STORY AND PHOTOS BY BLAKE VICKERS
There was never a quiet moment at Poppy’ s Ice Cream during the Register’ s visit and chat with co-owner Phil Kring. Customers of all ages came streaming into downtown Richmond’ s newest business. Scoops and samples of the colorful( and delicious) ice cream flavors were flung into cones and cups at remarkable speed.
For the Kring Family, it’ s the culmination of a journey that’ s been decades in the making. It all started over in Estill County, where co-owner( and Phil’ s wife) Elizabeth Kring grew up in her family’ s dairy bar.“ Cowboys” was an Irvine mainstay, with ice cream being an important part of the menu.
“ She worked there going through high school and some through college. They served a lot of ice cream at the restaurant and her dad was a big lover of ice cream. That’ s kind of where she developed this passion,” Phil Kring said.
In 2021, the family purchased an ice cream truck out of Texas. The name Poppy’ s comes in tribute to Elizabeth’ s father- who passed around a decade ago- and was the natural choice for the the new mobile business. The family began taking the truck out to events whenever they could. An employee at Poppy’ s Ice Cream hands out a double scoop of their s’ mores flavor.