J.P. Licks facts for kids

J.P. Licks is an ice cream store chain with 16 locations around Massachusetts. J.P. Licks pays homage to its hometown and first location, Jamaica Plain, a Boston neighborhood colloquially referred to as "J.P.”

Owner and founder

Vincent Petryk, owner and founder of J.P. Licks, is originally from Philadelphia. After graduating from Temple University with a degree in psychology, he worked as a dishwasher at Hillary's Homemade Ice Cream, a Philadelphia ice cream store. Although he expected the job to be short term, he ended up becoming a scooper, then an ice cream maker, and then the manager of Hillary's and its head ice cream maker. He stated, "While at Hillary’s, I witnessed daily the power and magic of ice cream. I realized that ice cream connects you to some of the fondest memories of your childhood." Petryk then got married and moved to Jamaica Plain, which he would later call his "true hometown". For three years, he worked at Wendy’s fast-food hamburger chain as a manager learning professional restaurant operations, which he felt was necessary to know before starting his own business.

At age 26, in 1981, he opened J.P. Licks a few blocks from his home in Jamaica Plain with business partner Michael Herbert. They each invested $25,000 to start the store, but Herbert only remained part of the company for a couple of years before Petryk bought him out.

Flavors

J.P. Licks uses many ingredients that can be found in a typical home kitchen and incorporates them in innovative ways to create exotic flavors. As an example, peach ice cream is made with fresh peaches, brown sugar, cream, milk, and sugar. In total, J.P. Licks has over 300 recipes including lactose-free ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, low-fat yogurt and non-fat soft yogurt. J.P. Licks is known for its ambitious flavors of the month that, if anything, simply draw attention for being outrageous. Examples are Cucumber, Noodle Kugle, Avocado, Disco Inferno (Tabasco flavored), Turning Japanese (wasabi flavored), and Leprechaun Brew (green ice cream with Sam Adams beer). The stores have flavors of the month that emphasize and embellish the foods of that season. For example, for fall it integrates the flavors of pumpkin and apple. These flavors resulted from extensive experimentation by Petryk himself.

Variety of ice cream options

J.P. Licks sells many regular ice cream flavors as well as hard frozen yogurt, soft frozen yogurt, dairy-free ice cream, and sorbet. In 1987, J.P. Licks began producing hard and soft frozen yogurt from scratch, and now, frozen yogurt still is an important part of the store and makes up 20% of its sales.

The stores also have vegan, gluten free, and dairy free flavors, and all J.P. Licks products are Kosher certified.

Coffee

In 1999, J.P. Licks began roasting its own coffee in the headquarters in Jamaica Plain, with a wide selection of fair trade organic coffee and over 20 different coffee blends. J.P. Licks supports a community in Guatemala called the Trapichitos Community that hand picks and hand sorts the coffee. The growers decide the price and are paid directly to eliminate middlemen manipulation that often comes with growing coffee. The initial decision to make coffee was made by Petryk when Starbucks bought Coffee Connection and he was unimpressed by the quality of coffee in the Boston Area. He describes his coffee as "down the middle…dark enough for a hearty brew but not so dark that every bean tastes burnt". Also, depending on the store, J.P. Licks also offers breakfast goods such as croissants, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, scones, and bagels. These are all made in the J.P. Licks headquarters.

Community service

J.P. Licks is known to donate to local charities, organizations, and schools. Not only does it give its food for various events, but it also sets up in-store charitable incentives. It recently supported the Starlight foundation by giving a “J.P. Licks” dollar to anyone who donated one dollar to Starlight. It also set up a one-day special for Veterans Day where all proceeds from one-dollar coffees went to the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. In 2011, it made a long-term partnership with the Home for Little Wanderers and are encouraging donations through once again offering “J.P. Licks dollars” in all their stores.

Awards

J.P. Licks has received over 400 awards, ranging from major honors to small magazine recognitions. Past awards include “Best of Boston” by Boston magazine, “Best Location - Jamaica Plain” by Boston magazine, WBZ’s “A-List”, and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s “Small Business of the Year”.

Locations

While Petryk opened J.P. Licks' first store in Jamaica Plain in 1981, J.P. Licks now has 16 locations in and around Boston, and all locations are currently within 20 miles of the J.P. home base. Their latest location is in Andover.

Stores are located in:

• Boston
  • Boylston Street
  • Charles Street
  • Chestnut Hill
  • Jamaica Plain
  • Mission Hill
  • Newbury Street
  • South Bay
  • South Boston
• Brookline
  • Coolidge Corner
• Cambridge
  • Harvard Square
• Dedham
  • Legacy Place
• Lynnfield
  • MarketStreet
• Newton
  • Newton Centre
• Somerville
  • Assembly Row
  • Davis Square
• Wellesley
  • Wellesley Square