Lake Effect Ice Cream

I know, I know.... There’s snow on the ground. However, we can assure you that the Lake Effect in our shops is much, much better than the Lake Effect that’s on the ground. ... And despite the white stuff outside, we’re open and have plenty of the good Lake Effect in stock. As an example, our minty and chocolatey flavor, Green with Envy, is now back at both shops. Say hello to Sean, a new employee at our Lockport shop... Welcome to the Lake Effect family, Sean! Jason and Erik

New flavor alert! This one is a Lake Effect throwback... Date at the Zoo is now back and available at our Lockport and Buffalo shops. ... Anytime someone asks us what is one of our favorite flavors that we’ve ever made, Date at the Zoo is always part of the conversation. This one is really unique, we start with a house made date jam that we blend into sweet cream and coconut to make our ice cream base. We then mix in dark chocolate flake and chopped Brazil nuts. Also say hello to Eli. He is a new staff member at our Lockport shop! This is a single run flavor so get it while it’s available! Jason and Erik

Our newest flavor, Cheektavegas, is now available in both of our scoop shops! Remember, you will know when we have Cheektavegas in stock because the windows of our shops will be filled with pink flamingos. Like they are right now! If you haven’t heard about this flavor yet, we made it to honor the great town and people of Cheektowaga! It is a caramel infused mascarpone ice cream packed with chunks of Polish Prince Polo hazelnut candy bars, milk chocolate chunks and mixed nuts.... This is a limited edition flavor so get it while you can! Jason and Erik

This flavor has been a long time coming. New flavors can come from so many different inspirations but this one is all about family. My grandparents on both sides lived in Cheektowaga and my home when I was little was in Cheektowaga. So, I thought it was time to make a flavor that represented where my family is from.... So, our newest flavor, Cheektavegas was born This flavor is a super buttery caramel-infused mascarpone ice cream with pieces of Polish Prince Polo hazelnut chocolate bars and milk chocolate chunk throughout. And, last, we thought we should add some mixed nuts. So, the big question is How will you know when this flavor is available? Of course we will announce it on all of our social media, but we have another way, a way that will speak to all of the folks in Cheektowaga. Something that is almost irresistible to them. Pink flamingos! We will place pink flamingos outside of each of our shops when Cheektavegas is available. I guess you can think of it as kind of the bat signal for the folks from Cheektowaga. Keep your eyes open. The flamingos will be here soon. Jason and Erik

Important announcement! Please make sure that you pick up your Easter butter lamb cakes as they are ready and waiting for you if you placed a pre-order. If you were scheduled to pick them up during the first pick up and didn’t, they are still waiting for you during the second pick up. Also, our Buffalo shop will be open on Easter Sunday but our Lockport shop will... be closed on Easter. Have a wonderful Easter! Jason and Erik

Our Valentine’s Delight ice cream boxes are now available to pre order and we have an exciting addition to this year’s boxes! We have teamed up with our friends at Mills Jewelers, here in Lockport, to do something special this year. Check this out... Mills is going to include a $25 dollar gift card in EVERY BOX and, even more amazing, they are going to make 50 of them $100 gift certificates! FIFTY!... We announced our Valentine’s Delight boxes right before the Bills game, when we were all a little distracted (GO BILLS!), so we want to make sure that everyone knows what’s in them this year. Each box will contain 12 handmade ice cream delights. We decided to give you two of each flavor so you have one to enjoy and one to share. Or two to keep for yourself. Here are this year’s delights: Peanut Butter Crunch- Peanut Butter Epiphany ice cream dipped in milk chocolate with crushed peanuts on top. S’more- Marshmallow ice cream with a graham cracker piece inside which is dipped in milk chocolate and topped with toasted mini marshmallows. Lemon Tart- Our Meyer Lemon ice cream sitting on a Nilla Wafer coated in white chocolate with lemon drop and yellow sprinkles on top. Revolution Coffee Tower- Our amazing Revolution Coffee ice cream with chocolate covered espresso beans which is then drizzled in white chocolate. Oreo and Cream- Our Extra Cookies and Extra Cream ice cream enrobed in white chocolate and topped with a mini oreo cookie. Date at the Zoo- Our outstanding Date at the Zoo ice cream, coated in milk chocolate and topped with a date piece and chopped nuts. Each order is $18.00 and comes in a white gift box with a bow. Pick up times will be February 12th - 14th at both our Hertel and Lockport locations from 4 to 9 PM. We’re making a limited amount, so make sure to order right away. Order here and get ready to make your Valentine’s Day just that much sweeter! https://squareup.com/store/lakeeffecticecreamonline/

