Demand at local ice cream shop rising with temperature

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — As the weather continues to heat up, the demand for ice cream has risen.

While many ice cream shops around town have temporarily closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, longtime staple Mission Street Ice Cream & Yogurt has remained open for business. 

With less competition and record-breaking temperatures, the independently-owned shop — serving McConnell’s ice cream — has experienced a significant surge in customers over the past week. 

"Been very hot and very busy,” Mission Street Ice Cream & Yogurt employee Angela Ontiveros said. “It has very much surged but not quite as much as we're used to."

“Definitely a major surge, although we’re certainly not doing what we normally do,” owner Bob Moss said. “A lot of people are taking the ultimate protection and staying at home, but the ones that come, we're placing extra safety measures to ensure their safety. We're doing pretty good business there.”

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the ice cream shop has implemented proper safety measures. 

This means only allowing limited groups of people into the store at one time. It also includes tape markings located in the outside parking lot to enforce lines with physical distancing. 

"If you're a group, we let you in together,” Ontiveros said. “If you are separate groups we ask you to wait at the door."

To reduce physical touch, Mission Street Ice Cream & Yogurt has temporarily eliminated sampling and is no longer serving into cones.

Despite new rules, most people appreciate these safety measures. 

"I think they did it real nicely,” regular customer Rick Wolf said. “They let you wait outside and then flag you when it's time to come in.”

While working with delivery based partners Grubhub, DoorDash and Postmates; there’s been a spike in demand. 

"The delivery is much higher than it used to be,” Ontiveros said. “We would get maybe 10 or 15 orders per shift, now it's 40 to 50 per shift."

“We’ve been luckier than most because we’ve been basically a to-go place for a longtime,” Moss said. “Most of our business has been to-go, people come, order and pick it up.”

With a growing demand for dessert, customers have continued to support the locally owned business.

“We try to get out once or twice a week and get something to-go someplace, we help those businesses and this is just one more example of that,” Wolf said.

During this difficult time, the shop is helping to provide people with a sense of normalcy. 

“People stay home, there’s a lot of stress going on right now,” Ontiveros said. “It’s nice to get out for a minute and get some ice cream.”

“It’s getting pretty rough out there,” Moss concluded. “I do a lot of quarantining myself and I look forward to having a little treat once in a while.”

Throughout this recent heatwave, it’s been a regular sight to see nearly 15-20 people lined up outside Mission Street Ice Cream & Yogurt around closing time at 9 p.m.