jplicks

Several years ago, a member of our team was diagnosed with breast cancer and leaned heavily on the Ellie Fund for resources as she went through treatment. We remain grateful for her continued presence here at J. P. Licks and decided it was time to partner with the Ellie Fund as a small business. We met with members of their team last spring, looking for unique ways to help rais money and awareness for the organization, something that reflected the energy of J. P. Licks. After several conversations, we designed our first sticker available [...] read more

We've been roasting our own coffee in our Jamaica Plain headquarters for 25 years now. Funny thing though. . . we meet a lot of people who don't know that! They know we serve coffee but they have no idea we roast our own beans. Newsletters and social media posts can only communicate to people who look at them so we decided to go old school and meet people IN PERSON! And what better place to meet people looking to shop local and shop fresh than at a Farmers Market! During the last [...] read more

Our catering team just worked what is perhaps their favorite event so far. They showed up to set up outside of Bark Boston, with coolers full of our dog-friendly, dairy free, Cow Paws, expecting to hand out the sorbet treat to humans who would continue walking with their pups or bring the dessert home to their furry friends. Well, to the catering team's surprise, the dogs stuck around to enjoy the treat RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. The afternoon was full of delight for our team. Each pup enjoys their treat in such a unique [...] read more

Today, we are joined by guest blogger Madison Baker, who sometimes helps us with off site events. As Boston finally broke from its familiar winter chill, we had the distinct pleasure of partnering with one of the world’s most famous dogs…Bluey! Bingo and Bluey’s strawberry and mango ice creams from the show inspired us and decided to make some of our own. We created this dual flavor so customers could experience both in one scoop. In May, got to take our ice cream to the Boch Center and surprise [...] read more

Winter 2024 marked our 5th year partnering with Rosie's Place on a Sock Drive. Why a sock drive? Shelters can only accept new socks for their guests and folks usually give shelters and donation boxes lightly used items. So socks don't "naturally" come to shelters. But we all know that dry, warm feet can make or break your day. So 5 years ago we decided to run a sock drive and to do it after the holidays when donations are usually at a high - the need doesn't go away and February in Boston [...] read more

When we work together, we spend hours together, not just scooping or making ice cream but also learning about each other. We find out how much more there is to each other aside from our favorite ice cream flavors or how much coffee we need to drink on a morning shift to really get going. Over the past 5 years, we have had a few employees share that they are studying art in school or create art as a side gig, like Mason Osorio, one of our ice cream makers, and Ian Mills, our manager in JP. [...] read more

With Legoland Discovery Center right across the street from our Assembly Row location, which had a giant blank wall just screaming for artwork, a partnership made perfect sense! So our teams connected and we hung this mosaic piece by Megan Amaral on our wall back in 2020. Megan Amaral won the Brick Factor competition to become a Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston in 2015. She has an Architecture Degree from Wentworth Institute of Technology and is particularly good at building animals and structures. She is currently the only female Master Model Builder [...] read more

In Spring, 2023, we partnered with Boston's Blue Man Group to create "Exploding Marshmallow Mouth" - a blue ice cream filled with marshmallow swirls. If you've evern seen Blue Man Group on stage, you know that's the perfect combo to represent the show. We also added colorful candy sequins to represent all that paint on their stage! But Blue Man Group makes more than just theater on stage every night. They also create spin art and as part of the partnership, we sold their original pieces in our Boylston Street and Wellesley Centre locations. [...] read more

As you know, early in 2022, the J. P. Licks family lost a cherished friend and colleague, Pete Deacon, head of the Catering & Bakery department. Pete liked staying hydrated with his favorite flavor Kool-aid, Sharkleberry Fin. We created a new sorbet flavor with it to honor and remember him and we hope you enjoy this flavor - a tropical twist of strawberry, banana, and orange - as much as he did. The artwork for this new flavor was created by J. P. Licks employee, Mason Osorio, [...] read more

Humphreys' Street Studio was founded in 2002 in an old dry cleaning space. It houses a diverse community of up to 40 tenants including fine artist painters, illustrators, sculptors, designers, furniture makers, photographers, carpenters, metal workers, fabricators, and more. In Spring, 2021, the artists came together for the Our HeArt: Group Show while simultaneously fighting to keep the building from being sold to a developer. They would like to keep the building an artist space instead of the space instead of being razed and turned into more luxury condos (as of this blog writing, the fight [...] read more

