Thai milk tea, pandan and durian are just some of the unique gelato flavours on offer at By Jacob in Newmarket.
The dessert shop opened at 120 Mulock Dr., at Sandford Street east of Yonge Street, in December 2021. Owner Peter Duong said he had hoped to open last summer but the pandemic pushed things back.
However, the By Jacob business goes back further than that. Duong was making macarons and doing catering but keeping low key by just selling through social media.
Duong isn't formally trained as a pastry chef but has been working in kitchens from almost 20 years, since he was 19 years old. He had mostly been on the savoury side but in one kitchen working with an Italian chef, he picked up a lot of pastry skills and his love for it has grown from there.
He said over the pandemic his business skyrocketed. It was while he was working on expanding that gelato came into the picture.
“I was looking around for used equipment and I came across an ice cream machine, a gelato machine,” he said. “I figured why not, let’s just play around.”
Gelato is an Italian dessert similar to ice cream, but the milk fat content is different and the whipping method is different. Ice cream is whipped more so there is more air in it, while gelato is less airy and more dense.
“Because it’s more dense, it’s more flavourful,” said Duong.
The flavours he makes at By Jacob, however, break away from tradition and bring in a lot of Asian influences. This has included Thai milk tea, taro, durian, and pandan, which is an Asian herb that Duong compares to vanilla flavour.
“I really want to stand out because I have to. There’s so many other great businesses nearby, if I don’t stand out I’m just going to blend in and be more or less of the same,” he said.
The Asian influence is what Duong said he brings to the area to make his shop stand out. However, he said there is also a big market for.
“There’s been a huge growth in Asian culture up here,” he said, adding that the number of Asian grocery stores and bubble tea shops in Newmarket and Aurora have increased in the past two years.
However, for people who are looking for a more typical treat, you can find that at By Jacob as well, with flavours like chocolate, raspberry, and pistachio.
“I keep something for everybody. I think it’s very important to not limit your demographic,” he said.
So far, he said, that approach has paid off as the response in Newmarket with customers coming in has been "overwhelming."
One flavour that has been a fan favourite is Lotus Biscoff, which is inspired by a Dutch cookie.
"Lotus Biscoff is the biggest crowd pleaser, it’s our biggest seller and I feel like it’s one of the safest bets anyone could take. I’ve never met anyone that’s said I don’t like Lotus Biscoff,” Duong said.
On top of the gelato, By Jacob also sells a variety of macarons, cheesecakes, other pastries, soft serve, and funnel cakes. Everything is made in house in the large kitchen at the back of the shop. From there, Duong also runs his meal prep and catering business, which he said allows him to hit both ends of the culinary spectrum.
“I get to do my savoury cooking when I feel like it and, obviously, I get to do my desserts which I’m enjoying a lot right now,” he said.
By Jacob is a family affair for Duong as his wife, Monica, has been helping out and working in the shop. He said she is now vital to the operation and it couldn't work without her. On top of that, the name is inspired by the couple's first-born son Jacob.
“He goes to school nearby, so he’s telling all the kids at school, ‘I got an ice cream store. It’s named after me,'" he said.
Since starting the company years ago, the couple has had another child, named Jordan, and Duong said he's already asking about where his store is. While he said there are no current plans to expand. he wouldn't take anything off the table.
