2016-01-28



Autumn Martin and Kari Brunson making your dairy free ice cream dreams come true. (Image: Frankie & Jo’s)

What do you get when you combine the owner of a decadent dessert shop and the owner of a healthy juice company in Seattle? Nut milk ice cream, fresh fruit sorbet, and a future customer base willing to loan out cash to make it happen.

This week Autumn Martin of Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery and Kari Brunson of Juicebox Cafe launched a fundraising campaign to close their budget gap on plans for their “plant-based” ice cream shop Frankie & Jo’s. The duo are scouting two possible locations, including one on Capitol Hill, with plans to open this fall. But don’t let geography be the only thing that sways your investment.

“We’re just a dynamic team,” Brunson said. “We created an ice cream that is amazing and is not using any animal products at all.”

Martin and Brunson opted to use the loan service Community Sourced Capital to raise $50,000 for their shop. Participants make $50-$2,000 loans, which Frankie & Jo’s will pay back over time once its up and running. They’ve raised nearly $6,000 since Monday. Brunson said the loans will be used to purchase an industrial nut milk maker and ice cream machine.

Brunson got her start making juices at the Broadway Farmer’s Market before opening Juicebox on 12th Ave in 2013. Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery opened in Ballard in 2012 to much acclaim. The E Olive Way location opened in August.

In a cruel twist of fate for a chocolatier and dessert expert, a dairy allergy had long kept Martin’s love of ice cream at bay. It sent her on a quest to find a recipe for quality dairy-free ice cream. When Brunson heard about it, she said a partnership made sense given her knowledge of nut milk and juices.

The Frankie & Jo’s ice cream lineup will include deep chocolate, roasted banana tahini and peanut, toasted coconut cream pie, dreamsicle, mint chip brownie, vanilla, miso caramel and espresso. Sorbets will be “tonic-reminiscent combinations of fruits and vegetables” — bright green kale, lemongrass, ginger and lime or beet, apple and rose.

Here are some more details about how the magic happens:

This dream team of dessert and juice proprietresses will not only be making their own bases from scratch, but they also make their own nut milks. First they soak organic nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts and cashews, in filtered water. The nuts sprout then are ground and pressed. The fresh nut milk is combined with alternative sugars such as dates, honey and maple syrup for sweetening. They also use organic cane sugar in some flavors that require a subtler flavor such as vanilla.

They will be making their own waffle cone batter from the leftover nut meal which they dehydrate and grind to flour. The cones and the crunchy, chewy, snappy bits in the ice cream will be vegan and made with nut and oat flours, so – gluten free.

While Bruson wouldn’t divulge any further details on the location search, it sounds like Capitol Hill is a top contender.

“Capitol Hill has been really great to both of our businesses,” she said. “We’re hoping to continue to create a small business rad concept to keep this the Hill that everybody knows.”

Capitol Hill food+drink notes

Sad news: The Central District’s Sam’s Moroccan Sandwich Shop quietly closed late last year. According to one business owner in the area, the closure had more to do with ongoing crime problems around 23rd and Union’s Midtown Center than it did the ongoing construction on 23rd Ave. Sam’s opened in the center in 2014.


Socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant wants you to go out and shop and eat and drink more… on 23rd Ave.

Happy news: Basketball star Sue Bird joins Russell Wilson and Ciara in their love for Capitol Hill cookie shop Hello Robin:
I totally prescribe to the ‘eating 20’ rule of nutrition. So 80 percent of the time I am 100 percent on task but with what what I’m doing — that’s very Anchorman of me — but the other 20 you’ve got to have some leeway. I personally like to enjoy my food. there’s this place in Seattle called Hello Robin and it’s combined with an ice cream store called Molly Moon and they do fresh ice cream sandwiches and I’m obsessed. I love it.

The Pike/Pine dance business must be good. There’s a plan to expand below the Rhino Room.

Pizzeria 88 will bring wood-fired pizza to Broadway by the end of February.

Speaking of new things, we should see more of the “20+ Capitol Hill bars and restaurants to look forward to in 2016“ open soon but they sure are taking their sweet time, right? OK. It’s only January but we’re hearing things are slowwww as ever with DPD and contractors so far this year.

Women to Watch: 6 Seattle Chefs Defining PNW Cuisine — “We don’t know what Northwest food means yet,” says Tia Hawley, chef at Capitol Hill’s Ernest Loves Agnes.

Thursday at Sun Liquor

Tomorrow night we're hosting a @KEXPNewHome benefit w/ a special menu where $2 from each drink goes to @KEXPNewHome! pic.twitter.com/YQxCAwjZTB

— Sun Liquor (@SunLiquor) January 27, 2016

Packzi now at Bakery Nouveau through Fat Tuesday.

A $1.9 billion transit project set to open on Capitol Hill and why is the mayor excited?
“This is actually going to be an incredibly positive moment on Broadway in its history. This is going to create businesses and restaurants once again on Broadway.”

Pony approved

New sandwich truck @wickedgrinders is cookin up lunch NOW until 4pm for their grand opening! Parked at Pony! pic.twitter.com/wREKvr1YmV

— Pony (@PonySeattle) January 26, 2016

This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory

Ada’s Technical Books & Cafe —Web/Twitter/Facebook

Broadcast Coffee —Web/Twitter/Facebook

Fuel Coffee – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Yeti Bar – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Rhein Haus – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Poppy — Web/Twitter/Facebook

Sun Liquor – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Lost Lake – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Other Coast Cafe – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Herb & Bitter – Web/ Twitter/Facebook

2 Doors Down – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Poquitos — Web/Twitter/Facebook

HoneyHole Sandwiches — Web/Twitter/Facebook

Central Cinema – Web/Twitter/Facebook

Comet Tavern — WEB/ TWITTER/FACEBOOK

The Growl Store — WEB/TWITTER/FACEBOOK

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