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It is common to see a family that enjoys their grandma’s food and cooking abilities. But to turn this into a business? Not so much.  

Thelma’s Sweet Treats is a family-owned business that sells homemade ice cream sandwiches. Thelma’s great-grandson, Dereck Lewis, and his mother, Lana Lewis, started the business by selling the dessert from a pushcart at the Des Moines Farmer’s Market. They quickly found that they would run out because customers could not keep their hands off the treats. The success of Thelma’s original snickerdoodle recipe helped Dereck expand a local business quickly, and now they sell their sweets across the country.  

According to the Thelma’s Sweet Treats website, Thelma was born and raised on a family farm near Monroe, Iowa. She loved playing piano and baking for her family. Her snickerdoodle cookies made her famous and are now a solid source of income for her family, who use a variation of her original recipe today. Thelma’s promotes their product by selling it at the Des Moines Farmer’s Market, and by selling their homemade treats at festivals, weddings and promotional events.  

Nowadays, Thelma’s Sweet Treats appear at a variety of events, such as the Des Moines Art Festival, Ankeny Summerfest, and out-of-state events like the Minnesota State Fair and Uptown Art Fair.  

They have 17 different flavors of ice cream sandwiches separated into five categories: Signature Flavors, which includes the signature snickerdoodle and double chocolate chip; Specialty Flavors, including cayenne chocolate chip and peanut butter; Seasonal Flavors, which varies according to the season and currently features pumpkin spice; Four Packs, which is a box with four ice cream sandwiches that customers can mix and match; and Minis, which is a box with mini ice cream sandwiches. Customers also have the option to mix flavors.  

When I visited their store, Lana Lewis told me her favorite option was the classic signature snickerdoodle, but I tried the double chocolate chip with mint ice cream instead. I am not a big fan of desserts, but Thelma’s ice cream sandwich was one I enjoyed and would have again. The ice cream is creamy and rich, but the best part for me was the cookies: the crispy texture and dark chocolate taste made it special. The cookie alone would be enough to please my taste, but the combination with ice cream made it special and made me understand how Dereck was able to grow the business so fast.  

Ksenija Pavlovic, a Grand View University student from Serbia, is a fan of sweets, and she tried the signature snickerdoodle with vanilla ice cream.   

“The ice cream was okay, just like every other one, but the cookies are different,” she said. “That’s what makes it so special.”  

Her opinion was like mine: the cookies are the best part of it. Unlike me, she had tried ice cream sandwiches before, and she said this was probably the best one she ever had.  

“I never got ice cream sandwiches from a place [that] specialized in it before,” Pavlovic said. “Maybe that’s why it was so good: because that’s their focus. I would definitely buy it again.” 

The places Pavlovic tried ice cream sandwiches before mainly sold other types of food, and she thinks that is why it was not as good: because their focus was not on the desserts. She also said the number of different flavors makes it hard to choose one, but it should not be a problem because she feels like she would love every flavor. Thelma’s Treats also sells ready-to-bake portioned frozen cookie dough in three different flavors: signature snickerdoodle, chocolate chip and double chocolate chip.  

The majority of people buying Thelma’s ice cream sandwiches took a few minutes to decide which flavor they wanted and bought more than one treat. I spoke to one of the customers, Shane Stotts, who was with his 12-year-old daughter, Mia Stotts.   

“I first tried one of their ice creams at a friend’s wedding. I liked it so much that I had to ask him where I could find more of it. Since then, I come to this place every time we feel like ice cream,” Stotts said.  

I asked Stott’s daughter, Mia, why she needed more time than her father to decide the flavor of her ice cream sandwich. Her answer was one I expected: too many good options.  

“I like all of them but he [Mr. Stotts] said I have to choose one, so I need to decide which one I like the most,” Mia said.  

Like most of the customers, the Stotts’ also bought more than one dessert each. They said the extra two they have, were not for them to eat, but for Mia’s mother and little brother, who were waiting for the treats at their house.  

Thelma’s is active on social media through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and they use it to promote their products, show their facilities and events they participate in, and share their customers enjoying the products.