The North Beach store

Our fifth store opened on June 12, 2006. Located in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, it was our favorite location. Right in the middle of a neighborhood known for its long Italian heritage, the store drew locals, day trippers and International tourists.

Our location was originally going to be a Ben & Jerry's. Here's a tip to future entrepreneurs. Always, always hire a good architect. Our architect, Dwight, figured out what the people from Ben & Jerry's could not before they eventually abandoned the space.

Dwight figured out how to get a kitchen, and all of its equipment, two showcases, handicapped access to the bathroom, and seating for 14 to fit into the store with out blocking off any of the glass walls, which was a requirement from the neighborhood association.

Allen, our first manager at North Beach didn't believe me when I said we were going to open just a few days after this photo was taken. We did.

There was a surprising reason the neighborhood association wanted glass walls on both sides of our location and that reason was the Portofino Cafe. For years 520 Columbus was home to this cafe (actually a bar) which was described as "a dark hole-in-the-wall."

In the early 90's the police raided it because it was operating an illegal gambling parlor with video poker machines. The bar managed to stay open, but a year later it was raided again when it was discovered all new video poker machines were operating. The bar still didn't close but was raided a third time, one year later, but this time for a different reason. Besides gambling, 520 Columbus had been the center of a massive drug ring selling cocaine and other drugs all over the Bay Area. Twenty people, including the bar owner and his sons were indicted.

When the bar fianally closed for good, glass walls were put up on both sides to expose any future nefarious activity.

Just a couple weeks after we opened the North Beach store I watched the World Cup final game at Cafe Roma. This was taken when Italy was just one goal away from winning.

So many things have happened in the 18 years we operated retail stores. I am happy to say one of them was a love story. Joe was a server in our North Beach store when Jessica was hired to help scoop alongside him. Joe switched jobs and Jessica became our store manager. They kept up their friendship and eventually fell cups over cones in love and were married.