Vegan Ice Cream Shop Expanding with Kickstarter Funds

Austin’s vegan ice cream shop Sweet Ritual will be expanding to a new location thanks to a successfully funded campaign on Kickstarter. Since its opening in 2011, Sweet Ritual—known for its cashew, almond, and coconut-based vegan ice cream—used to share space with juice shop Juiceland, but with the new funding will be venturing out on its own to create a full-service vegan ice cream shop. Founder Amelia Elodie Raley says, “We wanted a place where vegans or those who are lactose-intolerant wouldn’t have just one or two consolation flavors, but could really choose from everything on the menu.” The new shop—which Raley plans to open by June 1—is larger than the previous location and will allow the team to produce a larger volume of products, create ice cream cakes, and experiment with new flavors.