Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream co-owners Cindy Lillicrap, center, and Tom Lillicrap, center left, cut the ribbon during a ceremony hosted by the Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Sept. 7.
Matt Clevenger | Miami Valley Today
Bits & Pieces also carries a full line of sandwiches, including Coney dogs made using the recipe from George’s Dairy Bar.
Courtesy | Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream
Located in the historic Fort Piqua Plaza building, Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream also features a special entrance connected to the Piqua Public Library.
Matt Clevenger | Miami Valley Today
Tom Lillicrap, right, and Cindy Lillicrap, left, demonstrate how to make rolled ice cream during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream on Thursday, Sept. 7.
Matt Clevenger | Miami Valley Today
Rolled ice cream originated in Thailand, and is made using metal plates frozen to 20 degrees below zero by compressed nitrogen.
Courtesy | Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream
By Matt Clevenger
PIQUA — Members of the Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream on Thursday, Sept. 7, welcoming the unique new ice cream parlor and sandwich shop to its location in the historic Fort Piqua Plaza building.
Located next door to the Piqua Public Library at 122 High Street, Bits & Pieces offers rolled ice cream, sandwiches, Italian ices, salads and Coney dogs made using the recipe from George’s Dairy Bar.
“We brought back the Coney dogs from George’s,” Co-Owner Tom Lillicrap said. “That was kind of a staple in the community.”
“It’s been amazing,” Lillicrap said. “The last three or four weeks, we’ve been averaging about 1,800 Coney dogs a week. It is George’s recipe, so I think that has a little bit to do with it.”
“George’s was here a long time, and I think people missed it,” he said.
Rolled ice cream is another unique offering, which started in Thailand and Lillicrap first discovered at ice cream shops in Urbana, Columbus and Cincinnati. The ice cream is made using a liquid base that is poured onto a metal plate cooled to sub-zero temperatures with compressed nitrogen. Once it is frozen, the ice cream is then scraped and rolled off the plate to be served.
“The plates are 20 degrees below zero,” Lillicrap said. “The ice cream is really different; you start off with a liquid base, and you put whatever you want in it to make the ice cream flavor, and in two and a half minutes you have homemade ice cream.”
Every order is custom made, and guests can choose standard flavors or create their own special blend of several flavors. A wide variety of mix-in ingredients are also available including nuts, candy, Oreo cookies, Winan’s coffee and eight different flavors of edible cookie dough.
“The number-one selling one is probably the buckeye,” Lillicrap said. “Winan’s makes the buckeyes for us.”
Bits & Pieces also offers box lunches for groups, with a minimum of two days’ notice for large orders. The shop carries shredded chicken, barbecue beef and pulled-pork sandwiches and grilled ham and cheese. Chef salads and garden salads are also available.
Lillicrap said he and co-owner Cindy Lillicrap officially opened Bits & Pieces on Wednesday, Aug. 9. They also own This & That’s Candy on North Main Street.
“We own the candy store downtown, and we just kind of saw another need and a spot came available,” he said. “We just thought it would be a fun addition to downtown.”
“This building is amazing,” he said. “The city had already painted, but it was just a shell. We did everything from that point.”
Bits & Pieces Rolled Ice Cream is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and closed on Sundays. More information can be found online through the shop’s Facebook page, or by calling 937-606-2600.
