After seeing a trend of rolled ice cream companies gain popularity on social media in 2019, Tinia and Leo Le decided to start their own business called Rollie Rolls.

When the couple arrived in Pflugerville after living in Boston, they decided the Texas weather would pair well with the Thai dessert, in addition to boba tea and instant ramen.

The backstory

While the couple always knew they wanted to start a small business, Tinia Le said it took nearly a year to settle on the idea for rolled ice cream. In that time, they went through a series of trial and error as they tried their hands at recreating the ice cream they saw in viral online videos.

Even now, Tinia Le said, the process still involves testing new ideas and improving.



“It took us two months in our garage and having our neighbors try our ice cream,” she said. “When we first opened it wasn't perfect, and then we just learned.”

In opening Rollie Rolls, the Les found a place where community members can come together. With the shop’s proximity to a school, Tinia Le said the business serves students throughout the day and gives them a place to be with friends.

“It's a safe space for them. ...Seeing them all happy and hanging out here is very heartwarming for us,” Tinia Le said.

On the menu


Complete with names like Cookie Monster, Love Bites and Chunky Panda, the shops offers a variety of flavors and combinations. Some ingredients include matcha, condensed milk or fruits like strawberries and longan.

The standard ice cream base in many orders is made fresh in the shop and also includes a dairy-free, vegan and gluten-friendly option.

What’s special about it

Because of the technique required to make rolled ice cream, Leo Le said the texture can differ from the typical ice cream taste. After cooling the shop’s special freezing pans to negative 30 degrees celsius, the in-house ice cream base is poured out, hardened and chopped into pieces. Any additional inclusions like fruit or candy are mixed in during the process.


Using scraper tools, the bits of ice cream are then rolled into six neat rolls before being loaded with toppings.

“It’s like a cold hibachi,” Leo Le said. “Once it gets to a great freezing point, [it’s] not too brittle; not too soft—like a gelato texture.”

Similar to the hibachi experience of live cooking and performance, the pair designed their shop to provide total viewing of the ice cream preparation. From behind a screen, orders become show-like with the slow drizzle of syrups and condensed milk paired with the sounds of tools meeting the pan.

“When they see [us] doing this in the air, it triggers something in their brain," Tinia Le said. “That's what drew us in as well. We're like, ‘Let's bring it to them.’”