The Big Chill

Baby, it’s cold outside—and inside, too, at the Taharka Brothers factory in Hampden. The guys (Sean Smeeton, Felton Barney, Darius Wilmore, and several young adults they are mentoring to become co-owners) are churning out gallons of ice cream for distribution at area restaurants, including Phillips Seafood, The Dogwood, and Alonso’s. Their product is still sold seasonally at a Mt. Washington retail shop, now run by Uncle Wiggly’s, but the focus has shifted to wholesale. “We’re doing aggressive marketing to build the business up,” Wilmore says of the ice cream sold in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. Favorite flavors include honey graham and salty caramel, but the productions crew is always experimenting, recently testing out maple bacon and buttery “popcorn jubilee.” Their newest restaurant promotion is “pints to go,” being test marketed at Alonso’s. As one fan recently tweeted: “Now when I pick up beer, the wife gets a pint [of ice cream], too.”