Bruster’s Real Ice Cream

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Photo by Rachael Headley.

Brusters

Bruster’s employee Shane Harper has been working at the Vestavia location for more than a year.

Linda Parker and her husband, Scott, use ice cream to invest in the Vestavia community and the local schools.

The Parkers, owners of the Vestavia location of Bruster’s, look for opportunities to encourage schools and students, and one such way was through an ice cream flavor contest last semester with Pizitz Middle School.

The contest gave Pizitz students the opportunity to create their own ice cream flavors. After dividing into teams, students submitted their ideas for ice cream flavors. When options were narrowed to the top eight flavors, they moved into the production stage at Bruster’s. 

With exotic creations such as chocolate with orange, pumpkin with caramel and marshmallow, and flavored ice with Pop Rocks, the contest allowed students to be creative while Bruster’s had the opportunity to bring it to life, Parker said.

The winner, Pirate’s Delight, is a combination of cake batter ice cream, cookie dough and chocolate chunks. The sale of the flavor ended with the school year. 

Bruster’s is a platinum-level partner with Vestavia Hills East, West and Central Elementary Schools, Pizitz Middle School and Vestavia Hills High School, meaning that they provide each of the schools with more than $1,500 in products or needs annually. 

“We believe that anything that you can do to inspire students just makes the community better for everyone,” Parker said. 

Other partner organizations have included the Vestavia Hills Chamber and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. 

After moving to Atlanta right after they married, the Parkers were anxious to return to Scott’s hometown of Vestavia Hills. 

“We wanted our kids to have the same kind of childhood that [Scott] did,” Parker said. “So we moved to Vestavia Hills.”

Although the Parkers had no prior experience in business ownership, they opened the Vestavia location of Bruster’s in 2005 after returning to the area and built it from the ground up. Two years ago they opened their newest location along the Highway 280 corridor.

With customer appreciation days and products like “bring your own banana” Thursday, PJ day, doggie sundaes, and providing free scoops to children under 42 inches, Parker said that Bruster’s has created a bond with the community. 

“We have really gotten to know a lot of our customers,” Parker said. “We really feel that we are a part of this community.”

In addition to ice cream, Bruster’s also has serves milkshakes, cakes, ice cream sandwiches and old-fashioned sodas. The products are made fresh in the store daily.

“Ice cream is a treat, and everyone who comes is coming for the purpose of treating themselves,” Parker said. “They’re coming here because they’re happy.”