The Gingered Peach owner Joanne Canady-Brown will be taking the reins of neighboring ice cream parlor, Purple Cow – located at 2685 Main St in Lawrenceville, NJ – after owners Tom and Cindy Pearce close up shop one last time on Dec 17, and ease into retirement.
According to Canady-Brown, however, the Purple Cow won’t reopen until summer 2023, not only so they can complete some renovations and replace some of the aging equipment – a process Canady-Brown expects to be held up by supply chain issues – but also so that the entrepreneur and baker can learn all there is to know about operating such a legacy institution.
“The next four or five months are going to be spent getting to know what our neighbors have created, and then figuring out; okay, where do we go from here?” Canady-Brown tells What Now Philadelphia. “So rather than rush into it, and go ‘Yeah, we’re reopening our doors in March,’ we want to be incredibly thoughtful in terms of, one, how we make a lasting first impression on the community. And then two, not damage the legacy of the Pearce family and the Purple Cow.”
Similarly, when the ice cream shop does reopen, Canady-Brown will use the first few months to see “how the customers are enjoying Purple Cow,” meaning the menu will remain relatively the same, with a few new “select flavors” inspired by The Gingered Peach, before any more significant changes are made that might disrupt what folks have grown to love.
Nevertheless, customers can expect some crossover between Canady-Brown’s award-winning bakery and the community staple.
“We’re going to combine what The Gingered Peach does with some of the ice cream offerings because we will be handcrafting some of those flavors ourselves. So I think the customer can expect to see our brownie get chopped up and put in an ice cream, our Blackout cookie chopped up with mini-marshmallows and then put in an ice cream, and maybe some renditions of the best-selling Gingered Peach pastries reinterpreted as ice cream.”
Despite racking up numerous accolades as owner and head baker of The Gingered Peach, Canady-Brown says she isn’t interested in replicating the business model or even opening another location. As such, taking over Purple Cow was a unique opportunity tailored perfectly to her entrepreneurial mindset.
“I think that there’s something incredibly special about being just one. So when I looked at expansion – from a career perspective, and also to better fit the community that I operate in – I always wanted to expand into other businesses, in food, that I felt our community could benefit from.
“And I’m really excited that the opportunity for us to step into the Pearce’s shoes for the Purple Cow just checks another box for me in terms of better serving Lawrenceville.”
