Killer Ice Cream, Vancouver, BC, Canada
In New Zealand, real fruit ice cream is often found at the beach, farmers market, or fruit farm. Customers choose a base and the mix-ins, typically fruit and hokey pokey, that they’d like. The trend has also spread beyond New Zealand, with businesses in other countries adopting the concept and introducing their own versions of real fruit ice cream. It is particularly popular in the United States, where it’s been transformed to include sugary toppings.
New Zealand-style real fruit ice cream is made by blending hard-packed ice cream with frozen fruit in a drill machine, creating a soft, creamy, and refreshing hand-crafted, made-to-order treat with the consistency of soft serve. The base is typically premium vanilla ice cream. The result is a smooth, fruity, creamy dessert that captures the essence of fresh fruit in every bite.
The concept of real fruit ice cream may have started decades past in the berry orchards of New Zealand. In fact, Dennis and Chris Little, founders of Little Jem, a machine that blends hard-packed ice cream with frozen fruit, are from a family of NZ berry growers. The family offered real fruit ice cream at the berry farm, but the machines they used were hard to clean, unreliable, and difficult to operate. This led to the introduction of the Little Jem machine in 2013.
Here’s an alphabetical list of some of the new real fruit ice cream businesses that we found, including the year the business was founded, location, and whether froyo is offered as a base.
- Blends Juice Bar, Portland, OR, United States, IG @blendsjuicebar, uses frozen yogurt as the base for real fruit frozen yogurt. The shop opened in August 2023 at Pine Street Market. The base is vanilla frozen yogurt which is blended with frozen fruit.
- Creamy Boys, Los Angeles, CA, United States, IG @creamyboysicecream, has two shops (El Segundo, Hermosa Beach) and a mobile trailer. The founders are from New Zealand and grew up eating real fruit ice cream at their parents’ apple orchard. The base options are vanilla ice cream and vegan ice cream. They started with a trailer in early 2021.
- Far Out Ice Cream, Boston, MA, United States, IG @farouticecream, was founded in 2020 as a pop-up. The first brick-and-mortar location opened in Brookline in November 2021. There are currently three locations (Brookline, Fenway, Cambridge). The bases are ice cream, froyo, and a non-dairy ice cream.
- Good & Happy, Perry, Utah, IG @goodandhappyco, claims to be the first real fruit ice cream in Utah. The vintage trailer is open seasonally and first opened during the summer of 2022. The base is local hard scoop ice cream.
- Happy Cones Co, Denver, CO, United States, IG @happyconesco, claims to be the first New Zealand style creamery in the United States. Happy Cones was founded in 2015 in a converted school bus equipped with the first made in New Zealand ice cream drill in the US. The first shop opened in 2019 at the Edgewater Public Market by Sloans Lake and the second at The Golden Mill Food Hall in Golden in 2021. There are also two ice cream trucks. The base is homemade sweet cream ice cream.
- Hokey Pokey, Los Angeles, CA, United States, IG @hokeypokeyla, has kiosks at Westfield Culver City and Westfield Century City. The base is dairy or non-dairy with no froyo option. It was founded by three brothers from New Zealand. The first location at Westfield Century City opened in late 2022.
- Jamun, Dulles, VA, United States, IG @jamundmv, opened in August 2024. Choose the base (four are ice cream, one is vegan ice cream) and fruit. You can choose to add toppings and drizzles.
- Keyz, Nag’s Head, NC, United States, is a new seasonal business that launched last summer. Choose a base of vanilla ice cream or dairy-free vanilla and fruit.
- Killer Ice Cream, Vancouver, BC, Canada, IG @killer.icecream.kitsilano, specializes in real fruit ice cream. Guests choose a base (vanilla ice cream, froyo, oat ice cream, cashew-coconut ice cream) which is then blended to order with a choice of fruits and fresh herbs. The shop opened in May 2024.
- Mo’Berries, Boise, ID, United States, IG @moberriesicecream, is a real fruit ice cream shop that opened in August 2024. Choose from 12-15 kinds of hard scoop ice cream and frozen fruit.
