It’s hard to imagine this Chattanooga institution without Ashley Bottoms — and the feeling is mutual.
This spring, upon her 10-year anniversary with the company, Bottoms became the owner and operator of the beloved ice cream shop, taking the reins from Rock City Enterprises. At a natural transition point with growth opportunities on the horizon for both businesses, it was an ideal time for new ownership.
“I can’t imagine my life without Clumpies,” Bottoms says. “It’s been 10 years building it, and I don’t feel done.”
Bottoms first joined the Clumpies team in 2016 as the “Ice Cream Chef.” She was tasked with leading the kitchen team and developing new flavors. Under her guidance, the menu expanded beyond its “Classic” flavors to include rotating seasonal flavors. Guests enjoy Cookie Dough, Coffee Toffee, and Mint Chocolate Chunk year-round. Since the first seasonal menu in 2016, flavors like Whiskey Caramel Cornflake Crunch, Lucky Charms, Dasher’s Delight, Red Velvet Cake, and Pumpkin Caramel Cake have earned ardent fans who await their return year after year.
“It’s all made in house, by human hands, in small batches, here in Chattanooga,” Bottoms says. “That’s really what makes it special.”
After six years leading production, Bottoms stepped into a director role in 2022—a move that pulled her out of the day-to-day grind and asked her to look at the business as a whole rather than batch by batch. By the end of 2024, she was thinking about the long-term future of the business and began exploring the possibilities of Clumpies as a standalone business, and what it would take to get there. Then, in October 2025, Doug Chapin from Rock City came to her. That conversation was the beginning. Bottoms officially took over in April.
These days, Bottoms is back in the daily grind, more involved in the kitchen than she’s been in recent years. “It feels like coming home,” she says. She likes being back in the weeds, where the ice cream actually gets made.
Some of that work is about the next generation. Over the years, Clumpies has partnered with local brands and institutions, including the Howard School, where the company has worked with Rock City’s Future Ready Institute to build out a teaching kitchen. The collaboration runs on project-based learning, anchored by an annual ice cream flavor competition. Howard students tour Clumpies and learn the process, then head back to develop their own flavors, working alongside the chefs to taste-test and refine their recipes. The 2025 winner was Goofy Goober, a pineapple pink lemonade sorbet. This partnership remains, and the beloved competition will carry on.
As for what’s changing, much of the answer is what isn’t. Many of the same people are still on the team. The local collaborations that have always been a favorite now have more room to breathe with Bottoms leading production again, and the shops have settled into a good rhythm with their seasonal menus. For now, Bottoms says the focus will stay on the Northshore and Southside shops.
What excites her most about the next chapter is still hard to put into words. “It still feels very surreal,” she says. Standing at the annual Ice Cream Social at the Chattanooga Market, her family by her side, she felt the whole story come full circle — and somewhere in it, the outlines of a family business.
“It hasn’t hit me yet that it’s ours now, but I want to do the Clumpies family proud,” Bottoms says. “I’m excited to carry it on.”