Olaf Growald, Fort Worth Magazine, Fort Worth Inc.
MELT owner Kari Crowe Seher, in front of her West Magnolia Avenue store in Fort Worth
Fort Worth’s MELT Ice Creams plans to open a shop in the Stockyards’ Mule Alley redevelopment, the company’s fourth store.
Kari Crowe Seher, the founder and owner, took to her Facebook page over the weekend to announce the news, as she sat atop one of the Stockyards’ famous Longhorn steers.
“Giddy up y’all, I can’t believe I’m saying this but team MELT Ice Creams Magnolia is opening another scoop shop in Mule Alley,” she said in the post. “Making this decision after the year we had was difficult to say the least. We believe in the future of this ice cream company despite the massive setbacks of last year (related to COVID-19). We believe in continuing to build on the foundation of who we are as a company, spreading joy, happiness, and kindness one scoop of tasty homemade ice cream at a time. And we believe in the team that we continue to build and partner with to make this world a better place.”
Reached Monday, Seher said in an interview the store will be at 128 E. Exchange St., fronting the main east-west strip through the historic Stockyards. Mule Alley – the redevelopment of the historic horse and mule barns - is the first big piece of an ongoing remake of much of the Stockyards by a partnership of Majestic Realty and Fort Worth’s Hickman family. The Fort Worth-based M2G Ventures is retail leasing partner for Mule Alley.
It’s not clear yet when the new store will open, but Seher said, “we hope in the fall. We’re working on it.
“It’s been in the works for a really long time,” she said. “We kind of put everything on hold when COVID happened, but we believe in the product, and we believe in what we’re doing, and believe we’ll get to introduce our ice cream to a lot of people who (are visitors from out of town and) just go to the Stockyards.”
MELT’s main store is on West Magnolia on Fort Worth’s Near Southside. In the months ahead of COVID, she opened smaller, grab-and-go stores in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District and downtown Fort Worth’s Sundance Square. Similarly, the Stockyards store will likely be around 600 square feet in size, Seher said.
“It’ll probably be a grab and go spot,” she said. “We’ll keep the integrity of the Mule Barns and try to make it a fun bright space that represents our brand in Fort Worth well.”
During COVID, forced to temporarily close her stores, Seher reached deals to sell her ice creams through other restaurants and retailers. She introduced new ice creams through a “chef series,” pints created in collaboration with local restaurant chefs. With Chef Jon Bonnell, who’s selling MELT as extras with his popular, daily COVID-inspired curbside family meal packs, she created a “turtle” ice cream. “He told a story about how he used to walk to a pharmacy when he was a kid, and he would buy these chocolate turtles,” she said.
MELT can be found at Meyer and Sage, the grab-and-go restaurant in Fort’s Foundry District, and Foxtrot Market, an upscale boutique grocer in Dallas. The Magnolia Wine Bar, a MELT neighbor on Fort Worth’s Near Southside, now sells a $12 “MELT-mosa” – prosecco poured over raspberry lemon or blood orange pomegranate ice cream.
Last year, Seher reached a distribution deal with Goldbelly, which delivers craft foods nationally. And in December, Seher got MELT into Whole Foods grocery stores in the company’s Southwest region, including 14 stores in the DFW area. MELT is available by delivery via Amazon Fresh and participating Whole Foods stores.
“It’s wholesale, it’s been a bit of a learning curve, so it’s been good,” Seher said.
At the start of COVID, to help keep its employees working, MELT ran a “Happiness for Heroes” program for several months, allowing community members to buy discounted ice cream, which MELT then delivered to first responders and healthcare workers.
“Our goal was what can we do to still be interesting and bring smiles to our customers,” Seher said.
MELT has 42 employees today. Seher figures 2021 will be “a year of building” and “our hope is we will come out of this really, really strong in 2022. Industry-wide, we’re going to be feeling the affects of this for the next five to 10 years.”
Even though the new Stockyards store isn’t expected to be open this summer, visitors will be able to get a taste of MELT there this summer.
“Most of 2019 in the summer, we had our (food) truck down there to gauge traffic,” Seher said. “We’re doing that again this summer.” The Stockyards has steadily built traffic through COVID, and the Mule Alley redevelopment, anchored on one end by the recently opened luxury Hotel Drover, has gained steam. Near MELT’s location, a brewery and dance hall are under construction.
“I think what they’re creating is really inspiring,” Seher said. “I just like the way they’re approaching creating unique and legacy businesses in the Alley.”
Tourism this summer looks promising, she said. The Stockyards is one of the city’s biggest tourism draws, with visitors drawn by daily cattle drives. “I think people are really hungry for experiences, and what the Stockyards provides is opportunity for outdoor experiences that are free,” Seher said.