2-minute read
Mootown Scoops, a locally-owned ice cream shop, officially opens today, after its soft opening May 4.
Where: 719 E. Palmetto St., Lakeland — across from the Lakeland Public Library.
When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Flavors: Mootown features about 16 flavors at a time. The ice cream is purchased from a supplier in Sarasota. Co-owner Jose Martinez said they hope to one day make their own seasonal flavors.
Mootown currently offers vanilla, chocolate, cookies-and-cream, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, as well as brown sugar cinnamon and gator tail flavors; the latter is vanilla with chocolate fudge, chocolate chunks and peanut butter cups.
Non-dairy: Mootown also has mango sorbet, a chocolate mousse flavor that is coconut -rather than dairy-based, and a pea-based peanut-butter-and-cookies flavor.
And there are milkshakes, root beer floats, and affogato — a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with a shot of espresso.
What’s unique: The croque glacé, a French term for an ice cream sandwich made on a warm brioche bun. Customers can customize it with different flavors of ice cream and syrups. It’s topped with powdered sugar.
The decor: When you walk inside the newly renovated building, you’ll find an art deco theme, and the smell of waffle cones sizzling on the waffle maker. There’s room for 10 to 15 people to eat inside and there are two tables outside.
The building: Mootown is one of three units in a building put up by the Linebergers in 1925. It housed a grocery store and pharmacy until the 1940s, according to owner Scott Kontny. It also used to house the Lake Morton Barber shop. Kontny bought the building in 2020.
The area: Mootown is near several eateries such as Black and Brew, The Peach House and Mister Fish. It’s also across the street from the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art, and down the street from Florida Southern College, allowing many of its customers to walk over.
The owners: Martinez, 41, and Max Miller, 37, said the name is inspired by their Michigan upbringing. Miller was born in Detroit while Martinez grew up in Grand Rapids.
“I think what really makes us unique is we’re not a franchise,” Martinez said. “We can really get into the community…So that’s what we’re going to do.”
Martinez is also an insurance adjuster, and part owner of Barfield Insurance of Lakeland. Miller is a barbecue pitmaster who owns Blue Dog Craft Barbecue, in The Joinery.
