Saturday, December 14, 2024
So, a vampire and a penguin walk into Granbury — and together, they end up opening a dessert shop that’s so good it’ll make you believe in love at first “bite.”
No, this isn’t the setup of a corny joke.
It’s the reality for sisters Shelley Richardson and Aleasha Bell, who just opened Vampire Penguin last month.
SWOOPING IN
Located at 1840 N. Plaza Drive in Suite C, Vampire Penguin offers a unique dessert experience that you can’t get anywhere else — at least in Texas anyway.
Providing the perfect mix between snow cones and ice cream, the light and fluffy dessert will have residents coming back for more of the “fang-tastic” treat.
Bell, who first discovered the chain in Denver, Colorado, described the Vampire Penguin’s signature dessert as a “flavored snow.”
"You're not shaving ice and putting some kind of flavoring on top of it, like a snow cone, but it doesn't have all the dairy and things in it, like an ice cream," she explained. “The texture of it is not the crunchy ice, like a snow cone, but it's not quite as creamy as an ice cream. It's nice and fluffy and light — like snow.”
“I wish we could say we came up with the name (Vampire Penguin), but we didn’t,” Richardson said, with a chuckle. “There were two brothers out of California that started Vampire Penguin and they came up with the name. We like to say the penguin part is the ice cold and the vampire is because it’s something to sink your teeth into. They would say that the vampire part is because it’s ‘out of this world,’ but we like the ‘sink your teeth in’ a little bit better.”
FANG-TASTIC BEGINNINGS
Vampire Penguin was first launched in 2013 by the San Luis brothers, Paolo and Leo. According to the official website, the pair grew up in the Philippines and was inspired by various ice treats like snow cones, Hawaiian shaved ice and Taiwanese shaved ice.
When the brothers decided to open their own business, they combined the fine texture of Hawaiian ice, the creaminess and richness of Taiwanese ice and the all-American feel of the snow cone.
“It’s so different than anything else around here,” Bell said.
“We really wanted to create a business too, where people come in and were like, ‘Wow, this place is cool. I want to come eat here,’” Richardson said. “We want people to come in, and stay, and we’ve seen it happen where people come, they hang out with their families, they eat their snow, they stay and they continue to talk. So, I think we’ve conquered our objective.”
SNOW MUCH FLAVOR
Vampire Penguin’s snow consists of 10 base flavors, like chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter, mango and cookies and cream, but the menu items also have other goodies like chocolate sauce, whipped cream and dozens more of various toppings.
“In the summer, we will bring in more fruity flavors, and then we incorporate those into our recipes,” Bell said. “And then that includes different types of crumbles and different types of sauces. A few include fruit, like our Mexican Candy and our Strawberry Cheesecake, and all the banana ones like Dolce De Leche and Banana Cream Pie also include bananas. Hopefully we have something on the menu that everybody likes.”
For those with more of a sweet tooth, kid favorites like Birthday Cake and OogieBoogie also come topped with delicious treats like marshmallows and vanilla wafers or gummy worms and Oreos.
Even those who are currently on a diet will appreciate the fact that there are three-to-four times less sugar, calories and fat in snow compared to both yogurt and ice cream.
“The sugar content, fat content, everything is lower than it would be in ice cream,” Bell said. “Most of our snows are gluten free too, other than one (cookies and cream).”
In fact, there are only 10 to 14 grams of sugar and 54 to 75 calories per a 12-ounce serving of snow — not including the toppings.
“Most of them are dairy free. I think cookies and cream and vanilla are not dairy free,” Richardson said. “We also have sugar-free flavors, so we've had a lot of people who are diabetics come in, and they've really enjoyed it because we have a couple of sugar free sauces as well, so they can have a whole dessert without having any sugar, and it doesn't affect the blood sugar. That's been kind of nice to add a dessert that they can have as well.”
The sugar-free snows are available in coconut, vanilla and white chocolate and the sugar-free sauces include chocolate and caramel.
As an added bonus, customers can also look forward to the flavors of the month, where seasonal snows will be available for a limited time.
For the month of November, menu items will include:
“My new favorite flavor is the Pecan Sandie,” Richardson said. “It's a November flavor, but we're really considering maybe keeping it on the menu even after November, because it is really good.”
A SPOONFUL OF GELATO
One thing that sets Granbury’s location apart is its unique offering of nine gelato flavors, which include: Bourbon Vanilla Apple Crisp, Stracciatella, Sicilian Pistachio, NY Strawberry Cheesecake, Cookies and Cream, Belgian Dark Chocolate, Madagascar Vanilla Bean, Argentine Sea Salt Caramel and Maple Roasted Butter Pecan.
"We keep a vegan vanilla in the back. We also have a lemon that's in the back right now, just because we have some more of our seasonal more fall type flavors out,” Richardson said. “But same thing with the gelatos. As summer comes, we'll probably rotate out some of the fall and bring in some fruit (flavors).”
