When Angie and Chris Farrell joked about buying an ice cream bike while on vacation, they never dreamed where it would take them in just four short years. Today, Sweet Ride Ice Cream is a West Reading community staple, and they’ve just added a third vehicle to their fleet of sweet rides.
Q: Sweet Ride is a joint venture with your husband Chris, right? Yes, it is. We started out in 2014 with the ice cream bike and a year later we expanded to the mobile ice cream parlor. Then a year later we opened the store. We’ve been together a long time and we work well together. If I have an idea I look to him and he makes it happen.
Q: Where did you get the inspiration? We were sitting on the beach in Avalon on vacation and this girl came up on her ice cream bike and Chris said to me, “We should get an ice cream bike!” The rest is history. It was kind of a joke at the time, but when we came home I couldn’t let it go and I started doing all kinds of research.
Q: Sounds like it was a good idea! Oh yeah. It started catching on; we would do one wedding with the bike and get two more out of it. When it started going really well we started thinking of ways we could reach more people. We found a company in Ohio that had an idea that would really work for us – which was the mobile ice cream parlor. I reached out and found out that they actually wanted to sell it. We weren’t quite ready to buy something else, but it just kind of fell in our laps. Now it’s become a huge part of our business.
Q: And now you also have the shop and a second truck. Do you plan on adding anything more to your sweet fleet? We’re good right now, but you never know!
Q: What has it been like owning a business on Penn Avenue? It’s wonderful for us. Thanks to the walking traffic we’re able to stay open in the winter, and the restaurants along here are very supportive. There are some that even send their customers down to us for dessert.
Q: When you aren’t in the shop do you still like to spend time on the Avenue? Honestly, even when I’m not here it’s the paperwork, the social media, the behind-the-scenes stuff that takes up so much of my time. I really have to learn to devote some time to me, but right now that’s still really a struggle for me. I also have three kids under the age of 14 and all of them are involved, so it can be quite a juggle.
Q: But the shop still gives you the chance to get involved in the community? We really try to. Community outreach is very important to us and we try to do as much as we can. I wish we could do more and maybe eventually we’ll be able to. People are supporting our business, so we want to try to support others.
Did You Know?
Good Old Days. The circa-1946 vintage soda fountain in the store is still fully functional. It was purchased to bring the old-fashioned feel of the bike into the shop but has become a focal point.
Fan Favorite. The most popular flavor at Sweet Ride is the Banana Peanut Butter Chip, although Angie admits to being “more of a Peanut Butter Weave girl.” Stop in and taste your favorite today!