First of all... GO BILLS!! We make a lot of fun things out of ice cream. I think these are one of our best... We’re proud to announce our Valentine’s Day ice cream delight boxes. ... Our ultimate Valentine’s Day gift for the ice cream lover in your life. Each box will contain 12 handmade ice cream delights. We decided to give you two of each flavor so you have one to enjoy and one to share. Or two to keep for yourself. Here are this years delights Peanut Butter Crunch- Peanut Butter Epiphany ice cream dipped in milk chocolate with crushed peanuts on top. S’more- Marshmallow ice cream with a graham cracker piece inside then dipped in milk chocolate and topped with toasted mini marshmallows. Lemon tart- Our Meyer Lemon ice cream sitting on a Nilla Wafer coated in white chocolate with lemon drop and yellow sprinkles on top. Revolution Coffee Tower- Our amazing Revolution Coffee ice cream with chocolate covered espresso beans and drizzled in white chocolate. Oreo and Cream- Our Extra Cookies and Extra Cream ice cream enrobed in white chocolate and topped with a mini oreo cookie. Date at the Zoo- Our outstanding Date at the Zoo ice cream, coated in milk chocolate and topped with a date piece and chopped nuts. Each order is $18.00 and comes in a white gift box with a bow. Pick up times will be February 12th - 14th at both of our Hertel and Lockport locations from 4 to 9 PM. We’re making a limited amount, so make sure to order right away. Order here and get ready to make your Valentine’s Day just that much sweeter! https://squareup.com/store/lakeeffecticecreamonline/

2020 is gone... Thankfully, it’s over. The terror and sadness of COVID, the bleak outlook and unprecedented tough times for small business, the removal of human interaction in a time when society was already losing the joy of interacting with others.... COVID shoved us all into a dark place mentally, emotionally and physically. ... We can’t enjoy tailgating and a Bills game with 72,000 WNY friends. We can’t go to a Sabres or Bandits game. We have the Blue Jays playing at Coca Coal field and we aren’t allowed in. Wait till the Bills are in the Super Bowl and we can’t be in the stands to watch it. I will still blame that on 2020. But, I will be standing in my living room cheering for Buffalo like I’m there at the game with all of you. It’s been hard, but we’ve grown and changed and adapted. Because we’re from Buffalo and that’s what we do when the tough times come. Here at Lake Effect, we have adapted, too. We’ve created new products and changed the way we serve and distribute our ice cream. We are even keeping our Lockport shop open all year, despite COVID, because we know that sometimes an ice cream cone with family is just want you need in these crazy times. Know that we will continue to fight to keep Lake Effect going strong and serving our friends and communities. We thank everyone during this trying time who continue to support us and keep us afloat. We are grateful. We welcome 2021 and hope for better times this year. Jason and Erik

Important announcement! Our Hertel shop will be open until December 30th and we will then close for a brief rest and reopen in the beginning of March. If you haven’t picked up your Christmas boxes they are waiting for you at the shop that you ordered them from. When we close our Hertel shop on the 30th all remaining unclaimed boxes, if any, will be moved over to the Lockport shop. ... Our Lockport shop will not be closing this winter so you can get your Lake Effect fix at any time. Stay tuned for a huge winter ice cream sale that we will be announcing very soon!! Jason and Erik

