Cold weather in Winnipeg not affecting ice cream sales, says shop owner

It’s a pretty cold Tuesday in Winnipeg, but the owner and partner of an ice cream shop open year-round says keeping people coming through the doors year-round is no secret — no matter the weather, Winnipeg just seems to love ice cream.

“People just want to get out of the house. And as soon as spring (hits), we started having line-ups. Yes, if it was raining, it does, you can see the numbers a bit but in general it’s becoming a good year,” said Joseph Chaeban, the owner and partner of Chaeban Ice Cream.

Winnipeggers seem to agree. CityNews caught up with a couple people at The Forks on Tuesday afternoon.

“I just love ice cream,” said Ayman Linzag, who spoke to CityNews right after he picked up an iced mocha coffee.

Jordan Funk says the weather does affect her getting ice cream, namely, what flavour she gets.

“If it’s sunny outside, I’ll get like a raspberry or cherry. But if it’s more like today, I’m gonna get like a coffee-flavour, maybe a plain vanilla.”

In fact, Funk says she’s gearing up to have an ice cream cake later for dinner to celebrate her birthday.

But just in case people don’t feel like a sweet treat, Chaeban has also expanded their dairy offerings. They’ve been making cheese for a few years, which also helps with sales during the winter.

“My background, I’m a 2nd generation cheesemaker, so I was like, let’s start making cheese! It was the best decision we made. It helped us become more of a sustainable company all year long,” said Chaeban.

Chaeban says the addition of cheese has really helped him feel like he’s really in his element… but says he’s definitely an ice cream man now, too.

“We feel proud that we’re just an all-natural ice cream based, gluten-free, the majority of our flavours. And just make everything from scratch.”