TAMPA, Fla. — All week long, Brightside is featuring some of the best bites in the area with "Tasting Tampa Bay." Who doesn't love ice cream on a hot Florida day?
Sweet Mama's Ice Cream is a cute shop that just opened in downtown Tampa, but they've been around for a few years. It was started in a food truck, putting smiles on the faces of folks in West Tampa with the classic soft-serve ice cream.
Akwi Njoh is the owner of Sweet Mama's Ice Cream. "We are specific to soft serve, but on top of soft serve, we serve a lot of warm deserts and treats like that. So... cookies, brownies. We also serve milk shakes."
"We started as a food truck because we wanted to get something... just to get going. I think ultimately our vision was to be in a brick and mortar so we could create kind of a hub for people to hang out and socialize," Njoh said.
Rachel Radawec with Tampa's Downtown Partnership helped Akwi make the transition from food truck to brick and mortar.
"As Tampa is growing, we are seeing an influx of small businesses into our downtown and women like Akwi is an amazing example of how small businesses can thrive in downtown," Radawec said.
Akwi says the name of the shop is just as special as the ice cream.
"Sweet Mama's... I was juggling through names trying to figure out what would sound really cute for an ice cream shop and my middle name is Mama, so I thought that Sweet in the front of Mama's sounded really cool and I think this is a timeless name so it kind of works out. It's a fun surprise when you figure out the root of it," Njoh said.