Austin, unlike Midland and even Houston, offered the type of low-sugar, low-carb, low-fat food, snacks and drinks he depended on to stay healthy.
“I'm buying this [diabetes-friendly food] every two weeks, and then when COVID[-19] hits everything, ... [and the] oil field slowed down. ... I went from being a driller on a rig to having to ... go all the way back down to like the lowest level on the rig,” Dunlap said.
When he and his wife, Julie Dunlap, found D’Lites Austin, they were perplexed to discover there were no truly diabetes-friendly ice creams or snacks in the Cypress area.
Dunlap was contemplating his career in the oil and gas industry one night, reflecting on the recent downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced the number of crew members on his rig, sending him back to do the dirty work he once did when he first started in the oil fields.
“So I researched, thinking you know, Houston is such a melting pot of a city. There's a lot of really good and interesting food here. But I couldn't find anything that was exclusively like this. So I got really excited. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I think we should do it. I think it's a great opportunity,’” Julie said.
So the idea for D'Lites Houston was born: They decided to open a shop in Cypress, carry some of the same products as D'Lites under a licensing agreement and have their own small business together.
“Yeah, so before we opened, ... I thought he was kind of crazy. You know, let's open an ice cream shop because he used to work in the oil field out in West Texas, [and he was] gone, you know, two weeks at a time. So he was just ready to be home and do something different,” Julie said.
The shop offers a variety of ice cream flavors, including pineapple orange, root beer float, rocky road, Mexican hot chocolate, key lime pie, butterscotch banana, chocolate eclair, Groom's Cake, cotton candy, coffee, brownie pecan, Snickers, salted caramel, Oreo and pistachio.
They both said they like the freedom of being able to sell the ice cream without having to be a franchisee, allowing them to stock as many other products as they want, including low-carb tortilla chips and low-sugar cinnamon rolls. The products are also keto friendly, and many of the customers are simply diet- and health-conscious consumers.
“And I think that we have helped a lot of people discover something that they can enjoy and not feel bad about,” Dunlap said. “Bariatric patients, people with dietary restrictions, like all kinds of people come in and can enjoy this.”
Low-sugar sweets
D’Lites Houston offers healthy ice creams and snacks for diabetes patients as well as those who are fitness focused.
- Flavors: All flavors are created from two base mixes of chocolate and vanilla. For a 4-ounce serving of chocolate, it has 2 grams of sugar; for vanilla, it has 3 grams of sugar. All have 50 calories per serving.
- Texture: D’Lites ice cream is low in sugar, fat and carbohydrates while still having the creamy texture and taste of traditional ice cream.
- Nutrition: D’Lites ice cream is sweetened with natural sugar, which comes from the lactose in skim milk, along with a small amount of corn syrup. It contains no sugar alcohols and no artificial sweeteners.
- Other products: D’Lites Houston also offers a variety of prepackaged healthy snacks, such as tortilla chips and cinnamon rolls.
26321 Hwy. 290, Ste. 400, Cypress
281-304-2313. www.dliteshouston.com
Hours: Tue.- Thu. 11:30 am-8 p.m., Fri.- Sun. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., closed Mon.
