Some days call for a tasty frozen treat. Sure, you can mingle with the plebes and dig in a gas station freezer. But every now and again you just gotta have that expensive, handmade ice cream that somebody actually churned—or at least personally added the ingredients and turned the churner on.
Like L’Oréal Paris says, you’re worth it. But is that “homemade” ice cream worth the upcharge?
Arabella (@dear.arabella) is a Chicago-based chef and baker. According to her, much of it isn’t. She says many of those supposedly homemade scoops aren’t homemade at all.
In a TikTok with nearly 950,000 views as of this writing, Arabella accuses ice cream and custard parlors of passing off wholesale restaurant distributor Sysco’s frozen treats as homemade.
“I have been to multiple hand spun handmade custard in house ice cream places and I see physically the Sysco label cardboard on the tub of ice cream in the case. And it’s like $8 a scoop!” she asserts.
She says it’s a “big scam” in the restaurant industry.
“Sometimes ice cream is worth $8 a scoop but most of time it’s definitely not,” Arabella alleges in the caption.
Homemade Vs. Store-Bought Ice Cream
Many homemade ice cream recipes call for a few simple ingredients: whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, a pinch of salt, and whatever extra ingredients you prefer, if any. Sunscreen or insects, perhaps?
Ice cream made in this fashion tends to be softer and creamier than the kind you dig out of the freezer at a 7-Eleven. It also doesn’t last as long.
That’s because commercial ice cream contains emulsifiers, stabilizers, and other ingredients to improve its shelf life. This results in a harder product and a taste and texture that just isn’t quite the same as the homemade stuff. It’s still good, but it’s just not the same.
According to its website, Sysco’s ice cream cups contain high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, guar gum, tara gum, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, carrageenan, carob bean gum, xanthan gum, mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 80, annatto extract for color, red 40, and blue 1.
Sysco doesn’t publish the ingredients of its two-and-a-half gallon tubs, which Arabella is likely referring to. It does say they’re “not bioengineered,” so there’s that.
What’s Wrong With Selling Sysco’s Ice Cream?
There’s no reason why restaurants shouldn’t sell Sysco’s ice cream. It’s delicious. Chances are you’ve eaten a good bit of it in your lifetime—and you’ll probably eat a whole lot more over time.
The problem Arabella has is with the lie. She says these places pretend that they’re churning in the back when in reality they’re just prying the lid open.
People who commented on Arabella’s post largely agree that the restaurant industry is plagued with establishments calling something homemade when they actually just buy it pre-made from Sysco and other distributors.
“Food trucks too!” one person wrote accusingly in the comments on her post. “That 18 hour smoked brisket is from Sysco.”
Another said, “I used to work at a small restaurant that loved to tout how everything was made in house… The desserts were all from Costco.”
To be clear, this is not Sysco’s, Costco’s, or any other distributors’ fault. They sell the product, and the business decides how to market it.
However, it is false advertisement for any business to sell you $8 “homemade” scoops of Sysco ice cream. There are penalties for it, too. They can be fined civilly and, arguably worse, lose points in the court of public opinion.
“If I see the Sysco tube on the ice cream, I ask them point blank if they make it here,” one person said. “If they say yes, I leave.”
Arabella didn’t respond to BroBible’s email seeking comment.
@dear.arabella sometimes icecream is worth $8 a scoop but most of time it’s definitely not