Ernesteen McConnell Turns 100 Years Young!

In 1949, a young couple moved to Santa Barbara, California, in search of their American Dream. Mac and Ernie decided they would start an ice cream company and that their company would be different. They’d look to Central Coast farms & purveyors for their bounty of year-round and seasonal ingredients, including local grass-grazed milk & cream, fruit, nuts and produce. They’d make their own jams and caramels and bake their own inclusions. And the fillers, stabilizers and preservatives that everybody else was using? Never.They’d forego the easy route and make their ice creams from scratch. No compromises. Their company would produce “the finest ice creams in the world.” Mac and Ernie spent months developing their own recipes, along with a revolutionary, mechanized version of the European French Pot ice cream-making process. In December, 1950 they opened their first shop. McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams was an immediate success. In time, it became a Santa Barbara institution.