D’Lites Houston opened its doors just a year ago. Sam and Julie Dunlap decided to open D’Lites when they found out that Sam has diabetes. “We found a D’Lites location in Austin and we were so excited that Sam could eat the ice cream even with his diabetes,” said Julie “We fell in love with it and one day Sam said maybe we should open up our own location and we did!”
D’Lites is the first and only ice cream shop, in Cypress, that offers low-carb and low-sugar ice cream and groceries. When they found the D’Lites location in Austin, Sam and Julie did some research to find out if there was anything closer to them and realized there was nothing like D’Lites in Cypress. “We would drive out to Austin just to get the ice cream and I thought ‘Well, Houston is huge, there must be something like D’Lites in Houston and there wasn’t, so we’re finding a way to fill that gap.” Sam and Julie are helping those in the community who also have dietary restrictions like Sam, by making sure that they have an option for healthy sweet treats close to home.
The ice cream at D’Lites is made with skim milk, regular corn syrup, natural sugar, and a water-based extract to change the flavors and keep the nutritional value the same. Their healthy products allow the customer to satisfy their sweet tooth and eat clean at the same time.
Not only does their ice cream help people like Sam, with diabetes, to enjoy sweet treats, but also those with various allergies or dietary restrictions. “Bariatric patients or people with allergies or people who just want to lose weight or are on Keto can come and enjoy our products because they are low in sugar and carbs and they are egg-free, soy-free and gluten-free.”
D’Lites doesn’t only sell ice cream, they have a variety of healthy snacks and groceries. They offer bread, tortillas, muffins, chips, cookies, and other grocery items. All of the items are low-carb and some of them are gluten-free. “Our grocery products taste just as good as if you were to buy regular bread or regular cookies or chips. They have a great taste and great texture,” said Julie. D’Lites’ customers don’t have to sacrifice taste and texture for the sake of their health, they can remain healthy and still enjoy their snacks and sweet treats.
It’s clear that members of the community love the ice cream, snacks, and groceries from D’Lites as they have had many customers come in after someone else recommended D’Lites. “We have a lot of customers come in and they’ll say ‘Oh my friend told me I had to come try this’ or someone brought tortilla chips or ice cream to a party and they tried it and loved it, so they came in to try it” said Julie.
Helping their customers with dietary restrictions is extremely important at D’Lites. Sam and Julie know that often when customers are coming into their shop, they have a medical condition that makes D’Lites the right choice for them and they take care of them as best as they can. “Our main goal is to just help people. We love helping people and filling the need for healthier options for those who need them especially since we know that there aren’t a lot of other options.”
Sam and Julie hope to help more people with dietary restrictions and medical conditions that might stop them from enjoying their favorite sweets and snacks. D’Lites will always make sure that they have healthier options that work for them.
DlitesHouston.com
26321 Northwest Fwy, Ste 400
Cypress, TX 77429