Most Interesting People 2015: Pete and Mike Mitchell

Why they're interesting: Brothers Pete and Mike Mitchell opened their first ice cream shop in Westlake 15 years ago. Since then they've expanded with seven other locations, including the new Ohio City spot, where the artisan treats are actually made in a super-efficient production facility that's visible to the public behind huge glass walls. While Pete works more on the management side of the business, Mike spends most of his time in the kitchen dreaming up adventurous combos such as fire-roasted sweet corn and Great Lakes Brewing Co. porter chocolate chunk.

Content with Cleveland: Though Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream has been a huge success with eight locations, shelf space in most local grocery stores and a menu presence on more than a few Cleveland restaurants, the Mitchells are careful about getting too big for their sugar cones. "If we're lucky to be doing this in 20 years, which we'd like to do, we wouldn't look too much different than today. We just want Mitchell's Ice Cream to be exclusively available to our fellow Clevelanders," says Pete. "We're not looking to be bigger than we are now."

For the children: "My life is a lot of work and kids. That's how I spend my time," says Pete, who has children ages 8, 6 and 4. His youngest child doesn't share her father's notorious sweet tooth, though, preferring the free pretzel rods to a scoop of ice cream. Mike has two of his own, a 4-month-old and a 2-year-old. He has been known to cancel appointments to enjoy Cleveland's other frozen treat — deep, fluffy snow — with his kids.

A scoop for Ferran: When Ferran Adria  visited Cleveland in November, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland asked the Mitchells to create an ice cream to honor the world-renowned Spanish chef. The result was an olive oil, orange and juniper flavor — though Adria  didn't limit himself to just one during his visit. "He probably tasted like 20 or 25 flavors — and not just a little sample spoon by the way," says Pete. "He had spoons and was sort of just going to town."

Ice cold:As expected, the shops are often busiest in the summer months. "People say, 'Oh, you should sell ice cream in a place that's warm all year-round,' " says Pete, "but the seasons seem to be good for us."

Flavor fav: While Mike prefers flavors such as vanilla bean and fresh peach ice cream, he isn't shy about introducing unusual ingredients. "Artisanal flavors are a recent phenomenon." His latest concoction is a mash-up of white chocolate, lemon verbena and ginger. "I've got 110 pounds of lemongrass in the cooler right now."