Granny's Pantry — Restaurant in Battle Lake

In August of 2018, I wanted to take my three year old daughter to a shop in my husband's hometown. They sell ice cream, candy, fudge, and coffee. I called to inquire if they have any dairy-free options for frozen desserts. I was literally laughed at. I was told "I've got one tub of rainbow sherbet but I have no idea if there is dairy in it". I said ok thanks and hung up. But I was unsettled. I felt the need to call back and explain why I was asking, because it is not a laughing matter in my house.

So, I called back. The same man answered the phone. I said "I'm sorry, but I thought I should call back and explain why I was asking about non-dairy options. I found you laughing at my question to be rude, and I wanted to explain myself. My daughter has a severe disorder that is impacted by what she eats. She has a very limited diet, and I was hoping to bring her on a fun outing. However, I was trying to prevent a three year old from absolutely losing her mind when we arrived and there was nothing she could eat as she loves frozen treats". I then went on to explain that I thought this shop might be understanding of dietary restrictions because I had the understanding that an owner also had some health issues, perhaps diabetes. I then asked what the man's name was and he responded with (and started yelling at me), "Terry, my name is Terry and I am one of the owners. We are an ice cream shop. We sell ice cream. And quite frankly, I find your comments rude because you are trying to make your problem my problem and that's not ok!"

I can't quite figure out what was wrong with my inquiry. I never made a big deal out of the fact that there wasn't a dairy-free option available - a shop can carry anything they want to carry. I was using the answer as a deciding factor on if we would be stopping or not. I did not need to be laughed at. Perhaps my question was seen as ridicule (which it was not in any way - I have very fond memories of this place and just wanted to share it with our daughter). I also can't figure out two things about this owner. The first is why he is not more aware of what is in the products he sells and didn't have nutritional information available to reference. The second is why would any business owner ever talk like that? Why would any person ever treat another person like that? To go from rudely laughing at what I think is a straightforward question to calling my daughter a problem in such a rude way?

And... as a side note... I've never, ever seen "an ice cream shop" without some sort of a non-dairy frozen treat. In fact, even the ones with "dairy" and "creamery" and "ice cream" in their name (this one does not!) have non-dairy options. And as another side note... we are so thankful for nice establishments and understanding individuals and will only be bringing our business to them. Just like this store can choose to only sell ice cream, we can choose to not support business with this type of mentality. My fond memories will remain that... fond memories, but I say we will never set foot in that...

Called ahead to see if the local legend had any dairy free ice cream options. I was received on the phone with a warm reply stating, “yes we have non-dairy options.” I stated, so you have sorbet. They said ,” yup.” 45 minute drive later....

Upon arrival there were zero listed non-dairy options. To be fair it’s the first time in a shop that did not have one single non-dairy item. Was a shock from a business standpoint.

After waiting in line several minutes wondering what to do I stepped to the counter to ask the young man where the dairy free options were located. He stated and I quote, “we don’t have any sorbet or dairy free, but you can help yourselves to the side coolers.” (Later came to find out the side coolers had yogurt. What the hell man) So I politely stated that I called in earlier asking about the menu and was told otherwise and I understood if in fact they did not have any dairy free options rather the inconvenience of quick fact less statements not bound to reality that concerns me. Wife is 8 months pregnant and allergic to dairy. I am sure the owners of Granny’s do not want a woman to have an allergic reaction on their floor from “items in the cooler.”

Know your product. Same story from all staff. You can do...

7 months ago I went to Granny’s on beautiful sunny Thursday in July. I was so excited to choose a flavor of Granny’s delicious ice cream/sherbet. Until...one of the employees asked me what flavor I wanted, I answered “Rainbow Sherbet ,Please!”, and was told by the employee that it was quote “Really Hard and might take a while to scoop” in which I replied “ okay, do your thing”. However it did not take her a while to scoop, actually it was quite easy for her but after she scooped it she had THE audacity to stretch and act like scooping the rainbow sherbet had caused her pain. The only thing pained in this situation is my feelings because she made me feel like me expecting her to scoop ice cream was a rude thing to do. Also if you are wondering why it took me 7 months to do this is because I wanted this situation to just disappear from my memory but it hasn’t...I am still...