The frozen marble slab is back in St. Louis. Aasia Langrial and her husband have opened a Marble Slab Creamery in Chesterfield, Missouri, marking the only location of the made-to-order ice cream chain currently operating in the St. Louis area. The couple works the counter alongside their staff every day, and they're already planning to add Great American Cookies to the storefront before winter.
For Langrial, the shop is a homecoming. Her parents previously ran a Marble Slab Creamery at West County Center in Des Peres, according to Sauce Magazine, and she grew up working there during high school and into her first years of college before going into healthcare after graduation. West County Center is in Des Peres, per Des Peres city government records, which describe it as a major indoor mall near the Interstate 270 interchange.
Langrial and her husband noticed a need for a premium ice cream shop in Chesterfield and pitched the site to the Marble Slab franchise team, who agreed it was a good fit, the outlet's report notes. The franchise model gives the couple corporate support, digital menu boards and built-in brand recognition, while they handle the day-to-day work themselves.
A Slab-Style Tradition Dating to the 1980s
Marble Slab traces its roots to 1983, when it launched in Houston as Cones & Cream. Steve Herrell pioneered the practice of mixing ice cream and toppings, while Marble Slab became the first treatery to blend toppings into ice cream on a frozen granite slab in 1986, according to Wikipedia. That technique still defines the Chesterfield shop's menu today: made-to-order ice cream blended with customers' choice of fruits, nuts, candies and cookies at no extra charge, scooped into hand-rolled waffle cones. The shop also serves milkshakes, smoothies and ice cream cakes, with ready-to-go cakes available for short-notice purchases and custom cakes requiring 24 to 48 hours' notice.
The Chesterfield location has built steady repeat business from local customers, per the same account, and some patrons reportedly drive 45 minutes to an hour to get there. The shop also takes online orders through DoorDash and ezCater, and it offers catering for birthdays, weddings and office events, along with local fundraising opportunities. Langrial and her husband plan to introduce weekly featured ice cream flavors to keep the menu rotating.
Cookies Coming Before Winter, Backed by Corporate Overhaul
The couple is working toward adding Great American Cookies to the Chesterfield storefront before winter, folding the shop into a co-branding model the franchisor first rolled out in May 2020 to pair fresh cookies with homemade ice cream under one roof, according to a PR Newswire announcement. By late 2022, that dual-branded format had expanded to more than 125 locations nationwide, as reported by Restaurant Dive, letting franchisees sell both baked goods and frozen treats from a single counter. The proprietary cookie dough used across those co-branded stores is produced at a company-owned manufacturing plant in Georgia, according to a GlobeNewswire release.
Marble Slab's parent operations changed hands earlier this year. In June, lender group FBG Bid Co. LLC completed a $595 million bankruptcy court-approved purchase of 13 restaurant chains, including Marble Slab and Great American Cookies, from FAT Brands Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 in Texas in January 2026, per GlobeNewswire.
Why Chesterfield Made Sense
Chesterfield's demographics help explain the bet. The suburb had a 2024 median household income of $133,037 and a population of roughly 49,500, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, figures that put the area's income nearly double the statewide Missouri median. The shop sits in Hilltown Village Center.
The Chesterfield shop currently keeps hours from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