- Mr. Henry’s Real Fruit Ice Cream, Burleston, TX, United States, IG @mrhenrysicecream, claims to be the first and only New Zealand ice cream shop in the DFW area. The shop opened during the summer of 2024. Customers choose the fruit, toppings, and drizzles. The base is ice cream.
- Nico’s Real Fruit Ice Cream, Portland, OR, United States, IG @nicosicecream started in Portland, Oregon. It currently has two shops in Portland, Oregon, and two in California. The owner used to manage Zed’s Real Fruit Ice Cream before opening Nico’s as a cart in 2021. Three months later, the first shop opened. Nico’s serves real fruit blended with vanilla ice cream.
- NZ’s Fruit Frenzy, Detroit, MI, United States, IG @nzsfruitfrenzy, calls itself the first to offer New Zealand style ice cream in Michigan. The mobile ice cream cart launched in December 2024. We could not determine what base they use.
- Real Fruit Ice Cream, Nelson, BC, Canada, IG @real.fruiticecream, is a seasonal pop-up stand that first opened in July 2024. The base options are vanilla ice cream, with dairy or dairy-free (oat-milk based).
- Real Fruit Ice Cream, Camping Muntelier, Switzerland, IG @realfruiticecream.ch, has been serving real fruit ice cream from a trailer since 2019. Customers can choose ice cream, froyo, and vegan froyo as a base. The last Instagram post was in 2023, so it may have closed.
- Realfruity Ice Cream, Hamilton, ON, Canada, IG @realfruityicecream, serves made-to-order ice cream and frozen yoghurt from a bicycle. The bases are made with 100% Canadian dairy. The business launched in 2024.
- Sweet As Real Fruit Ice Cream, Laie, HI, IG @sweetas_icecream puts a Hawaiian twist on New Zealand style real fruit ice cream. Customers select the fruit and the base (Vanilla, Coconut, Dairy Free Coconut, or Frozen Yogurt). The bases are made in Hawaii. The first stand opened in May 2019 at the Polynesian Cultural Center. There are four locations today.
- Swrlies Froyo, Los Angeles, CA, United States, IG @swrlies, launched as a pop-up in 2019. They call their frozen yogurt Jalisco style but it’s very similar to New Zealand real fruit ice cream. It starts with a base of froyo or ice cream, blended to order with your choice of fruit. You can also choose toppings and sauces.
- Twist, San Diego, CA, United States, IG @twist_nz_ice_cream, is San Diego’s first real fruit ice cream. The pop-up started last summer.
- Welly’s Real Fruit Ice Cream, Port Angeles, WA, United States, IG uses local ice cream as a base and blends it with locally grown fruit. The first trailer started serving real fruit ice cream in July 2021 in Port Angeles, WA and a brick-and-mortar shop opened in June 2022.
- Zeds Real Fruit Ice Cream, Austin, TX, United States, IG @zedsicecream, opened in Portland, Oregon, in 2016. A few shops followed in Portland but those closed. Zed’s opened in Austin, TX in 2021. Zed’s offers more toppings and drizzles than your traditional NZ ice cream. Choose from a base of regular vanilla or dairy-free vanilla ice cream.
Most of these new businesses were founded in the US in the last three years, with many of them just a year old or less. In most cases, the young owners are from New Zealand or were inspired by a trip to New Zealand. They often started with a trailer or stand. US style has more bases and options, not just fruit. They may also offer toppings and sauces. Most of them point to being the first in the area and they explain what New Zealand real fruit ice cream is.
The energy around these new real fruit ice cream (and sometimes froyo) businesses reminds us of the beginnings of the last froyo wave. It also raises some interesting questions.
Is it NZ style real fruit ice cream if it is not made with Little Jem? We can think of many places that were blending ice cream or frozen yogurt with frozen fruit long before Little Jem was introduced in 2013. Stoelting just introduced their mix-in blender in March 2025.
How is NZ style different from what Yogen Fruz offers? Yogen Fruz has been blending real fruit and premium vanilla or chocolate frozen yogurt since 1986. In the US, Yogen Fruz wasn’t as popular as the non-mixed frozen yogurt offered by other frozen yogurt businesses. Have preferences changed? Or can they be changed?
