Biggby Coffee — with a side of nitrogen ice cream — coming to Eaton Rapids

EATON RAPIDS - A Biggby Coffee shop that will serve something none of the other Lansing area locations offer — nitrogen ice cream — is coming to Eaton Rapids this summer.

Randy and Brandy Neelis plan to open the franchise, their third Biggby location in the state, sometime in August.

And they're adding a little something extra.

The Biggby franchise will also operate as a Milkster Nitrogen Creamery station.

The ice cream company, founded in Madison Heights inside a Biggby Coffee shop four years ago as Nice Modern Creamery, offers ice cream flavors made in-house and frozen in an unconventional way.

The company mixes its ice cream ingredients with liquid nitrogen that's at a temperature of -325 degrees Fahrenheit, said Milkster CEO Daniel Bora.

The nitrogen freezes the ice cream and evaporates during the mixing process (it happens in as little as thirty seconds), creating a "cloud-like" effect. The treats are served right after they are mixed.

"It freezes it so fast it doesn't have any ice crystals in it," Bora said. That makes for a creamier ice cream, he added, that's dense and delicious. 

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Bora and two partners opened the creamery in their own Biggby franchise, he said, after an additional 300-square-foot space opened up in the Madison Heights building where it was located.

They created their own flavors - including a classic vanilla made with Madagascar vanilla bean paste, a fresh strawberry, cookies and cream and a cereal-milk flavor infused with Fruity Pebbles cereal. The finished creations are served in a bowl or in one of three flavored cones that are also made in-house.  

Customers can add a variety of toppings to their treats, including nuts, honey, sprinkles, Biscoff cookies, cookie butter or coconut. If they want something more, syringes filled with different flavors, like caramel, Nutella and strawberry, can be added for a literal injection-boost.

"The ice cream sort of took off," Bora said, in an interview with the State Journal Wednesday. "It kind of became known very quickly around here."

In 2017, Eater.com named the ice cream spot one of Detroit's coolest ice cream shops. That same year, Biggby Coffee approached the new business and it was rebranded as Milkster Nitrogen Creamery.

Now there are two other locations, both inside Biggby Coffee shops, in Macomb County and near Charleston, South Carolina. 

The Neelis' newest Biggby location in Eaton Rapids is one of about a dozen throughout Michigan that will also serve as Milkster off-shoots by the end of this year, Bora said. It's the only one slated for the Lansing area right now though, he added.

Tony DiPietro, who heads up franchise development for Biggby Coffee, confirmed Tuesday the Neelis' plans for a new Biggby Coffee in Eaton Rapids. 

"We thought it was a great community that we wanted to be a part of," he said.

Randy Neelis said he's been interested in bringing a Biggby to Eaton Rapids for awhile.

The Albion couple opened their first Biggby in Albion in 2013, and a second in Jackson two years later.

Randy Neelis said the Milkster station is something he's been wanting to try at his franchise locations. The couple will add a Milkster station at their Albion Biggby too, he said.

"It's fairly new for Biggby coffee," Randy Neelis said. "It offers a fresh made ice cream. You're not storing this in a freezer."

The couple has not confirmed a location for the Eaton Rapids Biggby yet, but Randy Neelis said it will offer a drive-thru window, and will likely occupy anywhere between 1,300 and 2,000 square feet. They'll hire a staff of between 20 and 25 employees, he said.

Contact Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.