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Warren ice cream maker nationally recognized for flavors

By Kelcey Norris Mahoning Matters

Updated July 7, 2023 7:46 AM

Max Hoover, Grand Master Ice Cream Maker at Cockeye Creamery Kelcey Norris Mahoning Matters

Max Hoover with Cockeye Creamery has earned national recognition for his quality flavors as a 26-year-old small business owner.

Max creates the flavors and designed the business and production structures at Cockeye Creamery in Warren.

He said he’s found a passion by experimenting with new flavors and techniques in a handmade approach to crafting each batch of ice cream.

What is Cockeye BBQ, Cockeye Creamery?

Max’s parents started Cockeye BBQ in 2015 on Parkman Road in Warren.

It’s a family-focused business with a close group at the helm, who take time for weekly family dinners. Max and his younger brother taking on operational tasks and management as they grew up in the Cockeye kitchen.

Max knew he wanted to be the one to expand the business, but never imagined he’d go this far with his ideas.

“I did college, I was going to be an educator; I came back to the family business, which was just a barbecue, and then was like, ‘I have more ways that I can apply myself here,’” said Hoover. “I was like, ‘let’s make something.’ I didn’t know it was gonna be ice cream, and then it was and it was a freaking good product. I got to nerd out for the last four years on figuring out how do I make this? Everything fell into line exactly, learning how a professional ice cream company should function. It’s a journey, but small businesses are alive and well. I am from here, and I ain’t going nowhere. We’re making money and jobs.”

After four years in operation, Max has taken the ice cream business and industry by storm.

“This Monday, Tuesday, we produced just over 1,000 pints,” he said. “My business is less than five years old. Small business exists, it exists here and people that are around you are contributing to the global economy. Ten years ago, there weren’t 50 jobs here on this corner, those wouldn’t exist without us, so that is a good thing. I’m very proud of family business, small business, being the little guy. We have a budget for our charitable donations for the year and that number just keeps growing every year, so that’s awesome, too.”

What is a Grand Master Ice Cream Maker?

Max has entered his product into competitions in the North American Ice Cream Association, where the ice cream was tested for taste and sensory qualities at Cornell University.

His flavors of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream won three years in a row. During the 2022 competition, he was named a Grand Master Ice Cream Maker. There are less than ten Grand Masters in the country, and Max achieved this title early.

“All year last year, I was like walking around saying like, I really hope we get this it would be so cool; I can put it on my business card, like I’m a grand master,” he said. “I never thought in my life I’d get here,and now I get to say I’m one of them.”

Deep Chocolate is the rich, indulgent flavor that won him national acclaim this year, but Max said he prefers bringing home a classic pint of their vanilla.

“I’m excited for this next year because I feel like I’ll be kind of going in with some clout, really starting to peel back the layers of what these guys who have been in business for 20 plus years are doing and what they aren’t doing that’s making them successful,” he said.

How is Cockeye Creamery expanding?

About five years after opening the classic retail ice cream shop, Max a.k.a Grand Master Max, started thinking about the next phase of his business.

“The idea was, ‘Can I do this again?’” Max said. “’Should we make more retail stores? Like, what if I wanted to sell to Giant Eagle corporate, like I want to be their ice cream distribute? Like, how do I weave the wires to do that? Because in theory, like it might be a lot less work for, maybe, a lot more return. Anyway, it turns out, you can do that. There’s some hoops you gotta jump through, but you have to become a state licensed frozen dessert manufacturer. So that’s what we are, we are now also wholesale, extra manufacturer and distributor.”

He now has 20 wholesale distributors including Giant Eagle and a new facility in the works that has 12,000 square feet of space to streamline their production.

How is the ice cream made?

Max showed the current ice cream machines and introduced everyone producing the batch ice cream. He said his employees have become like family in the business.

“They call this batch making, not soft serve. It’s like a batch of hard scoop ice cream,” he said. “What you do is, you take milk, cream and sugar, add your ingredients, pour it into your batch freezer. It has an auger in there that spins and freezes... in about 10 minutes. It’ll go from like 36 F at fridge temperature to about 20 F, which is frozen but not solid. Next you’ll start adding in whatever extra flavor you’re gonna stir in.Then you’re freezing this block of 20 F ice cream down to as cold as you can get it, as fast as you can get it for long term storage. Then you kind of just pull these big blocks out and you scoop them; that’s your primary mode of serving. Or for manufacturing pints, it’s similar...you can just skip the hardening part and the big container and just boom, go into small containers and then harden those. I’s a lot of refrigeration power, and a lot of speed.”