3 Minnesota ice cream shops among dozens of U.S. spots competing for best-in-the-nation honors

Three Minnesota ice cream shops are in the running for a national title this summer.

Cup and Cone in White Bear Lake, Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul and Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis have been selected to compete in a 64-shop, fan-voted tournament to determine America's Best Ice Cream.

The online competition features ice cream shops from across the country in a bracket-style format, with winners advancing through head-to-head matchups based on public voting.

For Rick Johnstone, owner of Cup and Cone, the recognition is about more than a title.

"It's just kind of an affirmation of doing some really cool stuff every single day," Johnstone said. "To be nominated in a national tournament is really, really cool."

Cup and Cone has served soft serve in White Bear Lake for decades and has built a following through consistent service and generous portions.

At Grand Ole Creamery, employee Cole Stokes said the shop's homemade recipes have helped make it a Twin Cities favorite for more than 40 years.

"All of our ice cream is homemade," Stokes said. "It's been like that for over 40 years now. It's kind of a family business."

Pumphouse Creamery takes a different approach, focusing on small-batch production, local ingredients and creative seasonal flavors.

"We try to use local ingredients from Minnesota," employee Elsa Uhler said. "It's still just always been really small, and special and such a big part of the community."

Customers say that's what keeps them coming back.

"They pay attention to the ingredients that they're using and they seem to put a lot of love and care in their ice cream," customer Alyssa Shultis said. "They always have fun flavors that I wouldn't think of myself."

Voting begins Thursday and continues through Aug. 2. Fans can cast ballots online as the three Minnesota shops compete for the title.