Though Fillmore Street scoop shop Three Twins Ice Cream has been open since the beginning of the year, yesterday marked the official reopening celebration for the space.
Sunny skies and warm temperatures welcomed local ice cream fans as they descended upon Three Twins to celebrate with free scoops and an appearance by founder Neal Gottlieb (clad in a particularly festive pair of trousers). We got a chance to chat with Gottlieb before the proceedings got underway, and he mused about the significance of the shop in the grand scheme of Three Twins’ success.
Until January, the Lower Haight scoop shop had sat dormant in the wake of the Fillmore and Haight fire of September 2011.
Over those two-plus years, Three Twins has grown from a small-time regional ice cream company to one with distribution that reaches across the US, plus parts of Asia (and soon, Kuwait). Three Twins now has the most extensive line of organic ice cream in the world, with 21 flavors of organic pints on offer and a new factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on the way, which will allow them to increase production ten-fold.
In addition to their new cookie ice cream sandwiches, the company just unveiled two more retail products: the first ever organic sundae cone (which Gottlieb calls "our F-you to Drumstick"), plus the first ever organic fair-trade traditional wafer ice cream sandwich (both due out this summer in participating stores).
Gottlieb also used the occasion to showcase new flavors, which include the first-ever organic chocolate chip cookie dough and a brownie batter chunk flavor. Of the neighborhood reception to the shop's return, Gottlieb reports that in addition to nearing comparable sales numbers as the store's original incarnation, "people are stoked."
Though Mayor Ed Lee was initially planned to not only be in attendance, but to eat a giant scoop of ice cream (a truly tantalizing photo op for local media), his busy schedule won out. In his stead was Mayoral representative Jordan Klein, who presented a certificate of honor to Gottlieb and delivered a message from the Mayor’s office:
To make up for the Ed Lee-shaped hole in their opening plans, Three Twins made good on their promise to award the Mayor's share of free ice cream to anyone named Ed Lee (with a valid ID). One real-life, non-Mayor Ed Lee turned up to do the honors, receiving six free pints from Gottlieb. Lee, a Bay Area native and Inner Sunset resident, approached the situation with the gravitas befitting the occasion.
Sunny skies and warm temperatures welcomed local ice cream fans as they descended upon Three Twins to celebrate with free scoops and an appearance by founder Neal Gottlieb (clad in a particularly festive pair of trousers). We got a chance to chat with Gottlieb before the proceedings got underway, and he mused about the significance of the shop in the grand scheme of Three Twins’ success.
“This was the store that helped us continue with our growth. I had two stores open when we opened this one, and it helped us get over the roadblock that we had in raising money to open up our factory in Petaluma, which has then allowed us to distribute ice cream in the US and beyond.”
"About two and a half years ago, there was a disaster on this site, and it really upended a lot of people's lives and changed the neighborhood. And it would have been easy for Three Twins to pick up and move the scoop shop to a different neighborhood or maybe even a different city. But they didn’t do that. They stuck by the Lower Haight and they stuck by San Francisco, and I think they deserve a round of applause."* Applause *
"I've loved Three Twins for a long time, and I'm thrilled to be a part of this. And yeah, free ice cream."
