By Claire Walla
When Joe and Liza Tremblay opened Bay Burger on the Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike in 2007, they knew they wouldn’t just be flipping burgers.
From the get-go, the Tremblay’s launched Joe and Liza’s Ice Cream alongside the burger business, dolling out scoops of sweet cream as well as burgers and fries. A winning combination, some sweet/salty connoisseurs might say. The only problem?
Space.
“We were trying to manufacture the ice cream in the restaurant,” Joe Tremblay explained.
As it currently stands, the ice cream is whipped up in the same kitchen space used for cooking the beef patties. Tremblay said they’ve been able to serve up enough ice cream to order, but the relatively small kitchen space has prevented the ice cream chain from expanding — wholesale had always been their goal.
“In the summer, the ice cream would get put on the back burner” — so to speak — “and we could only serve a certain count,” Tremblay continued. “The next thing we know, we have a line out the door, and we’re in the kitchen as they’re preparing the burgers!”
This clash of culinary tastes will finally be mitigated this year, as the Tremblay’s have finalized a lease on a new kitchen space right on the turnpike, where they will relocate their ice cream business and focus on expanding for the wholesale market.
“We’d like to really give the ice cream a real go on its own,” Tremblay continued.
Currently sold in the standard variety, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, the Tremblays also sell more adventurous flavors like pistachio and “cookie jar.” The Tremblays won’t go into details on intended plans for the future, other than they’d like to get their product into markets and restaurants out here on the East End.
While Joe and Liza’s Ice Cream will get a kitchen all its own, it won’t be moving very far. The space in question is a former garage on the Sag Harbor Industries site on the turnpike — right next to Bay Burger.
“The summer is such a scramble,” Tremblay continued. “It just wasn’t getting anywhere trying to [make ice cream] out of the restaurant.”
According to Tremblay, the new facility — which has been permitted by Southampton Town — should be up and running in another few weeks.
Considering the prospect of giving the ice cream biz room to grow, as well as its proximity to Bay Burger, Tremblay said of the move: “It’s going to be perfect.”
