Cauldron Ice Cream is an American chain of ice cream parlors servingCalifornia andTexas. Founded in 2015, it is known for making its ice cream usingliquid nitrogen to create its ice cream.
The chain was founded in May 2015, inSanta Ana, California, by the couple Terence Lioe and Desiree Le.[1] Lioe had bought an ice cream machine for $16,000 in 2014, and wanted to open an ice cream shop with Le. They wanted to bring some flavors they had tasted inSingapore to the shop and experimented with the machine for six months.[2][3] Its style of serving its ice cream, inegg waffles, started a trend amongst other, sometimes international, ice cream parlors.[4][5] In 2017, it began franchising stores in theSan Francisco Bay Area.[1][6][7] It also started opening locations inToronto in 2018, its first outside California.[8] Locations inSan Diego andDallas were also conceived in that year.[9][10][11] The Toronto parlor closed in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[12]
Cauldron Ice Cream offers eight flavors of small-batch ice cream, which are rotated monthly.[13] It also sellslattes,boba, and Middle Earth, a blend of boba, cream, and coffee. The ice cream is made usingliquid nitrogen, speeding up the freezing process and creating a unique texture.[6][14] The ice cream can be served as a rose instead of the typical scoop. It is also enveloped in anegg waffle, which the chain is also known for.[15] The debut of this addition started a trend that carried over to many other dessert vendors, including ones in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.[5][16]
As of 2024, Cauldron Ice Cream has six locations in California and Texas, with three in each state. In California, the chain has locations inFremont,San Jose, andSanta Ana. Texas has parlors inCarrollton,Dallas, andFrisco.[14]
