Jake’s Ice Cream is now business brand for where Siesta Key Creamery stood
By Jane Bartnett
At Jake’s, ice cream is a gourmet treat.
The little ice cream parlor in the Southbridge Mall at 6575 Midnight Pass Rd., formerly known as Siesta Creamery, is now called Jake’s Ice Cream and sports a new logo and signage on the mall’s exterior. Inside, the same award-winning ice cream is still being served-up.
In what’s a fun, welcoming and happy place, chef and owner Jake Best makes the ice creams on site from his own hand-crafted recipes, as he has since 2020.
“Great ice cream makes great memories and here at Jake’s creating great memories is what we love to do,” he said with a smile.
The flavors and combinations of ingredients that Best puts into his creations are far beyond what traditional ice cream shops carry.
In October, to celebrate Halloween, Jake’s will serve up its new Spooky Spiced Pumpkin ice
cream. “We’re also bringing last fall’s Wicked Cobbler ice cream back,” he reported. “It has hints
of lightly spiced rum, buttered sweet cream, shortbread butter biscuits, praline pecans and a
peach finish.”
Come November, in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, the business will feature another
new flavor in the form of Dutch apple fritter ice cream. And for December, Best is creating his own
peppermint stick ice cream and Black Forest cheesecake ice cream.
“They will be two very merry and special ice creams,” he said.
In addition to Jake’s specials, ice cream lovers will find 22 hand-crafted flavors on the menu every day. Fresh dairy is delivered three times a week and all the dairy products come from a regional family-owned dairy farm co-op.
Having his name on the outside of his own ice cream store on Siesta Key was something of which Best dreamed, he said. The Sarasota native attended Pine View School and graduated from Riverview High School and the University of Florida.
When Best and his wife relocated their young family from Denver back to Sarasota in 2019, he left a successful career in the surgical equipment field. A unique opportunity arose when Best had the chance to work with Dennis Yoder of the renowned Yoder family at what was the new Siesta Creamery ice cream shop.
But when the pandemic struck in March of 2020, Yoder closed the store for two months. In June of
2020, Best took over the business and made it his own and began to create ice creams from his own recipes. Word spread quickly around Siesta Key and the challenging months of 2020 gave way to a busy 2021. Sales excelled, Best said. The rebranding of the business followed.
And in July, the Yelp business-review website named Jake’s Ice Cream on Siesta Key to its “Top 25 Ice Cream Spots in Florida.”
Jake’s Ice Cream hours are Sunday through Thursday: 1 to 9:30 p.m., and Friday through Saturday 1 to 10 p.m. Visit online at jakesicecreamonsiestakey.com or call (941) 554-4632.
Author: Jane Bartnett