Big Softie Serves Up Soft Serve in Summerhill Beginning Next Week

Soft serve shop Big Softie should open next week along Georgia Avenue in Summerhill, owner Sarah O’Brien tells Eater Atlanta. The ice cream parlor is located next door to O’Brien’s latest Little Tart Bakeshop location in the neighborhood.

All of Big Softie’s ice creams are made with organic cane sugar and milk from Southern Swiss Dairy out of Waynesboro, Georgia. The dairy also supplies milk for Little Tart.

Big Softie’s menu includes five core flavors: vanilla, chocolate, coffee, a seasonal flavor like peach using Pearson Farm peaches, and a vegan soft serve. O’Brien says she’s continuing to develop the vegan flavor, which uses oat milk as its base. Waffle cones are created from scratch by her team at Little Tart.

One item of note on the menu is the coffee stir, a drink O’Brien remembers fondly from her childhood. The drink contains coffee soft serve made with Counter Culture coffee and soda water. O’Brien describes it as an “insanely delicious coffee milkshake.”

“We’re really trying to keep the flavors simple and plan to adjust the menu according to what people are really into.”

But, Big Softie won’t keep it simple when it comes to the toppings, including chocolate dip made from Xocolatl Nicaraguan chocolate, strawberry dip, custom sprinkles created by Atlanta’s Beautiful Briny Sea Salt, honeycomb, house made cocoa nib bark, pink pralines, and O’Brien’s favorite, a peanut crunch coat.

“Soft serve is so nostalgic for me, and for many people. I grew up a mile down the road from the local Dairy Queen in a small farm town in Ohio. When the weather warmed up, my mom would take us there on Friday nights,” O’Brien explains. “People seem excited about Big Softie. I even get people in their 50s asking me if they can get a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate with sprinkles.”

Big Softie

Big Softie

The small shop includes a counter for ordering as well as a few stools along the window rail in front. Big Softie also shares a patio with Little Tart next door.

“There used to be an ice cream shop here [Summerhill] in the 1950s, along with a movie theater, a grocery, and a laundromat. Adding a soft serve shop just feels right for this neighborhood,” O’Brien says. “All of the restaurants opening here complement one another. You might go out for barbecue or a hot dog or Mexican, then get a beer [at Halfway Crooks], and then get ice cream from us before heading home.”

O’Brien hopes to offer a sneak peek of the shop and its soft serve on Saturday, June 8. She’s still working out an exact time for this weekend’s preview and asks people interested in attending to keep an eye on Big Softie’s Instagram for more details.

Take a look at the menu:

Big Softie joins Little Tart Bakeshop, Hero Doughnuts and Hot Dog Pete’s, Redacted bar, Junior’s Pizza, Little Bear, Halfway Crooks Brewing, D Boca N Boca, Woods Chapel BBQ, and a third location of Hodgepodge Coffeehouse on Georgia Avenue. Chefs Parnass Lim Savang and Rod Lassiter should open Talat Market on the edge of Summerhill later this summer.

Check Big Softie’s Instagram for official opening day and hours.

68 Georgia Avenue SE, Atlanta. bigsoftieatl.com.

• Little Tart Bakeshop’s Sarah O’Brien Will Bring Soft Serve to Summerhill [EATL]
• Wintry Weather Can’t Stop Little Tart Bakeshop From Opening in Summerhill [EATL]
• All Summerhill dining coverage [EATL]