Rollup Ice Cream & Eatery (4551B Telegraph) recently held its grand opening in Oakville. The shop serves up rolled ice cream treats, rolled sandwiches and wraps, bubble teas, lemonade, milk teas, and more. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Menu
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The fast-casual spot offers food, drinks, and desserts for carry-out or dine-in service.
Top food sellers include the fried rolled chicken sandwich with house-made signature sauce (pictured at right), topped with thin-sliced sour pickles on a soft bun. Hot dog rollers of all stripes are also popular.
Rollup also offers wraps, salads, and sides, such as scoop potatoes (think steak fries with a curve), onion ‘tanglers’ (thin onion slivers breaded and fried crispy), and mac and cheese bites. “We may be adding a St. Louis staple, toasted ravioli,” says co-owner Shelli Tribble. “We have wrap combos, too. The chicken bacon ranch (pictured at right) is very popular. Some salads are based on the wraps. We have chicken salad, buffalo chicken salad and a smoked turkey and bacon salad on the menu.”
Among the dessert options, rolled ice cream specialties can be ordered with either a base of dairy products or plant milk bases. The extensive menu includes vanilla, chocolate, and fruit flavors with syrups, add-ins, and toppings. The Brownie Batter (pictured above), for instance, starts with a vanilla base with hits of house sweet cream, much chocolate sauce, soft brownies and whipped cream. The Orange Dreamsicle (pictured at right) makes the most of a Valencia orange base rolled with frozen vanilla base, with caramel drizzles, house sweet cream, and whipped cream. The Berry Blast (Tribble’s favorite rollup) includes strawberry and cheesecake ice cream topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. “All of our ice creams are made right in front of you,” says Tribble. “The possibilities are just endless.”
Bubble teas, milk teas, and flavored lemonades are made in house, too.
The menu isn’t online yet as the store begins its third week of operations, but it will be available soon. “We’re also planning a drive-up window,” says Tribble.
The Atmosphere
Bright, clean, and sparkly, with playful spirals incorporated on the chair backs and counter, the store seats 27 people. There’s ample parking, with both a front and back lot.
Although everything is made to order, the wait times are typically short, even when the shop is busy. Both kids and adults enjoy watching the crew create treats.
“In our design, we wanted people to feel very comfortable,” says Tribble. “Friendliness and cleanliness are very big with us.”
The Team
The shop’s co-owners include sisters Shelli and Robyn Tribble, Niki Castleman, and Donna Wells. Robyn typically oversees orders, Castleman helms the kitchen, and Wells and Shelli work the front of house. While all four owners have certain expertise, they’re also in the process of cross-training, so they can step in wherever needed. Their crew also includes family, friends, and students from Oakville High School, as well as locals. “We’re still staffing,” says Shelli.
Shelli and Castleman first latched onto the rolled ice cream concept while on vacation in Colorado. “We tried it and loved it,” Shelli says. “The ice cream rolls are made right in front of you, literally from scratch, and the varieties of flavors are endless. We decided to try rolled ice cream everywhere—Kansas, Michigan, Chicago, Gulf Shores in Florida—all our vacations revolved around rolled ice cream.”
A friend introduced Shelli to Matt Searles, who owns Rollup Ice Cream & Tea in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In October 2021, she signed a licensing agreement to open a store in St. Louis. “The stores in Michigan sold food as well,” Shelli says. “So we added ‘& Eatery’ to our name to let people know we offer more than just ice cream and teas.”
During the pandemic, they found the location in Oakville. ’We were looking for a space in various areas when I saw that Domino’s was putting up this building. I reached them while it was under construction and wound up renting the space,” says Shelli, who recently retired from teaching accounting at Oakville High School. For her, the Oakville location is a bit like coming home. “It’s nice to come back here and see my ex-students,” she says. “Even some of the parents remember me, so I am glad to be in this community.”
The group is also in the process of buying the existing Michigan stores, Shelli says, and hopes to expand across the region, state, and beyond in the future.
