Olivia Woo, Contributing Photographer

Inside a glistening new Whitney Avenue storefront, Reinaldo Sánchez balanced on a ladder to string up festive lights, accompanied by the belts of Mariah Carey and the smell of chocolate cookies wafting from the kitchen. The newest location of Vía Láctea — the award-winning non-dairy frozen dessert chain that Sánchez co-founded — is bringing the holiday spirit to New Haven just weeks after its opening.

Sánchez and Lorivie Alcea, co-owners of Vía Láctea, operate two store locations in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The New Haven location opened on Nov. 15 and is their first in the mainland United States.

“We’re bringing in a lot of recipes that we developed in Puerto Rico, and they have been tried and true and tested, and they are amazing,” Sánchez said. “But also, we’re taking the opportunity, since Vía Láctea stands for local, to work with local agriculture and develop new flavors based on whatever grows here in New England.”

In New England, shorter shipment distances between farms and kitchens mean the shop can pick from a new array of flavors, Sánchez explained. Their pumpkin chai offering, for instance, is made with fresh pumpkins from Bishop’s Orchard in Guilford.

In addition to prioritizing sustainable agriculture, the store is dedicated to minimizing its operational carbon footprint in other ways. Samples are offered on metal spoons, not plastic ones, and all dessert offerings are completely plant-based. Vía Láctea uses a coconut-milk base for most of its ice creams, but also offers rice and oat milk options. 

Sánchez, who is lactose intolerant, said he is excited to bring non-dairy ice creams to Whitney Avenue. Some flavors are inspired by Puerto Rican desserts — guava panetela is an almond cake with guava paste, which the store envisions as an almond and vanilla base with almond cake and guava ripple, and coquito is a traditional nog of cinnamon and coconut milk.

Vía Láctea also boasts flavors like coffee chip, which is made with 100% Arabica coffee beans from Puerto Rico; Home Planet, an original flavor made blue with butterfly pea flour and combined with matcha cake to resemble the earth; and mint chocolate chip.

“We want to bring some of our heritage, our roots, our flavors, recipes and traditions, here and incorporate them here,” Sánchez said. “Because most people are not used to our brand of flavors, we want to have one or two comfort flavors, and then that’s the hook. So then they can try the newer flavors, the more avant garde ones.”

Mackenzie Cruikshanx, who specializes in ice cream production at the New Haven location, is responsible for preparing an array of different purées and colorings. All of Vía Láctea’s ice creams are free of artificial dyes, Cruikshanx said. Every add-in, ranging from cookies to cakes, is also baked in-house.

 Some of the ice creams are also caramel-based, which adds a laborious step to production that many ice cream makers avoid. Cruikshanx, however, has become comfortable with both the caramel-making process and the unique science behind plant-based production. 

“There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into vegan milk because it’s culinarily specific,” Cruikshanx explained.

The New Haven location plans to expand its offerings to include drinks like affogatos, milkshakes and floats, along with to-go pints of ice cream, brownies a la mode and ice cream cookie sandwiches. 

Vía Láctea’s commitment to high-quality, innovative flavors in its two San Juan storefronts has been recognized both by enthusiastic customers and expert foundations. This year, it was named a James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist in the Outstanding Bakery category.

Still, the innovative, sustainable approach that Vía Láctea takes to ice cream has had to jump its fair share of hurdles during the permitting process that accompanied its move to Connecticut.

“We’re not a cookie cutter company,” Sánchez said. “Right now, [our permit is] under frozen desserts, which is very encompassing, but procedural-wise, inspectors and people who were assigned to work our case couldn’t make heads or tails [of the permits], because this is a new market that we’re exploring right now.”

State regulations around vegetables in frozen desserts have also proved difficult to navigate when vetting ingredients for flavors like Pumpkin Chai.

Alexandra Daum, Yale associate vice president for New Haven affairs, expressed enthusiasm for the store’s November opening in a University property. 

“With its commitment to quality, innovation, and community Vía Láctea is going to fit right in in New Haven,” Daum said in a press release.

The Whitney Avenue space in which Vía Láctea recently opened had been unoccupied for five years and lacked basic plumbing. Sánchez called the space a “blank canvas” that he and his team filled with ice cream cone-themed wallpaper, bright potted plants and an array of delicious smells.

Having made the space Vía Láctea’s own, Sánchez hopes to utilize it to share the store’s Puerto Rican roots with locals.

“I believe diversity is the key to enrichment, be it food, be it culture, be it traditions,” Sánchez said. “All the history books say the US is a giant melting pot, and we should really take advantage of that and work with what we have.”

Vía Láctea’s new location is located at 2 Whitney Ave.