We have one last gift to show everyone, and one last chance for you to order your 2020 holiday mystery box! Our friends from across the canal, popcorn experts Chenez Popcorn, has made a new flavor for us to add to our holiday boxes this year. Lake Effect Popcorn Flurry chocolate covered popcorn is ready and on its way into our holiday boxes. We will end all pre-orders tonight at midnight or earlier if we sell out before the 12:00am deadline. ... We have also added some time to our pickup hours. These times are in effect for both of our shops. Dec 19th 11-9 Dec 20th 11-9 Dec 21st 12-9 Dec 22nd 12-9 Dec 23rd 12-9 Here is the link for this years holiday box: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site/ Have a wonderful holiday everyone! Don’t forget to support small business, it’s always important, but this year is more than any other. Jason and Erik

Good morning! We have two important announcements for everyone. The first round of Holiday mystery boxes starts today. Both shops will be open from 11am-9pm to pick up your preordered boxes. Please practice social distancing when picking up your box.... ALSO! Because so many people have asked, we put out all our extra laser etched Lake Effect spoons and Buffalovely Lake Effect bowls at each shop for your holiday shopping needs. In addition to that, we also have Lake Effect socks, beanies and limited edition prints only at our Lockport shop. We had so much fun putting these boxes together for you! We hope that everyone has a safe, happy and wonderful holiday season. Jason and Erik

Only two more gifts to share with everyone and two more days to order your holiday mystery packs. Today we picked up something really unique. 100 signed and numbered Lake Effect prints designed and made by the WNY Book Arts Center! We will be putting all of these awesome prints into this years mystery boxes. Maybe you will be the lucky one who gets one of these great artworks this holiday.... Here is the link to order: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site/ Jason and Erik

We picked up our Oxford Pennant mini pennants today! Just more presents for you, that you might find in your mystery holiday pack. Two hundred of these cool little pennants will go into our holiday packs. If you’re the kind of person that likes to wait until last minute, I’m just letting you know... it’s the last minute. We will stop taking orders at midnight on December 17th, or when we are at maximum capacity. Which ever comes first. ... We have already sold out one pick up date and the rest aren’t far behind. Here is the link to order your mystery holiday box before they are gone: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site/ Jason and Erik

Here is yet another reason to grab a Lake Effect holiday mystery pack this season. This year we are going big with our small business friends, so lets keep the gifts coming Our long time friends Jay and Dennis at D and T Graphics here in Lockport, helped us create these awesome winter beanies and holiday Lake Effect T-shirts. There are 30 hats and 50 T-shirts that will be going into this year’s gift packs. In case this is the first you are hearing of this, here is what’s in... each holiday mystery pack: -2 pints of our amazing holiday ice cream -2 ice cream cookie sandwiches, (one holiday and one classic) -2 holiday themed artisan ice cream bars -2 holiday handmade popcicles (one classic and one from our mixology series) -1 holiday sprinkle pack -1 pack of hot fudge -1 Christmas gift from us to you We have these pickup time and locations still available: Lockport pickup December 19,20, and 21 Lockport pickup December 21,22, and 23 Hertel pickup December 19,20, and 21 (almost sold out) Hertel pickup December 21,22, and 23 Get your holiday mystery pack order in here: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site/ Don’t forget to order yours and get left out in the cold! Jason and Erik

When you take out a pint of Lake Effect and scoop it into a bowl do you rifle through the silverware drawer and find the biggest thickest spoon you can to handle digging into frozen ice cream without bending? Me too... So... check these out. Our talented friends at Custom Laser in Lockport helped make these awesome ice cream spoons a reality. Yep, that’s the Lake Effect logo laser engraved into each spoon! We will be putting 100 of these awesome spoons into our holiday boxes ...this year. I took one out for a test drive tonight. It’s an absolutely perfect ice cream spoon. Oh yeah, one more thing! Amanda at Buffalovely just dropped off a new delivery of our Lake Effect ice cream bowls! They are all at our Lockport shop and how ironic that they come in just when our new spoons do! Here is the holiday box link: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site/ The gifts just keep coming! Jason and Erik

