As children, Gail Hewitt and Lydia Chambers’ mother told them, “Your dessert room is an entirely separate room in the house,” meaning no matter how full you were, you could always make room for a sweet treat.
They both happened to take that quite literally.
Thirteen years ago, Hewitt was working at a contracting business in Chardon. Her neighborhood scoop shop, King Kone, was up for sale. Hewitt had no experience in the food industry; she didn’t even know how to pipe a soft-serve ice cream cone. Nonetheless, she loved desserts enough to buy the shop and make it her own.
“We looked at it sort of as an investment,” Hewitt says. “We’re constantly trying to do new things. I love sauces, toppings; the ice cream is, like, the side part of it.”
Six years later, Chambers had a love for baking, with no place to put it. So, she traveled from her home in Columbus to Michigan, to buy a mail truck that would become Little Ladies Soft Serve, per, to her disdain, the guidance of her sister.
“I’m not the type to listen to my older sister,” Chambers says. “But enough stuff failed that I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to take this advice.’”
Today, ice cream is suddenly a family business. So, when the sisters, born and raised in Chardon, are quizzed about the importance of desserts in their childhood, they laugh.
“I would say our mother deprived us of desserts,” Hewitt says.
A trick question, surprisingly.
However, this restriction wasn’t forever. They break off into a separate conversation for a moment, trying to pinpoint when things changed.
“Probably when you came back from Europe, Lydia,” Hewitt decides. Chambers concurs.
“Each of us went on one cruise with our grandparents,” Hewitt begins.
“I was 13,” Chambers continues. “It was unlimited food, and about halfway through, I discovered the midnight buffet. I came back wanting whipped cream with waffles every day.”
“She was so enthusiastic about the desserts that I think my mom had no choice but to give in,” Hewitt says.
Since then, Chambers’ enthusiasm never faltered, now crafting the array of toppings on Little Ladies’ sundaes, including a lemon cornflake crunch and maple-bourbon caramel sauce.
Raised on Oreo Blizzards and bubblegum ice cream from local joints like Carriage House (formerly in Painesville and Kirtland), neither have lost their knack for creative concoctions.
“The ‘No Name’ is our most popular,” Hewitt says of the ironically named sundae covered in chocolate, caramel and crushed pretzels.
Speaking on Little Ladies Soft Serve, Chambers favors the “Lola,” her rendition of a key lime pie sundae.
“I do still crave Oreo Blizzards sometimes,” Chambers admits.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
That’s why the sisters both say they don’t plan on rapidly expanding their shops, wanting to keep the family-
owned businesses manageable, just in case their children ever decide to continue the legacy.
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