our
story
love
the beginning...
In 2008, Rachel, trained in holistic nutrition, bought a Japanese right-hand drive van for her business delivering local organic veggies all over the Comox Valley. The van reminded her of a Polar Bear, so she named it Shirokuma (which is Japanese for white bear).
At the time, Cumberland ice cream trucks were only selling unhealthy, chemical-laden frozen treats and playing awful computer music. Because it was so important for her and her daughter to prioritize eating healthy, real-food, she dreamed up an idea of throwing a freezer into Shirokuma, making some REAL ice cream novelties made with real ingredients, playing awesome music and driving/delivering ice cream treats to the kids in Cumberland.
Many years passed while she delivered organic veggies and groceries in Shirokuma and she never pursued the ice cream dream (too busy single-parenting and home schooling). One day, a friend was over for dinner and they were talking about how fast Cumberland was growing. Her friend said that she had been telling people that
“Someone should open an ice cream business in Cumberland,”
and
Rachel heard her, remembered her ice cream truck dream and knew immediately that she could do it!
​
Rachel imagined the ice cream shop and knew it would need to be home made ice cream. There was no way she could sell any commercially made ice cream to children anywhere and feel ok about it.
what happened next...
The only person she knew who could make delightful treats and ice cream was her sister, Sanchia (a trained pastry chef). Sanchia had been busy running her own bakery business for many years supplying delicious baked goods to the people of the Valley. So Rachel called her sister and said,
​
"Hey, whaddaya think about us going into cahoots and opening an ice cream shop,
you make, I’ll sell."
Sanchia said “I’ll think about it” and within 2 weeks,
​
Sanchia got back to Rachel
and said yes!
And so our little ice cream shop was born.
We looked all over Cumberland for a spot to call home but available commercial real estate was slim pickins'.
In the dreaming up stage, our friend's daughter was living in Squamish where the little business, “Alice and Brohm” was running. We saw a pic of what they were doing -
New Zealand Style Real Fruit Ice Cream which is often sold out of little caravans in NZ.
This set up captured our imaginations
and we ran with it.
With some important financial aid from Community Futures, we got things going - Rachel’s Loveman refitted our neighbour's Boler trailer into an ice cream shop. Sanchia started crafting her finest ice creams in her 100 square foot commercial kitchen in her home (while simultaneously baking goodies) and perfecting our waffle cone recipe, Sanchia's daughter Eilish created their beautiful brand, and Love’s hit the streets of Cumberland in May of 2018!
"So yummy! We all enjoyed our ice cream! Look forward to having more!
Thank you lovely ladies!"
Sophia Catherine Milette