What we still can’t believe is that we are actually doing this, forgetting about the fact that when we started our only expertise was eating it.…We just started telling our friends “We’re going to open an ice cream store”.
As far as running a business, being entrepreneurs or culinary training goes, we didn’t have any experience, but that wasn’t going to stop us. We knew that we loved working together and were super excited about our ice cream and having a positive role in our community. With only our wedding planning experience from the year before on our resume we started getting down to business. Our main goal was to make a delicious ice cream with natural socially conscious ingredients that everyone could enjoy. We wanted to create a friendly, inviting space where all ages could meet and enjoy delicious smells, tastes and views of ice cream being made from scratch right there.
Unfortunately it took us forevvver to find a store. We weren't able to open for summer 2013, but looking at the glass half full (of rain) we decided this would give us a chance to get our act together during the rainy season. And what could be crazier than opening an ice cream store in Vancouver in November!
Since opening the adventure has continued with meeting so many awesome supporters and friendly faces in the shop. This motivates us to keep creating new products and tasty seasonal flavours, we promise to keep the creativity coming! In April of 2015 we opened a second shop in another great Vancouver neighbourhood, Cambie Village. 2015 was also an exciting time at Kits as we finally got approval to build our Parklet, outdoor public seating area, thanks to the City of Vancouver for this awesome program!
Rain or Shine Ice Cream exists to make our neighbourhoods happy!
This is our ultimate goal and what we strive to
do through all actions of our company.
How do we do this?
Through making people happy, delivering our best product, and supporting local! Stronger together is our motto.
Happy People
We aim to spread happiness and smiles. Our scoop shops are friendly neighbourhood social spots where all are welcome to lick and mingle. We strive to create a warm, welcoming environment for all ages to enjoy. This motivated us to build a parklet, an outdoor seating area, at our Kitsilano store, to offer a place for people to sit, interact and relax outdoors. It’s open for anyone to use with the hope of facilitating connection.
Our staff plays a huge role. We believe a happy staff makes a happy customer and we recognize everyone’s hard work with appreciation and rewards. We are so lucky to have such a unique and talented group of individuals as part of our team. We truly value all of their contributions and hard work, from scooping up a storm to unique flavor development. They are responsible for transferring this to our customers by providing a tasty treat experience that will leave a smile on your face. Stronger together!
Best Product
We strive to make every one of our flavours as amazing as possible. We are constantly inspired by food and tasty ingredients, asking ourselves, how could we make that into an ice cream? Whether it’s beer, a classic seasonal dessert or a unique taste combination, we endeavour to keep your taste buds adventurous and dancing! Our seasonal offerings allow us to constantly create new tantalizing flavours and keep things fresh. Our ice cream is made from scratch in house using fresh, natural and sustainable whole ingredients sourced locally, seasonally and organically whenever possible. What a mouthful!
Support Local
Supporting local starts with our ingredients list. We partner with many small lower mainland farmers because we want to support our community and lower our carbon emissions by reducing our transportation distances and waste. Our passion for protecting our environment is reflected in our efforts to reduce our impact as much as possible. One of the main ways we do this is by creating as little waste as possible by using all compostable packaging. This is our investment in a greener earth for our future!
Some of our local suppliers include:
Birchwood Dairy
Hazelmere Organic Farms
Tuscan Gardens Farm
Vancouver Olive Oil Company
The Tea Guy
Canadian Hazelnut Company
JJ Bean
Campbell’s Honey
Taves Family Farm
BSI Packaging
Growing City
In addition to a variety of seasonal ingredient suppliers.