Wondering what our artist are up to when they aren't eating ice cream under their art? Then head over to Beacon Gallery at 524B Harrison Ave in Boston to see "Real F. R. I. E. N. D. S. ," a show conceived and currated by our current Boylston Street artist Jaamal Eversley. With its unique concept of collaboration and friendship, Real F. R. I. E. N. D. S offers a counterpoint to current events with fun, colorful pieces focused on themes of friendship and love. The intention of this exhibit is twofold: [...] read more

March has brought us another really fun partnership with one of our neighbors. We've partnering with LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston in Assembly Row to feature "Hibiscus" the mural created entirely of LEGOS by LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston's Master Model Builder, Megan Amaral. Megan won the Brick Factor competition to become the Master Model Builderat the Assembly Row LEGOLAND iin 20165. She played with LEGOs as a kid and her love of building structures led her mother to suggest studying architecture in college. Megan designs and build both 3D structures and art pieces like this mural [...] read more

Jewish Arts Collaborative hosted their third annual Israel Restaurant Week during the last week of January and we brought back our Olive Oil Ice Cream to celebrate! We were challeneged to use an ingredient from IsraeliBox . The box was packed with olives, olive oil, honey, and spices from Ethiopia and Yemen. We chose to make our Olive Oil Ice Cream made with the Ptora Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the box, made with olives grown and pressed in Israel. We were one of over [...] read more

Couqito is one of those flavors we only make once a year - and with good reason! Coquito (in its liquid form) originated in Puerto Rico and traditionally served during the Christmas season. Translating to “little coconut”, Coquito (the drink) consists of coconut milk, coconut cream, sweet condensed milk, and Puerto Rican Rum. But since recipes vary family to family and evolve as generations pass it down you may never taste the same drink twice! In fact, it was one of our J. P. Licks team members with a family recipe for Coquito who [...] read more

On September 21, 2021, local author Liz Hauck joined us in our JP Headquarters for a book reading and discussion of her new memoir, "Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up - and What We Make When We Make Dinner. " Liz grew up in Roslindale, frequenting J. P. Licks in JP with friends after school and after her various volunteer experiences. In her new book, she shares stories about food and community with teenaged boy in state care living in a group home in JP. She volunteered there for three years following the [...] read more

August 9th is National Book Lovers Day and we decided to team up with our Assembly Row neighbors, All She Wrote Books . we're celebrating with our Somerville neighbor, All She Wrote Books . All She Wrote Books, founded by Christina Pascucci Ciampa, opened in Assembly Row just over a year ago. We thrilled at the edition to a bookstore in the Row - we picture people picking up a new book to read and then sitting down in any of the copious outdoor seating made available by [...] read more

Back in 2020, we began a collaboration with our Newbury Street neighbors, Johnny Cupcakes . Johnny Earle, founder of Johnny Cupcakes, and Vincent Petryk, founder of J. P. Licks, sat down to talk unique flavors and t-shirt designs. We were all set to go come early Spring, 2020. Obviously, things were put on hold for a while. It took several tries to get just the right level of smokiness in our new Applewood Smoked Vanilla ice cream last year but we had the recipe and kept it tucked in our big recipe [...] read more

On Saturday, 4/24 Mayor Kim Janey did a walking tour of JP in support of the small businesses who have been working hard to keep our doors open through the pandemic. It included stops at our neighbors City Feed, Nckls & Dimes, and of course, a sit down with founder & owner Vincent Petryk over some Brownie Brownie Batter Ice Cream! We had a great time meeting Mayor Janey, her staff, and tons of neighbors! Check out some photos from the day! [...] read more

It has been two Marathon Mondays since we have seen a sea of runners go past our stores. We have seriously missed the energy this day brings to our "race adjacent" stores. Both the runners themselves but all of the people who come out to cheer them on. Both strangers and friends alike stand on the sidewalks and cheer and we revel in the energy you brint to our "race adjacent" stores - Wellesley, Coolidge Corner, Newbury Street, Boylston Street, Charles Street - we love being so close to the route that we can hear the [...] read more