Awesome news! We have decided to remain open all year at our Lockport location and not close our Hertel location until late December. Soooooo... ... We have decided to officially open our COVID friendly dining room at our Lockport shop. We have five tables available, all spread more than six feet apart, just in case you want to enjoy a little bit of ice cream inside. ALSO! We have some extra Halloween boxes available at each of our shops for those of you who didn’t get a chance to order online. There aren’t many of them, so grab one while they last. It’s never too cold for ice cream. Jason and Erik

You have less than a week left to get your order in! Pick-up begins this coming Friday! We’ve also made it possible to order a box at either of our scoop shops if you would like to place your order in person. If you would like to order online, all you have to do is click on the link below, choose a pick-up day, and your box will be ready for you at that time. With Covid-19 we thought it would be a good idea to spread out the pick-up dates instead of having everyone arrive at ...once. The three pick-up windows are Oct. 23-25, Oct. 26-28, and Oct. 29-31 during regular business hours at both of our scoop shops. Here is what is in the box: - 1 pint of our candy-packed Trick or Treat ice cream - 1 pint of Pumpkin Gingersnap ice cream - 1 Salty Caramel mummy ice cream bar - 1 Silver Cloud Vanilla and blue raspberry dip monster ice cream bar - 1 Tater Cakes chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich - 1 Kith and Kin Gluten-free chocolate cookie with marshmallow ice cream rolled in Halloween sprinkles - 1 Tater Cakes cornflake cookie and salty caramel ice cream sandwich - 1 Case Nic oatmeal cookie with Harvest Apple Cinnamon ice cream - 1 Mayer Brothers apple cider popsicle - 1 REDRUM strawberry and rum spiked popsicle - 1 pack of custom mixed Halloween sprinkles - 2 packs of hot fudge - A handful of trick or treat candy and a cool New Lake Effect fridge magnet! ALL of this for $40.00! Here is the link: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site Jason and Erik

We’ve caught up with orders and are able to offer more Halloween boxes to anyone who found that we were out of stock. We want to do everything we can to make sure that everyone can get a box for his or her family this Halloween. This may be the last batch we can make before the preorder closes, so make sure you get your order in today. We’ve also made it possible to order a box at either of our scoop shops if you would like to place your order in person. If you would like to ...order online, all you have to do is click on the link below, choose a pick- up day, and your box will be ready for you at that time. With Covid-19 we thought it would be a good idea to spread out the pick-up dates instead of having everyone arrive at once. The three pick-up windows are Oct. 23-25, Oct. 26-28, and Oct. 29-31 at both our scoop shops. Here is what is in the box: - 1 pint of our candy-packed Trick or Treat ice cream - 1 pint of Pumpkin Gingersnap ice cream - 1 Salty Caramel mummy ice cream bar - 1 Silver Cloud Vanilla and blue raspberry dip monster ice cream bar - 1 Tater Cakes chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich - 1 Kith and Kin Gluten-free chocolate cookie with marshmallow ice cream rolled in Halloween sprinkles - 1 Tater Cakes cornflake cookie and salty caramel ice cream sandwich - 1 Case Nic oatmeal cookie with Harvest Apple Cinnamon ice cream - 1 Mayer Brothers apple cider popsicle - 1 REDRUM strawberry and rum spiked popsicle - 1 pack of custom mixed Halloween sprinkles - 2 packs of hot fudge - A handful of trick or treat candy and a cool New Lake Effect fridge magnet! ALL of this for $40.00! Here is the link: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site Jason and Erik

The Buffalo Spree Best of 2020 issue was delivered today... and guess what? We just found out that we were voted Best Ice Cream Shop in Western New York! This award means a lot to us and we love the fact that, when you think of a great place to get ice cream, you think of Lake Effect. ... Thank you, everyone, and thank you Buffalo Spree!

