Healthy food is all the rage nowadays, from farm fresh ingredients to grass fed meats.
However, one segment of the food industry that doesn’t normally go the healthier route is ice cream; ever since the popularity of frozen yogurt peaked in the mid-aughts, coming up with a healthier alternative to one of America’s favorite sweet treats has taken a backseat to finding replacements for foods more central to our daily diets.
But the founder of D’Lites Emporium Ice Cream has been producing his low-calorie, low-carb and low sugar products since 1982, and the newest addition to the company’s nearly 50 locations recently opened in Oldsmar.
“D’Lites offers a healthier alternative to regular ice cream,” owner Ken Short said recently at the Upper Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce awards dinner.
“Right now we are working to get the word out and bring in customers who are looking for a healthier alternative to ice cream.”
Short, who lives in Tampa and works at USF for his day job, has installed his mom and dad at the Tampa Road shop to help run the business, which opened in May.
He said he is happy to have his family helping out, and he’s excited to be part of the burgeoning Oldsmar business scene.
“We just joined the chamber, and I’m excited to open a business in Oldsmar,” he said. “It really seems like a growing community, and we hope to be a part of that growth.”
No report about a new ice cream shop would be complete without a sample session, and luckily, the store was still open when I popped by after the banquet.
Not only was Short’s mom, Kathleen, minding the shop, but D’Lites founder and creator Jerry Corsover was also there helping out and informing customers about his product.
Corsover, who opened his first location in Plantation in 1982, said the formula for his success has remained the same over the course of 30-plus years.
“Low sugar, low fat, low carb and no artificial sweeteners,” he said of his product, which comes in a variety of flavors including butter pecan and mango as well as staples like vanilla and chocolate.
“More and more people are health conscious now, but we were ahead of our time.”
While the healthier concept of the ice cream is not in doubt – Corsover said D’Lites has just half of one percent of butterfat, compared to 10-20 percent in other popular brands – the real question is, how does it taste?
“Very creamy and very light, much like real soft serve ice cream,” he said.
After sampling a small cup of butter pecan and chocolate, this reporter can safely verify the claim.
If You Go: D’Lites Ice Cream
Address: 4058 Tampa Rd. Ste 8
Phone: 727-537-6873
Hours: Sun – Thu, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Fri, Sat, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Mon, closed
Leave a Reply