Busy family bringing a new asset and safe space for kids this spring

By Robert Williams

Editor

Zack and Sara Erickson have eyed the empty spaces in the downtown retail center for a while and had many conversations on what they could put in one.

“We were talking about what else Frazee needed and my husband and I always talked about the strip mall that’s been sitting there empty,” Erickson said. “We love to take the kids to get ice cream all the time. It never fails; every time we want to go get ice cream everything is closed.”

That made the decision to open an ice cream shop easy with the caveat that it was unlikely something that would work year-round. 

“We decided to do take-and-bake pizza with it,” Erickson said.

Erickson has a food service and cake decorating background and with a little push from friend Heather Perrine and help from Economic Development Consultant Karen Pifher, her dream is close to becoming a reality. 

The space the Erickson’s are leasing will allow for retail sales, as well as a room dedicated to gatherings.

“The part I’m most excited about is the event room we’ll have in the back for birthday parties, meetings and events,” said Erickson.

Erickson is hoping that her event room becomes a place for more than just kid’s parties, like teaming up with a local art store in Detroit Lakes to put on art activities and events.

“There isn’t a lot of stuff like that for younger kids and even older kids,” she said.

Birthday packages have also created a potential need for ice cream cakes, but the final menu of items, vendor choices and exact nature of what will be served as the Erickson’s eye a May 1 opening date.

That coincides with the hopeful opening date of the building’s other new business: Karey Smagacz’s Home Sweet Bakehouse. Both Smagacz and Erickson have held preliminary talks of potentially combining efforts on larger events, but both are still working through the early stages of creating the final products.

Erickson is down to two different ice cream vendors and from early feedback one of the dishes that will be on the menu for sure are ice cream nachos. A dish that features one to three different flavors of ice cream and instead of a waffle cone you get waffle chips with different toppings.

“I didn’t know about it until I told people I was opening and they said we have to do ice cream nachos,” said Erickson. “I was like what in the world is that?”

Another piece of feedback was customers wanted soft serve ice cream, which was not part of the plan. Erickson found a machine and she and her family have been testing it at home.

“We’ve made ice cream many nights,” she laughed.

Zack and Sara’s four kids think having a soft serve machine in the kitchen of their house is pretty cool.

The Erickson house is rather unique in the fact that it’s already a busy place without a new business to start. Zack runs his own trucking company of seven trucks with five owner/operators and in that position does a little bit of everything from driving to dispatch.

The family consists of one son and three daughters, a cat, a dog and…11 pygmy goats.

“We’re working on getting cows next year and we get pigs every spring,” Erickson laughed.

The couple opened the trucking company in 2017 and having successfully run that for seven years led to the motivation for another.

“People think we’re crazy, but we like to be busy,” Erickson said. “But people are excited and it’s exciting to be in the community and have people recognize me as the ice cream girl or the pizza girl. It’s fun to see all the people that know about it and are excited about it.”

The Erickson’s have a secret weapon who helps them get everything done in time in what Erickson calls their, “friend, nanny, best friend and go-to” Mazie Milligan.

“She recently quit a part-time job she had because she’s mine,” Erickson laughed. “She is my secret weapon; she really is.”

Milligan’s husband Zach works for Erickson’s trucking business and that’s how the two women met five years ago. 

“She started babysitting a bit; we have a diabetic daughter, so finding people to watch our kids that we can trust is tough,” said Erickson. “She took it on and she’s pretty much one of the very few people I’ll let watch my kids.”

Mazie and Zach got a crash course on what working for the Ericksons can be when they singlehandedly handled the unannounced delivery of eight goats. 

“I always ask her if she’s up for my shenanigans,” Erickson laughed.

The duo recently finished a full plumbing project in the house while their husbands were on the road.

“We do everything,” Erickson said.

Another source of inspiration has come from Heather Perrine, a friend of over two decades and owner of The Monarch Coffee House.

“It’s fun to have her pushing me,” Erickson said. “She’s all about standing behind me and being neighbors in town.”

Erickson is working with Henry’s Foods out of Alexandria to provide fresh pizza dough and will be making a visit to the culinary division to work out her own dough.

“I’m extremely picky about pizza crust; I feel like a pizza crust can make or break a pizza,” she said.

By early demand, there will also be gluten free pizza crust options.

While all the pizza will be served take and bake, there will be a table top cooked pizza option for events and parties in the event room. That cooking option will also allow individual sales for those on the go.

“Since I’m going to have that I’m going to offer it by the slice,” she said.

Another request Erickson has heard is hopes that Mama’s Pizzeria N Scoops will be open later into the evenings.

Current plans are to be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with possibly shortened hours in the winter.

Staff will be needed and Erickson has already had people reaching out to her for future positions.

Construction bids are being accepted at the building site and from now to opening day is a lot of waiting and shopping.

“I’m really good at that,” Erickson laughed.

Erickson is looking forward to bringing some new life to the eastern side of Main Avenue, joining the new Gobbler Grub and Pub.

“It’s great to see all these new things and opportunities and Frazee being brought back to life,” she said. “I love Frazee and Frazee has offered a lot to us.”

Mama’s Pizzeria N Scoops will also be keeping a part of the orange color scheme that makes the Monarch Coffee House’s vibe. For the Erickson’s, it’s a color combination they used at the wedding of turquoise and orange.

“I want it to be bright and fun,” she said. “I think of sprinkles and ice cream and melting down the wall. That’s what I’m super excited about. I love interior decorating and designing. I think it will really brighten up the town. Hopefully, it all comes together and we’re a good asset to Frazee.”