A small ice cream can cost $8 in Philly. ‘Still cheaper than a cocktail,’ say scoop shop owners.

Rhonda Womack likes to treat her 8-year-old foster daughters to ice cream once a week.

But as costs have risen, the Germantown household has increasingly had to settle for a box of Popsicles from the Dollar Tree.

Sometimes when the three of them go out, “it’s almost $40 for ice cream,” said Womack, a 43-year-old home care worker. “That is not something I can take my kids to once a week.”

And it’s not just the scoop shops that have become more of a splurge, she said: “Even Mr. Softee is expensive.”

This summer, consumers are feeling the sting of higher ice cream prices. In grocery store aisles, prepackaged half-gallons of ice cream increased 27% between January 2020 and June 2024, according to federal data.

But perhaps the places where shoppers are feeling it most are at ice cream counters, where even the cost of a single scoop of ice cream can be eye-popping. For a small cup, prices typically range from $5 to $8, while sundaes can be between $10 and $20.

A recent survey that made national headlines found that Philadelphia had the highest ice cream prices of 50 U.S. vacation spots, with a scoop costing $5.35 on average. New York came in second with an average of $5. The survey author, an online language learning and research site called Preply, calculated the average of five shops in each destination and noted it would cost $43 on average for a family of four to indulge in two scoops apiece in Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Best ice cream in Philadelphia: Where to get the best scoops, soft serve, water ice and other frozen treats

Ice cream shop owners from the city to the Shore attribute price increases to a variety of factors, including increased costs of butter and other dairy, chocolate, paper goods, and labor. Margins, they say, are thinner than ever.

“While we can grow in one way, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making money,” said Spencer Philips, owner of Scoop DeVille, which has two shops in Center City and soon plans to expand into South Jersey. “If you have a line out the door, that doesn’t mean the same thing these days as it used to.”

This month, Scoop DeVille instituted its first across-the-board price increase in recent memory — a 50-cent hike — bringing its small signature custard blend to $6.75 post tax.

“We’ve tried as hard as we can to keep those prices down,” Philips said. But “it certainly is possible for a family of five to walk out spending $50.”

When Eric Berley opened Franklin Fountain with his brother two decades ago, they sold other people’s ice cream for $2.75. Now, they make their own, and a small cup with one flavor costs more than $8 after tax.

“It’s a premium high-end product that is artisanally made,” said Berley, who has increased prices by about a quarter since 2022. He keeps a spreadsheet of his competitors’ prices and portion sizes. “We’ve always been on the higher end because of the value of the experience we’re trying to offer.”

Berley compares Franklin Fountain ice cream to a pint of craft beer, for which some consumers are used to spending $7 or $8. Other ice cream shop owners look at it similarly.

As Cristina Torres, the owner of Weckerly’s Ice Cream in Fishtown, put it: “In terms of the value, I think a scoop of ice cream is still cheaper than a cocktail at most places.”

The degree to which ice cream shops have been squeezed by higher costs depends on their ingredients and suppliers. But some owners said they have taken big hits.

“Last year saw the biggest increase in our ice cream base we’ve ever seen” in 13 years in business, said Danielle Jowdy, owner of Zsa’s Ice Cream in Mount Airy. Her ice cream mix increased about $6 per three-gallon batch, she said. The store goes through 20 batches or more during a busy summer week.

At Franklin Fountain, the cost of their ice cream mix — which they get from a Schuylkill County dairy — has fluctuated over the last two years, up between 5% and 16% in any given month, said Berley, the co-owner. During the same period, the Old City shop has increased prices by about 3%.

“The inflation right now is kind of the icing on the high-priced cake,” said Mary Humphreys, owner of Springer’s Homemade Ice Cream in Stone Harbor. Along with cost increases on ingredients, Humphreys said the shop has also saddled higher costs related to wage increases, compliance with local plastic bans, and credit card payments, which Springer’s started accepting during the pandemic.

A single scoop at Springer’s is $6.25 after tax, up from around $4.50 at the start of the pandemic, Humphreys said.

Making matters worse at some shops, owners have noticed that business has declined at the same time that costs have risen.

“People are going out for things like ice cream a little bit less if they’re tightening the belt,” said Philips, of Scoop DeVille.

Around Franklin Fountain in Old City, Berley said there is less foot traffic, more storefront vacancies, and a larger homeless population than before the pandemic. Sometimes people who are experiencing homelessness and suffering from mental health or substance issues harass customers standing in line, taking away from their experience, he said.

But inside the store, the Berley brothers have tried to entice customers in new ways that add value. They recently rolled out junior sundaes that are slightly less expensive than their full-size counterparts. A junior hot fudge sundae, for instance, is on the menu for $13, down from $17, while a banana split is $18, down from $24.

Torres, the owner of Weckerly’s, said she, too, has gotten more creative as costs have skyrocketed. The “cookie dump” flavor, which contains the scraps of the micro-creamery’s well-known ice cream sandwiches, is more consistently on the menu in order to reduce food waste.

Since taking over in January, she said she hasn’t raised prices, with a single costing $4.99 pretax.

“I’m cognizant of the constraints on people’s wallets,” Torres said. “I don’t want anyone to ever feel like, ‘Oh, I spent $6 on an ice cream that wasn’t that great.’ … It’s something that should make people happy.”