When life became uncertain, Todd and Jen Grassi figured they couldn’t go wrong with ice cream, homemade waffle cones and cotton candy.
It only took them two days to agree to Yankee Girl Cafe owner Amy Scott’s idea to take over her former space upstairs in the Chipeta Emporium at 630 Main St. and open Alpenglow Treat Co., a new sweets shop. Yankee Girl Cafe is temporarily closed while Scott moves her business downstairs, which will serve breakfast and lunch once it reopens.
Todd had been warned that layoffs were hitting the mortgage lending service he’d worked at for more than a decade, so he decided to take a severance package and sort out things from there.
When the question, “What’s next?” started looming, it was Scott who approached them with the idea to open their own business and serve ice cream, which Yankee Girl Cafe no longer does.
“Everybody just looks out for everybody,” Jen said about Scott’s offer.
The Grassis soft-launched earlier this month and are planning a grand opening this summer.
Todd said the transition has brought him a lot of peace.
“I was not happy in my job anyway, so being able to close my laptop off, stick it in a box and take it to UPS and ship it off, that was a freeing feeling,” he said.
Originally from Frisco, Texas, the first-time business owners have lived in Ouray for three years, after they discovered the destination by accident on a road trip to Moab in 2020. They hit the road after trading their home and belongings in favor of a camper. Once hooked on the “Switzerland of America” views and opportunities for hiking and four-wheeling, they returned to the destination each summer with their four children, who all picked up jobs and continued to work here, including one at Yankee Girl Cafe.
When they decided to open Alpenglow Treat Co., their 16-year-old son Cooper taught them how to make waffle cones and spun sugar from scratch.
With more help from family, they redid much of the interior of the shop, where it feels like you’re buying sweets at an old-school circus show.
The star of the show is likely the waffle cone nachos, which features a handful of homemade waffle cone chips, ice cream and toppings, all finished off with a cherry. They have 16 ice cream flavors, from passion fruit sorbet to sea salt caramel espresso, from Phoenix- based dairy company Shamrock Farms. Todd said they’ll rotate their offerings based on popularity.
They are also eager to serve snow cones and $7 classic-style and $8 chili hot dogs starting at 2 p.m. each day.
Tables inside are covered in board games, which they hope attract people looking to wind down.
“We’re hoping to create a welcoming place where locals and visitors can come and take it easy and connect,” Todd said.
“Our goal is to bring a little more friendliness and charm to the community,” he said.
Alpenglow Treat Co. is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. For more information call 214-529-1783.
