Two Scoops Creamery to open a second location

It’s a good year for the Lake Norman area. The Kindreds’ second restaurant, Hello, Sailor, has been announced, as has the launch of Charlotte Cycleboats.

Now, Two Scoops Creamery, the popular Plaza Midwood ice cream shop, is set to open a second location at 807 Williamson Road, Suite 108, in Mooresville.

The business partners behind Two Scoops — Blake Hatchett, Rich Moyer and Marques “MJ” Johnson — announced the expansion to the lake area on Instagram on Feb. 11.

“That has been a large way of how we get out to the masses,” said Hatchett of their Instagram account.

Two Scoops opened in Plaza Midwood in August 2016, and the partners regret missing the heart of the summer due to various delays. But, Hatchett said, “At the end of the day, we’re happy to be open.”

While the homemade-ice-cream shop was originally going to be named “Queen City Creamery,” a mentor told the partners to consider a name that could be easily be franchised, rather than one that would bind their business to Charlotte.

This next location in the Lake Norman area will actually be set up as their model store for franchising their concept.

Whereas the Plaza Midwood location caters to that neighborhood’s artsy feel (its entire interior and often-photographed mural was painted by local artist Miriam Yumet), the second Two Scoops will have a more modern interior design that can be replicated across markets.

“Moving forward,” Hatchett said, “We want to be able to place ourselves in a situation where we can be franchised like a Starbucks or a Dunkin’ Donuts. We’re all young entrepreneurs and we’re shooting for the stars.”

Together, the three partners will open this second store. Their goal is to open three to five Two Scoops shops in the greater Charlotte area that they will solely own, before opening up the opportunity to expand out of North Carolina through new locations owned by franchisees.

“Charlotte is our home and we have to show our love to everyone in the area,” said Hatchett, who is from Charlotte. Moyer and Johnson are from Pennsylvania and South Carolina, respectively.

They are now working with Iredell County to get permits for their Mooresville location, and still need to upfit the space. They are pondering ways to have a similar appeal to their Plaza Midwood mural, because it gets so much engagement on social media by customers.

If all goes well, Two Scoops Creamery will hopefully open in May, Hatchett said. Customers can expect similar hours to their Plaza Midwood space. The summer hours are Sunday through Thursday, 1-10 p.m., and Friday through Saturday, 1-11 p.m.

Customers can also expect the pre-existing 32 or more homemade ice cream flavors, including daily features like Cookie Monster (blue vanilla ice cream with Oreos, chocolate chip cookies and vanilla wafers), Cookies by the Lake (chocolate with salted caramel and Oreos) and Strawberry or Raspberry Cheesecake.

With the Lake Norman opening, Hatchett said, “We’ll catch the kids right as they are coming out of school and have them dragging their parents in for ice cream.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 12:00 AM.