Andia Xouris, Co-owner
Origins
It starts with my husband, George. I’m married 31 years now. And one of the things that brought us together when we first were dating was this entrepreneurial spirit. I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family, so it made sense for me. We were living in New Jersey about 15 years into our marriage, and there was a little ice cream shop in our town, and George would always say, “I want to buy this place someday.” He was hoping that it would be for sale someday so he could purchase it, but it never was. In 2010, we moved to North Carolina and one day out of the blue, he said to me, “you know we’ve been talking about the ice cream world for a long time. I think we should consider getting into it.” I thought he was crazy, but he did all his research. He found the North American Ice Cream Association. They had their annual conference coming up and so we went and that was really the beginning.
Company Mission
We’ve been in business almost 11 years. We’ve been in retail for only eight; the first three years, we were just doing wholesaling and catering. We try to be very inclusive. We cater to all tastes and allergens, but we consider ourselves trendsetters. I’m always looking to create something new out of ice cream that has not been done before. I’ve elevated my skill level. I’m still the creator of every recipe that goes out there. People are coming to Andia’s for super premium quality. We’ve won many awards. I think people are coming for an overall experience they can’t get anywhere else. That was something that my husband and I were trying to create from day one because he wanted to replicate that welcoming environment of that little ice cream shop in New Jersey we used to visit. We have great customer service. It’s a clean, bright space. And as a bonus, you get great ice cream that you wouldn’t find elsewhere.
Signature Products
Anybody with an allergy can come to our shop and still enjoy something, whether it’s dairy-free, nut-free or gluten-free. We have very specific protocols for that. We have vegan products, too. We’re able to cater to the younger generation that wants the newest, greatest thing they can photograph and put on Instagram and TikTok. We also cater to the families who have a child with a nut allergy, also to dairy-free people. It’s very rewarding to be able to provide a little bit of everything for everybody.
We have French vanilla and chocolate and strawberry, but we also have Mango Jalapeno Margarita. It’s got a little bit of spice in it. It’s a sweet mango ice cream with a spicy lime sorbet swirled with candied jalapenos. My favorite flavor is Rose Pistachio, our rose ice cream that has salted roasted pistachios throughout. I’m Greek. I was born in Cyprus in Europe and I grew up eating rose ice cream, and I want to create that for me as a memory of my childhood. But it turns out that many cultures love rose, and so that’s become a fast favorite.
I love savory, so I create a lot of flavors with a little salt and a little sweetness to them. I do a spicy honey. I also add things to our menu, like for example our French Vanilla Brulee. It’s a little five-ounce cup. Our French Vanilla ice cream has won four national blue ribbons, so it’s an amazing product. We came up with the idea of putting sugar on top and torching it. And it’s a huge hit. We can ship on GoldBelly, too.
We also started doing monster shakes in mason jars. We do ice cream pies and we have a torched marshmallow. I think part of what makes this a trendsetting, experiential type of ice cream shop is that people love to see things made in front of them. They want to pull out their phones and take a video of whatever it is you’re creating for them, and part of that is torching. So, we’ll torch a marshmallow on top of a waffle cone and it creates that wow factor.
Equipment ‘Must-Haves’
I do all the R&D for our company in my home kitchen, so I could definitely not live without my KitchenAid mixer, which has the handy-dandy ice cream attachment. KitchenAid also has my favorite immersion blender that I use at home. The other thing that I absolutely love — it’s not really equipment — is my pink Hedley and Bennett apron. That’s a must, because ice cream can be messy. I have to mention Zeroll. They make the ice cream scoop that most ice cream shops use. It has a metal handle inside the handle with an antifreeze liquid in there. When you grasp the handle so that you can scoop it, your hand warms the scoop handle, so the ice cream comes right off. It doesn’t get stuck to the scoop.
Production Tip
The biggest tip for me as a business owner is to ask for help. Our company has grown in the last 11 years. I used to be the only ice cream maker in the kitchen and the salesperson and the scooper. As an entrepreneur, it’s sometimes hard to ask for help, but bringing in people with different strengths, like organization and structure, which is very different from the left-brained creative that I am, is wonderful.
As for the actual ice cream making, be brave and bold and don’t be afraid to try new things. Failure with a flavor will only teach you what to do differently next time. Don’t be afraid to put things that you don’t think belong in ice cream, because the more that you can think outside of the box, the more delicious it can turn out.
Secrets of Success
The very biggest secret to my success is gratitude; being grateful for my success and my team. You can’t grow a company without a team. I have a phenomenal team. Everything we’ve accomplished — the awards, the accolades — I don’t want to ever take that for granted.
Future Plans
We’re at four locations in the triangle and shipping nationally on GoldBelly. I’ve learned the hard way the importance of not rushing into the next thing. We’re at a very good financial place, thank God, and it took us a while to get here, so I want to savor it. In the next two to three years, we’ll be building our own space with a bigger warehouse where my entire team can be together. Right now, I have a 2,000-square-foot production facility where part of my team is, and then I have another 1,000-square-foot office warehouse where my HQ team is, and I want to bring them all together as part of our culture.
For new flavors, I think veggies are fun to put in ice cream. Also, I’m Greek, right? I love all kinds of spices and herbs. I’ve done a feta cheese watermelon, and that was delicious. I might try a garlic ice cream if I could combine it with something else — maybe a fruit or something that will complement it.
For more info, visit www.instagram.com/andiasicecream/
(This article appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)
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