticipate we are going to learn some incredible ways we can improve and reduce our and our supporters' footprints immensely.

What's your favorite flavor?

My favorite flavors are the ones that were generated from a concise story or inspiration. They always come out the best because there is a strong concept behind the ingredients that tie them all together. 

‘Roasty Toasty’ is one such flavor where I was inspired by a grilled cheese sandwich to make an ice cream [I know it sounds horrifying but trust us]. I thought about a sweet brioche that was slathered in butter and toasted to a perfect golden brown color. The best part is the melty cheddar cheese dripping over the edge and crisping in the pan for a salty crunch. My favorite way to make a grilled cheese is to put a small amount of creamy cheese on the inside of the bread slices because it keeps the moisture in the sandwich and ties it all together. So yeah…Roasyt Toasty is an ice cream with a toasted brioche cream + parmesan crisps + marscapone cream all swirled together…if you know….you know…

When you're not serving up cones, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Haha. Spare time? What is that? :) Right now there is not a lot of that rolling around. I balance Little Fox, two kids + two dogs with a husband that runs a family business of his own. We are in the thick of it but honestly, it works somehow. Little moments are far more valuable and I weirdly feel the most balanced in life I have ever felt. I think because Little Fox is my soul and my family is my heart. And we have somehow figured out a way to still see our friends just enough to know that we are still a part human...kinda. 

What's been the most memorable obstacle in the journey of creating your own lil food business?

Learning to accept people’s opinions as opinions and not [my] fact and accepting that advice is to be used at my own discretion. 

If you could live anywhere, (covid restrictions-aside) where would it be and why?

If you had asked me 1 year ago I would have rattled off 25 other cities I would move to. I think that grass is always greener. Now I wouldn’t want to leave this area…at least for the next while or so. We are building a community and setting roots here and we are so happy with the people and the community we are surrounded with. I realize that San Diego and North County as a whole is not perfect. We face systemic issues as any other city. But I am finding the impact that a small voice can have in this area is great. Just look at Heidi from Thread Spun and the community she has fostered. If that is not a testament to what one person can do for a community, I don’t know what is. Maybe Little Fox can help a small part of this community + that would be more than I could ever ask for from this little business. 

Biggest pet peeve?

Mouth Noises But mostly when someone does not let a person finish a train of thought without interrupting them 

when they are speaking. Imagine what we could accomplish if we let people finish their sentences before derailing them.

Keep up with Little Fox on Instagram HERE