Ice cream tastings and boozy milkshakes are just some of the sweet treats shoppers will be able to enjoy at Batch Microcreamery’s future location in the Riverport Public Market. The 24,000 sq. ft. marketplace at 17 W. 2nd St. in Bethlehem will house more than 20 food and drink vendors when it opens in the spring of 2022. Riverport Public Market will be the third location for Batch Microcreamery which also has a spot at the Trolley Barn Public Market in Quakertown and Downtown Allentown Market in Allentown.
“I’m going to be producing literally in my backyard and I’m glad to show Bethlehem what we’re about and to bring a new vibe of an ice cream store to Bethlehem,” Batch Creamery’s Rick Pongracz of Bethlehem told What Now Philadelphia. “We always had this vision of making ice cream hip again. Soda jerks were fantastic back in the day, and the doo-wop ice cream counters were a hit. You could go with your friends or your girlfriend, and we wanted to bring that back but with today’s vibes. We want to make it cool again,” Pongracz said.
Batch Microcreamery offers unique flavors that change every week, like balsamic honey and fig and apple cinnamon streusel. Microcreamery also allows you to taste different flavors with their ice cream flights which come on a board with four 2oz. cups of different flavors.
“Our microcreamery concept comes from the microbrewery; we make small batches of ice cream. Once a flavor is finished, just like when a beer is tapped, we won’t have it. Once one is done, we’ll pull up a new flavor,” Pongracz said.
In addition to selling ice cream by the scoop, Batch Microcreamery sells ice cream sandwiches, ice cream nachos, and a menu of sundaes like their Maple Bits with cold brew ice cream, waffle chips, pure maple syrup, and bacon bits. They also intend to serve their alcohol spiked milkshakes at their Bethlehem store. Everything made at Batch Microcreamery comes from locally sourced products and is made on site. They also sell their ice cream wholesale to local restaurants and are available for parties.
“We’re all about small businesses helping small businesses, especially in these times. It’s been so great meeting so many cool entrepreneurs that have such great vision and great products.”
Pongracz started making ice cream as a hobby, spending his days working a corporate job and making small batches of ice cream at night in a rented commercial kitchen out of a church in Bethlehem. Pongracz decided to go to culinary school in the midst of his corporate career and officially started Batch Creamery in 2019.