First and foremost... Go Bills!! If you haven’t heard we are currently taking pre-orders for our amazing new Halloween ice cream box. We though it might be cool to have an option for parents this year in case trick or treating is limited.... All you have to do is click on the link below, choose a pick up day, and your box will be ready for you at that time. With Covid-19 we thought it would be a good idea to spread out the pick up dates instead of having everyone arrive at once. The three pick up dates are Oct. 23-25, Oct. 26-28, Oct. 29-31 at both of our scoop shops. The pre-orders are limited so get yours in before they are gone! Here is what is in the box... - 1 pint of our candy-packed Trick or Treat ice cream - 1 pint of Pumpkin Gingersnap ice cream - 1 Salty Caramel mummy ice cream bar - 1 Silver Cloud Vanilla and blue raspberry dip monster ice cream bar - 1 Tater Cakes chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich - 1 Kith and Kin Gluten free chocolate cookie with marshmallow ice cream - 1 Tater Cakes cornflake cookie and salty caramel ice cream sandwich sandwich rolled in Halloween sprinkles - 1 Case Nic oatmeal cookie with harvest apple cinnamon ice cream - 1 Mayer Brothers apple cider popsicle - 1 REDRUM strawberry and rum spiked popsicle - 1 pack of custom mixed Halloween sprinkles - 2 packs of hot fudge - A handful of trick or treat candy - And a cool New Lake Effect fridge magnet ALL of this for $40.00! Here is the link: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site Jason and Erik

We had a great idea a really great idea. So, this spring and summer we created the new Lake Effect Mystery Box, and its popularity took us by surprise. People loved it and our weekly orders would sell out in less than ten minutes! We decided to take that idea, throw it in a cauldron, toss in some Halloween fun, and mix it around. What came out of the brew was our new Halloween box.... What’s in a Halloween box? I’m glad you asked! Check this out: - 1 pint of our candy-packed Trick or Treat ice cream - 1 pint of Pumpkin Gingersnap ice cream - 1 Salty Caramel mummy ice cream bar - 1 Silver Cloud Vanilla and blue raspberry dip monster ice cream bar - 1 Tater Cakes chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich - 1 Kith and Kin Gluten free chocolate cookie with marshmallow ice cream - 1 Tater Cakes cornflake cookie and salty caramel ice cream sandwich sandwich rolled in Halloween sprinkles - 1 Case Nic oatmeal cookie with harvest apple cinnamon ice cream - 1 Mayer Brothers apple cider popsicle - 1 REDRUM strawberry and rum spiked popsicle - 1 pack of custom mixed Halloween sprinkles - 2 packs of hot fudge - A handful of trick or treat candy - And a cool New Lake Effect fridge magnet ALL of this for $40.00! The preorders will start RIGHT NOW! So here is the link: https://lakeeffecticecreamonline.square.site Jason and Erik

Even though it’s 80 and beautiful outside we thought today would be a good day to launch a couple of our fall flavors. First and foremost Trick-or-Treat is back at both Lockport and Hertel. If you’ve never experienced our Trick-or-Treat ice cream here’s what you’ve been missing. We take our Silver Cloud Vanilla ice cream and pack it full with chunks of Heath bar, Kit Kat, Snickers, M&M’s, Reese’s pieces, Nestle Crunch, and Twix bars. Woah yeah.... Next is a new flavor that we are very excited about. Our new Pumpkin Chai Latte ice cream. We had to do it, the peer pressure was unbelievable. So here it is, a fall must have, and now available for you at both scoop shops! Jason and Erik

