Rori’s Artisanal Creamery

Rori’s Artisanal Creamery was born and bred in Southern California - just like its founder, Rori Trovato. 

Originally from Long Beach, Rori attended The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia with Co-op Executive Chef Derek Harrison before continuing her pastry training in France at the prestigious École de Cuisine La Varenne. Rori’s career as a chef, recipe developer, food stylist, travel and food writer brought her all over the world, and her work has been featured in Travel and Leisure, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and many more. She has also styled over one hundred cookbooks, including her own, Dishing with Style. After 9/11, Rori left New York City, where she’d lived a mile from the Twin Towers, and returned to Southern California. Following the birth of her son, Rori was inspired to make ice cream like the ice cream she had made with her grandmother for every Sunday dinner. “I’d never done a product,” Rori shared in a profile in the Santa Barbara Independent, “Ice cream was always my shtick.” 

After a stint making her ice cream wholesale in the back of a local supermarket, Rori founded Rori’s Artisanal Creamery in October 2011 and opened her first retail location in 2012 at Montecito Country Mart in Santa Barbara. Rori’s success in Montecito led to a location at the Santa Barbara Public Market and soon to spots in Carpinteria, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and Century City. All of the ice creams are made in the Carpinteria Ice Cream Kitchen, where Rori works with her dedicated crew Monday-Friday, developing the flavors of each ice cream and making all of the goodies that are mixed in, from honey almond brittle to Speculoos cookies.

Rori’s ice creams are made in small batches by hand from the best ingredients California has to offer. Partnering with Straus Family Creamery (another Co-op favorite!) ensures great tasting, organic, California milk is the base of every dairy flavor. When Rori’s son became lactose intolerant, she began making equally delicious vegan and dairy-free flavors with coconut milk. When Rori’s first started, all the lemons and lavender for the ice cream came from Rori’s own garden; today, Rori’s Artisanal Creamery maintains that local connection by sourcing from organic farms like Idle Horse Farm in Santa Barbara. 

With delicious, sophisticated flavors to choose from like Rootbeer Float (with sassafras and birch in the base for authenticity), Fresh Mint Patty (packed with housemade dark chocolate mint patties), and creamy vegan Passion Fruit, make sure to stop by your Co-op for a pint (or more than one) of ice cream from Rori’s Artisanal Creamery today!