Emily Strohl is passionate about the desserts she and her shop serve customers.
The young operator of Rocky Rolled Ice Cream and Treats at 702 S. Monroe Ave. in Lebanon has run her business for three calendar years and two seasons, and this season, she said the business was doing well and better than she expected. She continues to enjoy making the dessert.
“It’s definitely a source of joy for me,” she said.
Strohl had first heard of rolled ice cream on TikTok and became passionate about rolled ice cream at 13 years old after seeing it being made and trying it at a beach stand in Puerto Rico in 2021. She decided she wanted to open an ice cream shop herself.
She was 15 when the business officially opened, having worked two years of odd jobs to start putting things together.
It took her around a year to buy her first machine, and it sat in her family’s living room while she experimented with it and learned how it worked – the buttons and manual were in an unfamiliar language.
Trying the premade ice cream bag mixes led her to make her own recipe.
The lease on the building was signed in October 2023 – her mother had to sign the lease, since Strohl was 15, but it has since been sent over to her – and Rocky Rolled opened in May 2024.
For around 10 months in that process, she said she was working all that she could. She said she felt responsibility for the commitment and highly motivated because she had a great support system she did not want to let down.
The plan to start slow on the first day changed as her parents jumped in to help Strohl and her sister, the business ran out of product early, and her grandmother went to get more.
The first year, Strohl said she easily worked over 60 hours a week and said she has since learned to manage her time better. Being homeschooled, she graduated before the end of the first season at 16.
The business now has four employees, not including Strohl herself, and she works closer to 40 hours a week unless something new comes up.
The business’s season begins the week of spring break in March or April and has Halloween as its last day. Strohl said the shop was busiest at opening and closing.
As for the rolled ice cream itself, the shop has established flavors, customizable options, and allergy and sugar-free accommodations.
She said the shop’s customer base had a wide variation in age, and while the shop’s atmosphere is geared towards youth, she said there has been a lot of regular older customers – more than she expected at the start.
Everyone had a memory of getting ice cream in the summer, she thought.
“That’s something I think every generation can relate to in one way or another,” she said.
Having made as much rolled ice cream as she has, Strohl still enjoyed creating things.
“One of my favorite things is still putting the ice creams together myself,” she said.
Strohl said she could not have done what she had without her family: her parents, Lizzie and Drew Strohl; her sister, Natalie Strohl; and grandparents, Pam Strohl, Drew Strohl, and Lori Bromberek. She was also pleased with Rocky Rolled’s staff.
According to Strohl, the business was a chance to both prove something to herself and, as someone who had struggled with mental health and seeing mental health impact her generation, give her a sense of purpose.
“Being able to show them, ‘Hey, this, like, there’s things you can do to overcome this and prove this to yourself,’ and hoping that I can give inspiration to the people who might be in a similar position as me,” she said. “Even if they’re not younger, hopefully I inspire at least one person out there. That’s my goal with this business.”
Editor’s note: A version of this article is also planned for our “Welcome to Lebanon.”
For more stories, see Wednesday's LCR.
