In 1 year, Minnesota man turns knack for making ice cream into a new career

Zach Vraa turned his quarantine hobby of making ice cream into an actual business, with his one-of-a-kind creations regularly selling out in just one minute.

Vraa, 29, is the founder of A to Z Creamery in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. At the beginning of the pandemic, he was working in sales; while at home, he started using the ice cream machine his mom bought for his birthday. He came up with different flavor combinations, like Lucky Charms with black cherry frosting, and posted photos of his concoctions online. People asked if they could buy his ice cream, and Vraa started selling a few pints of each flavor. The demand was there: for every 10 pints he had available, Vraa received 100 messages from customers wanting the ice cream.

"That's when I kind of figured out, 'Wow, I need to start doing this full scale in a full commercial kitchen,'" Vraa told KARE 11. Now, he can make 300 pints a week, with the base and toppings all made from scratch. No flavor is too out there — Vraa has made an Everything Bagel ice cream, topped with a garlic cream cheese swirl — and none are ever repeated.

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Vraa puts up one flavor for sale every week, and they typically sell out in a minute. The lucky people able to purchase a pint come down to the creamery to pick up their orders, and Vraa told KARE 11 that "every time I open the door and see the line wrapping around the corner, it's a feeling that never gets old." Catherine Garcia