Brickley’s Ice Cream
Owners: Steve and Chris Brophy
Type of Business: Homemade ice cream shops
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Location: 921 Boston Neck Road, Narragansett, and 322 Main St., Wakefield
Year Founded: 1995
Employees: About 40 through the season
Annual Revenue: WND
Years ago, Steve and Chris Brophy would take their kids out for an ice cream cone and comment on how well the local stand was faring, half-joking that maybe they should think about getting into the business for themselves.
Tired of the long hours and office politics that were necessary parts of their jobs working for Kodak in upstate New York, the Brophys started thinking about their ice cream idea a little more seriously.
They sold their house, cashed in a few investments and headed south for Rhode Island, where most of Steve’s family had settled. The couple opened their first storefront in North Kingstown in 1995, naming the business after Brophy’s mother who had passed away without any brothers or male cousins to see her maiden name passed on to.
Brickley’s Ice Cream is still a family operation in every way imaginable. Sisters, brothers, nephews and sons help with everything from payroll to light landscaping work along with actually making the ice cream and serving it.
The summer of 2000 was their last in North Kingstown, a season which overlapped with their first at a much larger, permanent location on Boston Neck Road in Narragansett. And just last week, the family opened a new second location on Main Street in downtown Wakefield for business.
“The Wakefield store is something that just fell into our lap,” said Brophy, who estimated he’s spent about $50,000, between new equipment and some general contractor work, to get the store ready to open.
“If you had asked me last fall if we were going to open another store, the answer would have been ‘no way,’” he said. “But South Kingstown is the town we live in and the location made it a very attractive idea. We’re excited to be part of downtown. Hopefully this will be something that gets people down here, walking around.”
Through the busiest parts of the season in July and August, Brophy will arrive every day of the week to make ice cream at the Narragansett store, working Brickley’s two stainless steel, 40-quart batch freezers and producing about 250 gallons of ice cream when he’s working on his own.
On a hot weekend day, the Narragansett store goes through 400 to 500 gallons of ice cream and usually sells an average of a couple hundred gallons through the rest of the week.
Brickley’s always has 48 flavors on hand, though another dozen or so seasonal flavors are moved in and out of the cases over the summer as seasonal flavors like peach or blueberry pie are added into the rotation. After being in the ice cream business for nearly 10 years now, Brophy said he doesn’t mess with his recipes or the bulk of the flavors list.
The Narragansett location traditionally closes at the end of October and opens at the start of March, giving the Brophys a few months off in exchange for the seven-day-a-week schedule they keep the rest of the year. The break also gives them the chance to complete a bigger maintenance project every offseason, which has included installing new freezers in past years and reconfiguring the Narragansett site’s parking lot the summer before last.
Typically, there’s a big drop-off in business after Memorial Day, and then another after Columbus Day, though Brophy said he might consider keeping the Wakefield location open year-round. Overall, he said the quality and pace of life, and time he and his wife get to spend with their three children has proven the decision to move to South County was a good one.
“Our customers over in Narragansett seem to be excited about the Wakefield
store,” Brophy said. “I think it will be a real nice addition and something
that will help everyone down on Main Street. … When it comes down to it, we’re
just looking forward to seeing nicer weather and some warmer weather. That certainly
spells success for us.”
