The latest scoop: New ice cream shop opening in Sonoma

Sweet Scoops owners Ramie and Joe Hencmann will be opening a second handcrafted ice cream store in Sonoma – to be dubbed Darling – in spring 2020, in the former Baskin-Robbins storefront in Sonoma Marketplace. The Darling menu will be focused on scoops, shakes and floats and the couple expects to offer a large selection of “to go” pints and quarts, as well as ice cream cakes. The flavors will rotate monthly and the couple said that they plan to continue buying fresh and local produce for their flavors. All of the ice cream for both locations will be made onsite by Joe and by Ramie’s brother Chase Martinez.

The new shop is named for Ramie’s late Aunt Dar who died of breast cancer as a young woman.

“She was just an incredible human being - just really, really inspirational,” said Ramie. Ramie added that they will honor and celebrate Dar’s life by donating a portion of every sale to nonprofits that support women with breast cancer.

Ramie, who is a member of the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said the couple is excited to create more jobs in town and to continue to provide mentorship for first-time workers.

The couple is currently in the permitting-and-planning phase, with hopes to open Darling in spring 2020.

The Hencmanns plan a complete overhaul of the look and feel of the space. There will be tables and chairs inside and benches outside and an aesthetic that Ramie describes as ”cool, simple, kind of agricultural and harkening back to simpler times.”

Baskin-Robbins closed suddenly last July and the storefront has been vacant since. It had operated in Sonoma Marketplace for decades, with the most recent franchise owned since July 2016 by Amit Raj and Deepty Bhardwaj of American Canyon.

A representative from Sonoma Marketplace told the Index-Tribune in July that the shopping center hoped to fill the space with another ice cream shop.

Ramie said that the moment she and Joe heard the space had a large walk-in freezer, they jumped at the opportunity.

“Since Baskin-Robbins closed, we have gotten a lot of orders for ice cream cakes but we weren’t able to grow that business because we just didn’t have the storage space,” said Ramie. “At Darling we can both make cakes to order and always have them on hand.”

Sweet Scoops opened on the Plaza in July 2015, in the storefront formerly occupied by Grandma Linda’s Ice Cream and, before that, Ben & Jerry’s.

Sweet Scoops is located at 408 First St. E. Darling will open at 201 W. Napa St. The Hencmanns expect Darling to be open Wednesdays through Mondays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Contact Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.