Council approves outdoor seating for Lakeport's Social Club Creamery

LAKEPORT — Social Club Creamery on Elm Street will soon expand to accommodate outdoor seating following approval by city council at Monday’s regular meeting at City Hall.

The owners are also working to increase space available for storing ice cream, a tricky task in their small storefront. 

The artisan ice cream and cookie company’s proposal included the addition of seven tables, making room for an additional 26 patrons to sit outside the shop to enjoy tasty frozen treats. The Laconia location is small — accommodating just three customers for seating inside the space — and the proposed outdoor space will include lighting to ensure the area is visible. 

The ice cream shop’s original proposal included fencing to be set up around the seating area, but city councilors thought it is necessary to erect more substantial safety barriers. Councilors pointed to the requirement levied upon the 405 Pub & Grill on Union Avenue to place jersey barriers — large, concrete barriers strong enough to stop a moving vehicle — outside their restaurant when they asked permission to allow outdoor seating during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Co-owner Cole Glaude, 28, runs the business with his wife Sarah. They said they received permission to occupy the two parking spaces located nearest to the Elm Street intersection with Park Street from a property manager at 51 Elm Street and city councilors asked them to confirm that permission in writing.

“We’ve just gotten a verbal confirmation from the property manager,” Glaude said. “We just need it in written form.”

The other stipulation in order to receive approval was that Glaude would work with City Manager Kirk Beattie to ensure safety plans are sufficient. Glaude said Thursday afternoon during an interview he was set to speak with Beattie regarding barriers needed to protect patrons later in the afternoon.

On Thursday, the ice cream shop was busy, with customers filing in and out regularly with cones and bowls in tow. Glaude worked with scooper Ella Irving, 20, of Belmont, to fill orders on just one of many hot and humid days recently in the Lakes Region. 

Stepping outside the air conditioned store and onto the sidewalk, Glaude noted the searing heat. “Wow, it’s super hot out here.”

The past two weeks have been among the busiest he’s experienced since he and Sarah opened the 900-square-foot storefront in October. Last week, they did so much business, in fact, they had to close Saturday through Monday. Employees worked through the weekend to replenish their stock of ice cream in order to open for the rest of the week.

During that period, they sold about 2,500 scoops of ice cream and another 1,000 cookies. Within a year, they’ve appeared to outgrow themselves — impressive for a business that does its marketing almost entirely by word-of-mouth. But that problem will soon be addressed. 

“Things have been so good,” he said. “We’re just going to keep going.”

The husband-and-wife team is working now to renovate an additional 300 square-foot space given to them by a neighboring business. 

“Decorative Interiors was kind enough to give us some space,” he said.

The new storage space will be where the ice cream entrepreneurs will install numerous large freezers so they can keep a large quantity of ice cream in stock and hopefully will prevent a situation like what they experienced after a recent busy week.

In their current storefront, where most of the square footage is dedicated to the kitchen, they don’t have enough room to store large quantities of ice cream. 

“We weren’t expecting it,” he said, noting the shop's unanticipated closure due to an inventory shortage. “It’s definitely, honestly a surprise.”

So an expansion to accommodate outdoor seating couldn’t come at a better time for the new business. Glaude said their downtown Concord location has a similar outdoor seating arrangement, albeit without traffic barriers due to its elevation off the street and on a sidewalk.

But in order to create a similar outdoor seating situation, especially through the busy summer seating, Glaude said he’s happy to comply with any city requirements regarding safety barriers.

“What we’re going to do is end up renting them for the season,” he said, noting seating and barriers would likely remain out only seasonally, through October. “That’s been the No. 1 request, is to have more seating. We’ve only got a couple of seats inside.”

When asked about his thoughts regarding the area's safety being so close to a busy street, Glaude said he believes the seating area will make customers even safer than they are now. Visitors to the shop often sit in their vehicles or even directly on the curb due to a lack of seating.

“People have been sitting on the curb or in the trunk of their car,” he said. “I think that’s kind of more dangerous. I’ve seen two or three trucks parked on the street there and people sitting in the back before.”