The sweet success story of a little Fort Worth ice cream shop, now in the Stockyards

Eight years after Kari Crowe-Seher gave up wedding photography, her tiny ice cream shop is now an empire.

MELT Ice Creams opened its fourth location this summer in Mule Alley, 122 E. Exchange Ave. in the Fort Worth Stockyards, expanding a company that started in a tiny shop on the Near Southside.

“There’s a lot of fun energy,” said Crowe-Seher, now serving her super-premium ice cream flavors, including Cookie Crush or “Cup of Texas,” to tourists and shoppers staying in the top-ranked Hotel Drover or wandering after a Fort Worth Herd cattle drive.

MELT’s Southlake location draws a neighborhood crowd, and a Sundance Square shop draws office workers and downtown guests, she said on a recent Star-Telegram Eats Beat podcast.

“It’s a lot of families coming through learning about the history of Texas,” she said.

The shop’s sign calls the location “Moo-le Alley.”

“It’s really amazing to see cows every day,” she said

When she opened the first MELT — originally on West Rosedale Street before a move to the flagship store, 1201 W. Magnolia Ave. — nobody would have dreamed she would wind up with shops across Fort Worth or part of Amazon.com home delivery via Whole Foods Market.

Local, artisan ice cream was just gaining popularity along with craft brisket and local beers.

Some of the other shops that opened expanded suddenly.

Then, they went away.

“We haven’t grown outside of what we can handle,” she said.

She’s emphasized natural ingredients and local produce and adjusted for needs such as non-dairy frozen desserts. Plant-based desserts are now about 10% of sales, she said.

Chain ice cream shops use artificial flavorings or syrups, she said.

“We start with real peaches, real raspberries, real blueberries,” she said.

The MELT ice cream case isn’t a rainbow of colors — because MELT doesn’t add coloring.

“We want customers to choose ice cream based on the taste and not the color,” she said.

There’s only one problem with MELT: the line.

The line at Magnolia seems shortest at the noon opening and in mid-afternoon. But the Stockyards location has morning crowds lined up at the door for opening at 11 a.m.

Follow the same rules as for busy restaurants: Go the day after a major holiday, or when business is slow, like during Dallas Cowboys games.

MELT also offers shakes and ice cream sandwiches.

It’s open from noon through early evening daily; 817-886-8365 or 817-900-9355, melticecreams.com/menu.