Fête Ice Cream & Coffee began with a conversation between co-founders Teri-Lynn Friesen and Élise Allard. The two, then working together at a dance studio, were in a staff meeting when Allard mentioned she had been trying to open a coffee shop. Friesen then mentioned her dream to open an ice cream shop, and that sparked an idea. 

“I just thought it was one of those conversations that would live and die,” Friesen recalled. “But then [Allard] texted me and was like, ‘We should really talk’ […] Then we met a few times and just hashed out what she was dreaming of and what I was dreaming of […] and we just felt like, ‘Wow, we have very similar visions for what we imagined could be.’” 

Friesen and Allard developed their ice cream recipe with the U of M dairy science program, headed at the time by John Thoroski. They rented the facility and had regular sessions to tweak their recipe over a four-month period, describing the experience as “trial and error, but with a little bit of side coaching.” 

“He taught us how to use the ice cream machine and how to make the ice cream base,” Friesen explained. “We had ideas, but he kind of formalized a lot of that learning […] and then we would bring our ideas to the table.” 

Fête serves a variety of flavours, ranging from salted caramel crunch and strawberry rhubarb crumble, inspired by their families, to the “whimsical and playful” funfetti, with real cake bits blended throughout.  

“At the beginning, we were trying to find what our core flavours were, and that’s very much developed with the customer in a sense, because you [can] come up with a flavour, but then the audience has to enjoy it for it to stick around,” Friesen stated. 

Allard and Friesen make their ice cream and almost all ingredients from scratch, in-house. They draw inspiration from current trends and suggestions. For example, for last year’s Made in Canada series, they sought to create flavours that could represent Canada from coast to coast. One of those flavours, the pacific berry crunch, was particularly successful. 

“We infused the base [for pacific berry crunch] with a little bit of pine oil, so it felt like a breath of fresh air,” Friesen recalled. 

Fête Ice Cream is located near the Forks Market, right next to the Bonnycastle Dog Park. It is a cozy setting that Friesen noted makes for a good study spot, with Wi-Fi, coffee and baked goods available for patrons. 

Another notable highlight of Fête’s store is the wall covered in polaroid photos of dogs. Although they are located next to a dog park, they are unable to allow pets inside, so Friesen and Allard were looking to find a way to include them. The idea came from Friesen’s husband. 

“My husband was like, ‘You should just have a “doggy wall.” That could be fun,’” Friesen said. “We dreamed up, ‘Oh, what if there were polaroids, and what if people could get their dogs’ picture taken?’ […] So that’s our way of including the dogs.”

Friesen and Allard celebrated Fête’s fifth anniversary last year with a trip to Calgary, where they explored different ice cream stores and attended a conference. When they celebrated six years in business this month, they kept things comparatively low-key. 

“We just had in-store specials for the day, launched our winter collection, got some balloons,” said Allard. 

Fête will be winding down their season on Dec. 23 for their annual winter break and re-opening in January. In the meantime, they are offering limited edition holiday flavours and a few collaborative flavours with Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s production of Elf. 

For more information on Fête Ice Cream & Coffee, visit feteicecreamcoffee.com or follow them on Instagram
@feteicecreamcoffee.