Behind the Counter — Duck Island Ice Cream
Duck Island began as an exploration of flavour at a time when the market was rather vanilla. From the outset, that spirit of doing things differently extended beyond the ice cream, which meant sourcing ingredients locally, including hand-picking limes and lemons from around the neighbourhood and a focus on minimal processing. In addition to all that, today, an estimated 90% of store waste is composted through Green Gorilla. Here, Liz Brook, Marketing Manager at Duck Island, shares how the brand brings together flavour, creativity and its local community.
Ice cream is something many of us associate with childhood and summer. What inspired you to challenge convention and open your first Duck Island scoop shop?
When we first started, the local ice cream scene felt pretty same-samey, and we saw a real opportunity to be more playful and challenging with flavour. We were huge fans of what was happening in the US at the time, cities like New York, Portland and San Fran had a great craft ice cream scene and we knew there was a place for that here too.
Every Duck Island store feels playful yet carefully considered. How important is the physical space in shaping the overall experience for your customers?
While all of our stores share a visual connection, we intentionally let each space have its own character. Where we open, the local neighbourhood is everything. We want each store to fit into the community so that it's a space people want to gather, connect, and hang out in.
Your custom-branded paper bowls feel unmistakably Duck Island, with a typeface that's both contemporary yet nostalgic. How does compostable packaging fit within the broader Duck Island brand experience?
Just like our ice cream, we believe in keeping everything as natural as possible. We focus on gathering locally sourced ingredients and minimal processing. Choosing compostable packaging over single-use plastic was a given from day one.
One thing that stood out when visiting your scoop shops was your compost bin. The signage is incredibly clear and clever showing exactly what can be placed in there. What inspired you to make composting such a visible part of the customer experience?
Composting can be confusing, so we set out to make it as easy as possible. Bold, highly visual signage helps people actually follow through, helping divert waste to landfill.
What materials are collected through your compost bins, who collects them?
Everything we give our customers is compostable, our cups, napkins, and spoons are all made from materials like bamboo, paper, and plant-based eco-plastics. Because of this, we estimate at least 90% of our total store waste is compostable. We partner with Green Gorilla as our main collector wherever we can.
Beyond compostable packaging, what are some other ways Duck Island works to reduce its environmental impact?
Working in the frozen category gives us a great head start since our food waste is naturally low. We use the whole ingredient wherever we can, whether that’s zesting, pulping and juicing entire oranges, or utilising the whole feijoa, skins and all. We also stay as local as possible, hand-picking limes and lemons from our own community neighbourhood.
For someone visiting Duck Island for the first time, which flavours or menu items would you recommend they start with?
If you're visiting with a friend, hands down go for a tasting flight. You get eight mini scoops of your choice, which is honestly the best way to sample a great range of flavours.
Is there anything new or exciting you're working on that you'd like to share?
We've recently opened our second South Island store in Queenstown and we're really enjoying getting amongst the community down there. It's such an exciting environment; we not only have our scoop store in central downtown we're also stocked on the mountain at Cardrona and in a few of our favourite hot spots, we're really enjoying taking our ice cream South.
Where you will find Duck Island
📍View 'Stockists' and 'Scoop Stores' to find Duck Island in your neighbourhood.
