Just steps away from the UDistrict light rail station, a small business is scooping up big success one delicious flavor at a time. Meet Lois Ko, the owner and founder of Sweet Alchemy Ice Creamery, a handcrafted ice cream shop dedicated to serving unique and mouth-watering flavors.
We sat down with Lois at her UDistrict location, where all the magic happens, to learn more about her journey and what makes Sweet Alchemy so special.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How long has Sweet Alchemy been scooping ice cream?
So I created a Sweet Alchemy back in 2016. We opened our doors in February of 2016, so we’ve been around for eight years now. We make all of our ice cream flavors at our UDistrict location, except the vegan flavors which are made in Ballard.
I actually worked here in this location as a scooper before while I was going to UW, and so when the opportunity came and the owner wanted to sell the space, I said I was very interested in buying. I’ve actually been standing in this shop since 2001, going to UW, working as a scooper!
You are a proud UW alum – what did you study as a student?
I studied Fine Arts – Interdisciplinary Visual Arts, which is a fancy word for “I did a little bit of everything”. I couldn’t decide on one thing. I did drawing, I did pottery, I did wheel throwing, I did 2D, I did 3D.
What is one of your favorite parts about being a small business owner?
It’s never boring! We’re in the thick of it right now because July is our busiest month and has been since 2018. It’s chaotic and you’ll always find yourself tumbling forward.
But things get done and everyone comes together.I have a great team of about 30 people who make sure that we get this done. The best part is always being busy, never being bored, and the people who surround me.
What was the first flavor that you started making?
The first flavor that gave me the confidence to open my own ice cream shop is the London Fog – it won a silver medal award in a competition this year. The flavor that is the most popular nowadays is the Dark Side – a customer actually came up with this flavor! We really listen to our customers. A customer also came up with the Persian Rose.
You have four locations in operation – what have been the biggest challenges in expanding?
I think the biggest challenge in expanding is capital. You need the money to expand.
I like a good challenge. I like a good challenge that I can solve – but I don’t like a challenge that the world throws at you, like the pandemic. That was very stressful.
A challenge that I like is figuring out what our presences is going to be in a new neighborhood.
Our Bellevue shop is very much a post-pandemic child, because we delivered a lot of ice cream to Bellevue during the pandemic. That space doesn’t have any seating, which reflects my mentality from the pandemic. But we still wanted to provide a space, and we knew that it was going to be a big cake shop. People in Bellevue have been asking if they could buy our cakes for the longest time, and wanted a place to go that wasn’t in Seattle.
So we needed to design a small space (400 square feet!) that had enough space to scoop, but also to be a cake pickup destination.
Each shop presents challenges that the space brings, and that the neighborhood brings. Trying to figure that out is always challenging and fun.
Let’s talk about the ice cream cakes!
We’ve always made ice cream cakes. My previous job before I opened Sweet Alchemy was a franchisee for another brand and making cakes was the only good thing that kept me sane.
I loved making ice cream cakes and then when we launched Sweet Alchemy, I only took custom ice cream cakes orders from people who called or would email me personally. There was one time when someone ordered a customized flavor, and my reaction was, “you have 70 different ice cream flavor options, and you chose to pair these things together?! Interesting. I personally wouldn’t pay money to eat that combination together, but okay!”
I first made the Matcha Maid in Heaven by baking a black sesame chiffon cake. I knew I wanted to create a green tea and black sesame flavor. We have a great strawberry ice cream that has also won an award, so I thought about how I could combine the different flavors and textures. I figured since black sesame is a fat, we could use that in an angel cake recipe (angel cakes do better frozen), so I had a mad scientist moment along with my chef, and we did a ton of taste testing and asked our staff for their opinions. Creating that was really fun!