Scoops on Tap
College Roommates Blend Friendship and Sweet Success
By Sam Howland ('15, hospitality management)
As a kid, my introduction to homemade ice cream was from my next-door neighbor. Every Fourth of July, he would pull out an old-school hand crank ice cream maker and make ice cream for all the kids in the neighborhood. I was blown away by how good ice cream could taste when made with simple ingredients. It was an experience I will never forget and one that ultimately has shaped my passion for it.
As a teenager, I started to try out recipes on my friends and family and fell in love with the ice cream-making process, from producing the perfect custard base to creating new and exciting recipes.
The idea of starting an ice cream business clicked while I was a student in The Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona. As a requirement of the program, I landed an internship at Dale Bros. Brewing in Upland. One of the benefits of working at a brewery was getting to take home the occasional extra beer after a shift. That’s when I started experimenting with adding beer to my ice cream recipes. While it seemed like a crazy idea, I found that I could elevate the ice creams to a whole new level with craft beer.
My roommate Bryan Marasco ('16, marketing management), who was studying business at CPP, also became invested in the idea of creating Scoops on Tap.
During our time at CPP, we participated in the Bronco Startup Challenge and took third place!
The challenge required us to find a mentor to help us develop our business plan, leading us to work with Robert Small, former dean of The Collins College — better known as Dr. Bob of Dr. Bob’s Ice Cream. Bob was in the ice cream business for years and taught us all he knew. He gave us the opportunity to produce ice cream in his facility and inspired us to take Scoops on Tap to new heights.
In 2015, Bryan and I bought a mobile ice cream freezer and sold our ice cream at street fairs, festivals and farmers markets. By 2017, we decided to take the leap and leave our day jobs to devote all our time to Scoops on Tap. We worked every event, from L.A. to San Diego, with the goal of funding a full-fledged production kitchen in Montclair.
Unfortunately, we finished construction of our production kitchen at the height of the pandemic and were forced to pivot our operations online. Selling our pints out of our Montclair warehouse nationwide kept us afloat during the worst years of the pandemic — and we were proud to bring a bit of joy to our customers during tough times.
In July 2022, our dream of opening a physical location came to life. Our first scoop shop in the city of Covina — where Bryan and I had lived as roommates while attending Cal Poly Pomona — landed on Yelp’s Top 100 ice cream shops in the nation.
Today, three of our most popular ice cream flavors are available in all 28 Pavilions grocery locations in Southern California. Our ice cream can also be found across CPP’s campus stores and dining areas.
It feels full circle to have the ice cream we conceptualized at CPP being served on campus and across SoCal. Being able to see our dreams come true feels surreal and has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.