Two of Denver's favorite ice cream shops are now one and the same.
As of Jan. 1, Frozen Matter, with locations in North Capitol Hill and Washington Park, has taken over ownership of Sweet Action, on Broadway in Baker.
According to Joel Gertzen, one of the new owners, Sweet Action's operations will remain mostly unchanged in 2020. Both Frozen Matter and Sweet Action will keep their names and flavor offerings at least for the next year. Both will continue to have "vegan ice cream." Sweet Action ice cream will still be available in grocery stores, and its hours have been extended to midnight to match those of Frozen Matter.
"We know that Sweet Action has a great following and we want to continue executing what they were executing," Gertzen said. "At some point we would like to get some kind of uniformity."
What that uniformity will look like is still unclear, but Gertzen said the biggest immediate change will be that Frozen Matter will likely start producing the baked goods used in Sweet Action's ice cream in-house. While Sweet Action buys these ingredients from local bakeries, Frozen Matter employs pastry chefs who make theirs from scratch.
In the future, Gertzen says Frozen Matter may also start producing Sweet Action's ice cream base -- the custard that goes in the ice cream. That base is now produced by Royal Crest Dairy which also sells the same base to other ice cream shops around the city. In both cases, Gertzen says there are no plans to substantially change the products.