A look at what the ice cream sandwiches look like at S’wich Social. Credit: Courtesy of Sean Whited
The experience of sharing frozen treats with childhood friends can be relived at a new ice cream shop in Italian Village.
S’wich Social is a made-to-order ice cream sandwich shop that sells a variety of flavors, from old fashioned vanilla to specialty flavors packed with different toppings such as Kitty Kitty Bang Bang and Munchie Madness. The shop, which opened March 17 at 869 N. Fourth St., was named out of nostalgia.
“We remember back to when we were kids and there were ice cream socials, so we are trying to recreate that as much as possible,” Sean Whited, a 2019 Ohio State alumnus and co-owner of S’wich Social, said.
Customers have the option to order cookies and ice cream or combine them into an ice cream sandwich. Whited said the cookies are made fresh daily and include flavors ranging from the classic chocolate chunk cookie to the couch potato cookie, which includes potato chips, pretzels, sea salt caramel bits and chocolate chunks.
The shop is co-owned by Whited and Addison Brown, a 2020 Ohio State alumna, who met while attending the Working Professionals Masters of Business Administration program at Ohio State. Whited said the idea for the shop was born after he thought an established ice cream shop was missing from Columbus.
“We want to bring some of this joy, community and philanthropy to our customers,” Whited and Brown said in a statement on the company’s website. “Our hope is that our ice cream sandwiches will be a social experience — one that creates memories, brings our community together and makes a meaningful impact no matter the occasion.”
Whited said his inspiration stemmed from seeing his mother run a dessert business, and he wanted to follow her down a similar path.
“I had some experience growing up around it,” Whited said. “My mom and her best friends had a dessert business and I really saw how cool it was and how their customers really loved it, so it blossomed from there.”
The taste of the cookie led Julie Miller, a Columbus-based blogger known as @whatshouldwedotoday_cbus, back to S’wich Social, she said.
“They are really good, and I actually could really see myself just getting a cookie,” Miller said.
Customers can enjoy a cookie for $2.50, a scoop of ice cream for $5, a sundae for $7.50 or an ice cream sandwich for $9.50. They also sell larger packs of cookies, hand-packed pints and quarts of ice cream, and take-home kits for customers to assemble ice cream sandwiches on their own.
“I think that it is a really good-sized portion for the price, and I had to take mine to go because it was huge,” Miller said.
Whited said customers can create an ice cream sandwich by picking two cookies, one scoop of ice cream and one topping. The store carries up to 16 flavors of ice cream at a time, with vegan and nondairy options, a cookie of the month and an extensive list of toppings ranging from rainbow sprinkles to cereals such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Pebbles.
If customers do not want to take advantage of the build-your-own option, they can choose from a list of sandwich combinations created by the team, such as vanilla ice cream between chocolate chunk cookies or snickerdoodle cookies encasing strawberry ice cream.
Whited said he hopes customers can enjoy themselves whenever they take a bite out of an ice cream sandwich at S’wich Social.
“We want people to enjoy their experience, as ice cream is a social experience no matter where you go, whether it be with friends or family,” Whited said.
Previously operating as a pop-up shop in the summer of 2020 at locations around Columbus, the taste of S’wich Social can now be found at 869 N. Fourth St. and is open Wednesday to Friday from 5-10 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m.