Our 2021 Sock Drive was a huge success! We collected 826 pairs of new socks and brought them over to Rosie's Place in Boston mid-March. That's more than double the number we collected in 2020! Thank you to everyone who contributed to this year's drive! We are already hatching plans to collect over 1,000 in 2022 and we know with this community, we can do it! . [...] read more

Have you ever wondered why you don't find our Infused White Coffee Chunk Ice Cream anywhere else? Simply put, it's because we infuse the ice cream with coffee beans we roast right here in Jamaica Plain! Our production team put together a little video of the process. Enjoy and then come on in to any of our 17 stores to enjoy the flavor in a cup, cone, in a lixwich, or sundae! [...] read more

The JP Music Fest has been postponed this year but we couldn't let a year go by without serving the official ice cream flavor of the festival, Squirrel Nut Zipple! A peanut butter ice cream with roasted, salted peanuts, with a caramel ripple. It's a symphony for the tastebuds! Come in to enjoy it now or wait until Fall 2021 - when the JP Music Fest will be back. We hope everyone is still finding ways to enjoy live music and the arts during the pandemic - whether it be via socially distant concerts outdoors [...] read more

Janae Marks wrote the book “From the Desk of Zoe Washington”, set in Medford, Somerville, and Cambridge, MA. One of the places Zoe and her friends and family visit is the J. P. Licks in Davis Square and we just had to sit down and chat with her about how she came to set some of her story at J. P. Licks! 1. How did you decide where to set Zoe’s story? Did you grow up or go to school near Davis Square? [...] read more

Last month we started making deliveries to firehouses in our different neighborhoods. So far, we've visited 15 around town and we have noticed a bit of a pattern. Each time we ring the bell with our big freezer bag packed with a tub of ice cream, spoons, cups, napkins, and 3 different types of toppings, the door is answered by a firefighter with a slightly guarded, concerned look on their face. "Can we help you? " And then we start to explain who we are and why we're there. "Hi, our customers supported the campaign [...] read more

We love when humans bring their dogs by the store to visit us. While only service dogs can come inside, we can see your puppers outside, knowing a treat awaits them when their people come back out, or when you share photos and video on social media of your doggos enjoying their cow paw ice cream. Last week, we had a horse of a different color visit us in our Andover store. A literal horse! Well, a miniature pony, to be exact. Lifting Spirits Miniature Therapy Horses is one of our neighbors north of [...] read more

Have you ever looked up in our Jamaica Plain store and noticed a flying elf or taken a photo with our ceramic cow? Or sat in the teacup that sits in the middle of our Mission Hill location? Where in the world does Vince FIND these things when he's creating the interiors of the stores? Once upon a time, there was an amusement park in Whitman, MA called King's Castle Land. Founded in 1946, it had a nursery rhyme theme with a drawbridge entrance, an oversized shoe, and 14 rides. But in 1994, the [...] read more

A year ago this week, City Councilor Matt O’Malley (District 6) joined us in our Jamaica Plain World Headquarters to help us launch our new composting program. Councilor O’Malley heads up the Environment & Sustainability Committee and has been working tirelessly to help steer Boston towards being a greener city. So we naturally reached out to him when we decided we wanted to start a new green initiative of our own. Our JP store goes through so much coffee every day and until a year ago, we threw all the grounds away - and then we [...] read more

How quickly a year flies by! It’s not too often we make a featured flavor a permanent flavor. In fact, December marks the 1 year anniversary of the last time we did it! Our Salted Caramel Cookies ’n’ Cream ice cream was so popular that even though it has been years since we’d done it, we made it a permanent flavor. That means every store has it every day, no waiting for a new month to come around. A lot of factors go into the decision - how often do you [...] read more

J. P. Licks loves finding ways to deepen our connection with our communities. Recently, we started working with Apprentice Learning, an organization connected to Boston Public Schools to improve Boston high school graduation rates and make the transition from middle school to high school a bit smoother. An eighth grader from a middle school near our Jamaica Plain headquarters has joined us for a 6 week internship this fall, coming in 2 hours once a week. She is half way through the program and even with only 6 hours under her belt, she has already [...] read more