Readers choose emerging restaurant brands that have the best potential for success
The Miami-based chain offers fast, customizable custom desserts
June 27, 2024
Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream on Thursday was named the winner of Nation’s Restaurant News’ Dessert Showdown, which pitted seven emerging dessert chains against each other to compete for your votes.
Chill-N Nitrogen is a 15-unit frozen dessert chain based in Miami, and it makes treats with the help of science. Earlier this month, co-founder Daniel Golik and CEO David Leonardo spoke with NRN senior editor Bret Thorn about liquid nitrogen as an ice-cream base, customer response, and the chain’s marketing cornerstone.
The Showdown’s runner-up was Flying Dolly’s, a Louisiana-based brand named for a one-eyed pug finding its spot in the dessert space with a wide menu of snoballs, ice cream, cookies, and other sweet treats.
Other Dessert Showdown competitors included Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, Federal Donuts and Chicken, Graeter’s, Chip City Cookies, and Dirty Dough. The first round garnered more than 250 votes on NRN’s Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.