Check out our awesome staff sporting some sweet new Lake Effect staff t-shirts. First you have Kelsey with Mona Lisa showing why she couldn’t help but smile. Second Kate and Logan with Darth Vader serving ice cream out of an AT-AT. Probably not on Hoth, maybe on Endor. And last, Trever, with the Reservoir Dogs all eating their favorite color ice cream. And just to make it even stranger, Trever is holding the shop mascot "Kevin" the coconut monkey. ... Weird and wonderful things are going on at Lake Effect! Jason and Erik

Our Buffalovely Lake Effect ice cream bowls are back in stock! If you missed out on last year’s bowls we had some of them printed up as well! You now have four different bowls to choose from...... Spoon me. Just another manic sundae. I’ll stop the world and melt with you. Sprinkles are for winners. Each bowl has the Lake Effect logo on the opposite side. Ya know ya gotta represent. Last time we sold out in less than a week, so if you’re interested I would grab one while you can! Jason and Erik

Nineteen years ago today, the tragedy of 9/11 shook us to the core. I was a new teacher and I had a three month old baby, who was at home with my wife, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I was working on my computer in my classroom when a news alert popped up on my screen saying the first tower was hit. I’ll never forget that moment. I ran out of my classroom and headed down to the large study hall in 230 at Lockport High School. I told them to turn on the TV be...cause a plane just struck the World Trade Center center in NYC. I was met with a stunned silence. No one moved, not the teachers watching the study hall or the students. I walked to the television and turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. For a moment I thought they were replaying the first plane hitting the tower. When I realized that it was a second plane, I knew that this wasn’t an accident. I walked out into the hall and immediately called my wife, who had already left the house to get supplies. We didn’t really understand what was happening, but we knew that our country had been attacked. The rest of that day, and the next, students came to school and we all stayed by the televisions. There were no classes and not much talking, just confusion and fear. I will never forget that day. As a country we should never forget the lives that were lost, the bravery of those risked their own lives for others and the way that our country came together.

It seems that people are very protective about their Lake Effect Ice Cream when it’s in the freezer. We get the funniest messages about how people hide their pints of Lake Effect. We have heard of people hiding their pints in empty vegetable bags in the freezer. One person said he hides his stash in a mini freezer in the basement. But this, well, this is the way you hide your ice cream in plain sight.... It makes me laugh every time it see it. Jason and Erik

HELP WANTED! We are looking for a few different positions at our shops! We are in need of a skilled cake and novelty maker to assist our cake maker Jo, because we have some very ambitious plans this fall/winter season. This position would be at our kitchen facility in Lockport.... Also we are looking for a few hard working, honest and kind staff members to help behind the counter at both our Lockport and Hertel locations. I have included our application. So if your are interested print it off, fill it out and get it to either of our scoop shops ASAP. We will be choosing people very soon, and can’t wait to meet some new members of the Lake Effect family! Jason and Erik

The ice cream bowls are back! I know most of you eat our ice cream out of a pint container (which we totally respect) but, if you feel like fancying it up a little bit, or maybe you want to show off in your next Zoom meeting, we offer our new bowls. Our friend Amanda at Buffalovely.com has made us bowls for the 2020 season! We have two designs this year. Each bowl has text on one side and our logo on the other. You can choose, Just another manic sundae or Sprinkles are for... winners. These are very limited and are going to go fast, so get yours while you can. Jason and Erik

Time flies... Today was my boy Logan’s first day working at Lake Effect. I can’t believe he is old enough to work at the shop, and even better, he has his sister Loren to train him. One of the reasons Erik and I started Lake Effect was to have something for our families. A place for them to work, a place that they could take pride in, something that meant something to them. ... Way back at the beginning I wanted this to happen but could never really envision it because it seemed so far off. When we started all of this my kids were six and three. But now both of my kids are working at the shop. I just kind of quietly hung out and took this photo when they weren’t looking, but I hope they know how proud their dad was to see them working hard together today. Jason