A Southern scoop shop with a modern spin, Hattie Jane’s Creamery was born, serendipitously, on the same day as founder Claire Crowell’s daughter in 2016.
Mark Boughton; Styled by Callie Blount
Besides sharing a birthdate, the two also share a name. Hattie Jane (the girl) was born in 2013 and it was Crowell’s father, Andy Marshall of A. Marshall Hospitality, the brain behind the Puckett’s restaurants, who said, “Man, Hattie Jane’s would be a great name for an ice cream store.”
The original opened in Columbia, with a second location in Murfreesboro, and since the beginning, culinary director Lokelani Alabanza has guided the creative vision. After working in Los Angeles, Japan, Las Vegas, and the Hutton Hotel, the pastry chef connected with Crowell while working at the now-closed Homestead in Thompson Station. Together, they’ve built an ice cream and coffee shop concept that’s full of nostalgia but also pushes boundaries with unique flavors. They make everything from the waffle cones, to the ice cream base, to the baked goods in house and this summer, the team will open a third ice cream shop and full production kitchen in Nashville with plans for another inside the Fifth + Broadway food hall coming in 2020. Here, Alabanza and Crowell give us the scoop.
Mark Boughton
Nashville Lifestyles: What spurred the idea for Hattie Jane’s?
Claire Crowell: Ice cream was our pastime growing up—it was always my family’s favorite dessert. So, it was a combination of daydreaming of having a concept like this and then having a space in Columbia next door to the Puckett’s there. We always jokingly said it would be a good size for an ice cream store.
NL: What makes it unique?
CC: Going into it, we wanted to create a space that had Southern nostalgia to it but was forward thinking. As time has gone on, we’ve gotten really clear on what that is. Personally, I think the perfect example of that is a flavor called coconut ambrosia salad. Ambrosia salad is what I grew up eating at every single event or party. But our version is dairy free, so it’s a little more modern.
NL: You have seven “going steady” flavors at each shop but also offer rotating seasonal flavors. Where does your inspiration come from?
Lokelani Alabanza: We’ve done close to 300 flavors in the last three years. I’ve had to pump the breaks on new ideas! I could be doing literally anything, brushing my teeth—the whole world is inspiring, all the time. I’m really proud of our dairy free flavors—that has been a great challenge. We’ve been able to push the boundaries and I think what we have is really satisfying, like, “yes, you can have this and it makes you feel good.” That’s what we’re doing all of this hard work for.
Mark Boughton; Styled by Callie Blount
NL: What goes into developing new recipes?
LA: It’s mostly blind luck. The longest one was getting a hot chicken flavor right—it took me a good year. And I’m still trying to work on a Jack and Coke flavor.
CC: Ice cream seems on the surface super simple—and it isn’t, as we very quickly discovered, especially wanting to do the kind of product we do. We wanted to go a step further by using Hatcher Dairy milk and incorporating seasonal profiles. There was a big learning curve in that. It was really some kind of divine intervention that Loke came along when she did.
NL: What’s up next for Hattie Jane’s?
CC: We’re working on a space in Nashville that will be a side-by-side retail space and coffee shop and a central production space. My dream goal is for Hattie Jane’s to be the premiere, artisanal ice cream brand of the South.
NL: If you had to choose, what are your favorite flavors?
CC: The Golden Milk is my dairy-free favorite.
LA: I made a chocolate malted crunch and that was my most favorite. But usually I like to get the Chocoholic and the Mule Kick [made with Muletown Coffee] together.