Izzy's Ice Cream closes, unable to recover from pandemic changes

After more than 20 years serving up scoops of sugary goodness in the Twin Cities, Izzy's Ice Cream is officially out of business.

The company sent out its last shipments of ice cream last month before it donated the rest.

"We've had a great run," said co-founder Jeff Sommers. "We had a great group of customers. It was pretty awesome."

At the start of the pandemic in early 2020, Sommers and his wife and business partner Lara Hammel decided to permanently close its original St. Paul shop and its Minneapolis headquarters and commercial kitchen in the Mill District because of a drop in revenue as restaurants and other retailers were forced to temporarily close.

At the time, Sommers estimated Izzy's would have more than $1 million in lost business during the summer. It ended up taking Izzy's five months, or until the fall, to sell ice cream that would usually be gone in a month, Sommers said.

After closing the retail locations, Sommers and Hammel moved to Arizona to be closer to family. They still sold ice cream to grocery stores through a partnership with a creamery in Madison, Wis.

But the business ultimately needed to be in more grocery stores and also needed more capital to expand and survive, Sommers said.

"There are many contributing factors to us not being able to grow our brand within the market, meaning we needed more customers, more grocery stores," he said. "Lara and I didn't want to take on investors."

At the same time, Sommers didn't want to jeopardize the quality of Izzy's products or the company's values.

"I can't understate that during the time that we were doing the business of Izzy's, we really felt that it was kind of an honor [and that we] reached sort of an accord with customers and the community collectively," Sommers said. "We found a mutual fit."

The couple had conversations with a few people about selling the business, but none panned out.

Sommers said he wanted to make sure Izzy's customers and former employees know how grateful he and his wife were to serve them through the years.

And to customers, he said he hopes they savor any Izzy's Ice Cream still on the shelves.

"If you find a pint out there, that's the last of the last," he said.