Other flavors of the gelato have also been popular, like the dark chocolate, which Richardson said has been a “huge seller.”
"We have people wanting to come in and buy that by the pints,” she said. “We don't sell it that way, but we're glad that people are really enjoying the gelato too — and we're always more than willing to give free samples.”
A SWEET BITE OF SUCCESS
Even though Granbury’s location has only been open for a month, Richardson stated they have already started to see an influx of repeating customers.
“You can tell because when a new person walks in, there's a lot to look at and decide what you want, but those people that are coming back, they walk right up to the register and they're like, ‘I know what I want. I want to try this one this time,’” Richardson said. “A lot of times people are like ‘I can't decide,’ and I said, ‘Well, good thing is you can come back. You don't have to try them all today. Just pick one.’ Our motto is you can't go wrong with the one you pick; they're all good.”
While Vampire Penguin locations are spread out all over states like California, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, Granbury’s Vampire Penguin is currently the only one in Texas.
“There was one originally that opened like a month or so before COVID in the Galleria Dallas, but because of COVID, it didn’t last,” Bell said. “It was only there a few months, but there is interest from other people opening them in Texas, so there probably will be a few more popping up.”
Since Granbury’s is the only location in the state — for now — the sisters were also able to have fun with the concept and truly make it their own.
“It’s not technically a franchise,” Bell said. “You’re buying the license, and you’re buying their snow, but other than that, you can do what you want with it, so ours is decorated differently than the others.”
CHILLIN’ IN STYLE
With walls painted in vibrant shades of orange, purple and blue, along with a touch of gothic flair, Vampire Penguin’s atmosphere is both bold and unforgettable.
The dramatic oversized gothic black chair also serves as a striking contrast against the bright colors while creating the perfect selfie spot where you can feel like the ruler of your own frosty kingdom.
“If you look at the other Vampire Penguins online, they're mostly all black, white, gray and a touch of orange,” Bell said. “And we just needed a little more color. We just wanted something totally different.”
“Even our corporate office is like, ‘You have one of the best Vampire Penguins we have ever seen,’ so that was a big compliment for us,” Richardson said.
But perhaps the most unexpected feature that sets Granbury’s location apart is its wildly creative bathroom decor.
With vibrant purple walls adorned with quirky photos of vampires, penguins, and other darkly whimsical images, it’s easily one of the most unique — and Instagram-worthy — bathrooms around.
“It’s something that Shelley and I came up with,” Bell said. “We wanted it to be very different, very memorable. We didn’t want it to look like any kind of commercial setting. There's so many stipulations on how the bathroom has to be set up, and it's usually very plain, so we wanted it to be where people wanted to go to the bathroom, and then wanted to tell somebody else to go to the bathroom, just because it's really neat looking. We spent months just gathering little odds and ends to put on the walls.”
The bathroom also has a “selfie spot,” where customers can snap a quick photo in front of the mirror, which — framed by the unique decor — makes a perfect backdrop for a fun and memorable shot.
But the immersive experience doesn’t stop there.
ACCESSORIES TO DIE FOR
In addition to indulging in the signature desserts, customers can also take home a piece of the fun with an assortment of T-shirts, tumblers, hats, koozies and even plushies — all decked out in the brand’s iconic vampire-penguin fusion style.
“Even our high school kids that work here want to come in and buy a plushie,” Bell said.
“They’re like, ‘How many can we buy?’ and I’m like, ‘They’re for sale. They’re not for you to line your bedroom with,” Richardson said, chuckling.
The plushy characters — Vampy the vampire penguin, Paula the polar bear, and Walter the walrus — also have a back story that was created by the original owners.
“Walter is Vampy's best friend, and he kind of thinks he's a vampire because he has the teeth but he's not,” Richardson. “But Vampire Penguin is the only vampire and then Paula is his love interest.”
COOL DESSERTS, HOT SUCCESS
While Granbury’s location has only been open for about six weeks now, the plan is to hopefully open other locations in the future — starting with Weatherford.
“We are also going to start doing more iced coffees, iced hot chocolate and hot cocoas, as we go into the winter months,” Richardson said. “We're not exactly sure what kind of specialty coffees we're going to brew, but probably in the next week or two, we'll know that and post that on social media as well.”
But for now, one thing’s for sure — whether you're drawn in by the quirky name or the enticing flavors, it’s clear that this one-of-a-kind dessert shop has definitely found a sweet spot in Granbury’s heart.
“I think the name helped us a lot,” Richardson added. “But I think the product sells itself.”
Vampire Penguin’s hours of operation are 12-8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 12-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 12-6 p.m. Sunday and closed on Monday.
For more information about Vampire Penguin, visit vampirepenguin.com online.
