Hot summer days make ice cream nearly an essential food group. Matt Reschke learned that first hand as he works to keep his new store Dandelion Gelato in Midway open and stocked for regular business hours.
“We sold so much more the first weekend than we were expecting. We were elated with 250 cups on Friday, then we sold 500 cups on Saturday. We had to drive to Provo at 2 p.m. and get a restock,” Reschke said about the shop’s soft opening over the Fourth of July weekend. “We went through almost 20 pans, which is 100 liters of gelato.”
Dandelion Gelato operates in the front house at 25 West Main St.. Current hours are Tuesday-Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. with plans for seven days a week in the future. Dandelion Gelato considers itself the “little sister” to the Pizza Yard, which Reschke opened in 2023 across Main Street, and the two businesses share one staff. A pastel yellow handpainted sign in the grassy front yard marks the sweet spot, a brick building with a porch set back from the street. The yellow front door opens to cafe tables, French school chairs that match the Pizza Yard’s, hardwood floors, brick walls with a fireplace, a waffle cone painting with a dripping blue floral scoop and a counter ahead to the right.
A daily menu of rotating flavors offers gelato in dark chocolate, tart yogurt, apricot vanilla black pepper, coffee, buttermilk blueberry, and toasted marshmallow. Dairy-free sorbets include lemon elderflower, grapefruit, melon, cinnamon lemonade, and apricot. Scoops come in cups or waffle cones. Some limited quantity flavors sell quickly. Reschke knows his choice.
“The chocolate is just ridiculous,” Reschke said. “It’s so hard not to just get the chocolate.”
After exceeding expectations during the soft opening weekend, Dandelion Gelato advertised its Tuesday, July 8, grand opening for noon. At that time, a sign on the door said the opening would occur at 5 p.m. In the meantime, a freezer on the porch held pre-packed quarts. When Reschke returned from The Market carrying bags of ice, he noticed customers had begun leaving money in the freezer for their pickups.
“Isn’t that the most Midway thing?” Reschke said, invoking the cash-and-carry farm stands that dot the city’s perimeter.
At 5 p.m. Reschke opened the doors as patrons began arriving. The selection at opening was temporarily limited to gelato in chocolate and mint stracciatella and honey lavender sorbet.
“We have 10 more flavors on the road coming here now. We make it in Provo, then he has guys who make it, and we haven’t quite figured out how far ahead we need to let them know,” Reschke said. “We got to be open so fast.”
The business came together over the past year through serendipity and community pride.
“I viewed the Pizza Yard as my thing. It was my dream. I had to do it, and if it was successful or not, it was for me,” Reschke said. “I view Dandelion as a gift. It’s something that Main Street needed, and it’s something I could offer the Midway community. Our neighbor who owns the building asked me if I knew anybody who was interested in opening a gelato shop, because that’s what she thought should be here. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want anyone else to do it, either.”
Gelato’s Italian origins also pairs well with the Pizza Yard’s namesake focus.
“It’s just such a fun thing, gelato, and it’s a perfect companion to pizza. So many people are sitting in the garden at the Pizza Yard after dinner asking where to go for dessert. To be able to say, ‘Across the street we have a gelato shop,’ is just perfect. The Pizza Yard is so small that having a next location for somebody to go is really helpful to us, too.”
Dandelion Gelato’s name came from a fondness for the familiar flower often considered a weed, and may feature as a forthcoming flavor once Reschke finds a suitable field to harvest.
“Dandelion is a beautiful weed. There are so many flower named businesses, but naming it after a weed is delightful,” Reschke said. “We have so much floral imagery at the Pizza Yard. My friend Jill De Haan did the branding. Immediately, we pictured what she could do with it, and she did not disappoint.”
One of the first customers was carried in his mother’s arms, and Reschke was prepared to offer flavor samples in compostable spoons.
“The best part is handing ice cream spoons to babies,” Reschke said.
Merchandise and sprinkles are coming soon. Updated flavors are listed on Instagram @DandelionGelato.
