Photo: Liv a Little Ice Cream - Instagram

Liv a Little Ice Cream

Olivia “Liv” Menzia had always loved ice cream. While growing up in Prospect Heights, Illinois, her grandfather had worked on an ice cream truck, and her father scooped ice cream while in high school. Although she seemed destined to be in the ice cream business, it wasn’t on her radar. Then she received an ice cream maker during her senior year at Marquette University, which ultimately led her to form Liv A Little Ice Cream LLC. Her 18 flavors of vegan ice cream have become popular with vegans and non-vegans.

Menzia’s not vegan, but she started experimenting with dairy-free recipes when she found that many of her friends with dietary restrictions couldn’t enjoy her ice cream. Using a coconut milk base, she hit on some vegan ice cream recipes that went over well at parties and potlucks. “So many people enjoyed it and didn’t even realize it was dairy-free,” Menzia says. “They said, ‘you should sell this.’ I said, ‘OK, I will!’”

Liv A Little launched in the spring of 2019, shortly before Menzia graduated from Marquette. She won a $7,500 grant in the Brewed Ideas Challenge, which allowed her to buy a vending cart. When the pandemic hit, she was laid off from her graphic design job and had more time on her hands. “My life had slowed down, and I wasn’t doing anything socially. I could focus on getting licensing, find a commercial kitchen, and put time into it to build the business into something real.”

After a lot of time, trial and error, Menzia tweaked her ice cream base by adding oat milk. “The base I have now tastes so much different than the base I started with. It was challenging, and it took a lot of feedback.”

She changed her recipe after taking the Ice Cream Short Course at Penn State’s Department of Food Science this past winter. She learned formulas and how to find plant alternatives for dairy recipes. “After ice cream school, I was able to crack the code and make my own oat milk.”

The flavors are driven by nostalgia, along with Menzia’s desire to offer flavors that nobody else has. A glance at the menu easily transports you back to childhood. The popular Warm Hugs is a chai flavored ice cream with pieces of vanilla cinnamon Oreos sprinkled throughout. Strawberry Pop Tart Pie has crumbles of the popular breakfast pastries crumbled into a strawberry base. Big League Scoop is a bubble gum flavored base with sprinkles.

There are also grown-up flavors like I Love You So Much Matcha, with fresh matcha from local Rishi paired with an ice cream base. Those that love the classics can enjoy flavors like Small & Mighty Mint Chip.

Two flavors of coffee creamer, Warm Hugs and Peppermint, came about by accident. “It’s the ice cream base before it goes in the ice cream machine. The creamer came about while I was at home visiting family. We ran out of coffee creamer, so my dad went to the freezer, took out a container of Warm Hugs, and put some in his coffee.” 

Menzia tries to have her most popular flavors in stock but cannot always keep a full freezer due to space. She’s looking to partner with a local grocery store to carry the Liv A Little line.

Does she have a favorite flavor? “It depends on my mood. Lately, I’m really liking Toasty Coco Crunch,” she says. Her newest flavor, Puppy Chow, which she custom-made for a wedding, also ranks near the top.

Liv A Little is on the menus at Dead Bird Brewing Company and Strange Town, and she does pop-ups and markets such as Milwaukee Night Market and Milwaukee Makers Market. Dates are announced on Instagram and Facebook.

“This is so much fun and doesn’t feel like a real job,” Menzia says. Being a younger entrepreneur—she’s 25 years old— she’s proceeding with caution and growing at her own pace. “I never doubted Liv A Little, but I’m so impressed by how far it’s come.”

For more information, visit livalittleicecream.com.

Sheila Julson is a freelance writer who enjoys capturing the stories behind Milwaukee’s happening food, beverage and urban farming scenes. She also pens articles about holistic health, green living, sustainability and human-interest features.

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