This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Small-batch walk-up ice cream scoop shop at 5536 Troost Ave in KCMO’s Troost Corridor, opened in 2020 by Jamie Howard — a former kitchen manager at Betty Rae’s (and later worker at The Rieger and Blackhole Bakery) who bought a used ice cream machine on eBay mid-pandemic and began developing small-batch flavors before opening the walk-up shop on the 55th & Troost UMKC-adjacent block.

Description

High Hopes Ice Cream is a small-batch walk-up scoop shop at 5536 Troost Ave on the UMKC-adjacent 55th Street and Troost Avenue block. Owner Jamie Howard opened the shop in 2020 after buying a used ice cream machine on eBay at the onset of the pandemic and using the lockdown period to develop a repertoire of small-batch flavors.1

High Hopes sits on the same block as blackhole-bakery, making the 55th & Troost cluster a destination for independently owned food businesses on an underserved stretch of Troost. Howard’s background spans three of Kansas City’s most respected food operations — Betty Rae’s (as kitchen manager), The Rieger, and Blackhole Bakery — before striking out with her own ice cream concept.1

Ownership and history

Jamie Howard came up through Kansas City’s independent food-service community: kitchen manager at Betty Rae’s (one of KC’s signature ice cream institutions), followed by time at The Rieger and Blackhole Bakery.1 When the pandemic shuttered in-person service in 2020, Howard purchased a used ice cream machine on eBay and turned the shutdown period into a development window for her own small-batch flavor program.

High Hopes opened on Troost in 2020, combining Howard’s pastry/kitchen experience and the labor-intensive small-batch method to produce ice cream that, per The Pitch, “melts mouths with thoughtful flavors.”1

Also: specific opening date within 2020.]

Last verified: 2026-08-13 · Source: first-party Square storefront linked from highhopeskc.com · URL: https://high-hopes-ice-cream.square.site/shop/online-menu/ZI7QKJBCX6JCGC3WJNW6XAIU · Confidence: High

The Square storefront covers packed containers, pickup and bulk orders. Walk-up-window scoop prices (single/double cone or cup) are not published online — see the note at the end of this section. Flavours rotate; the list below is the flavour picker as it stood on 2026-08-13, with out-of-stock flags as shown.23

Description ceiling, checked 2026-08-13. The bare entries below are flavour, sauce, topping and merchandise names, and High Hopes publishes no description copy for any of them: the Square picker lists names and prices only, and highhopeskc.com carries just the address, hours and ordering links with no flavour text.2 The descriptions that do appear (pints, quarts, gallons, sauces, toppings) are the operator’s own storefront copy. Nothing here has been paraphrased or inferred from a flavour name.

Packed ice cream

  • Pints — 16 oz. of your favorite ice cream! ($8.75)
  • Quarts — 32 oz of your Favorite Ice Cream! ($14.50)
  • 1 Gallon — Please allow 72 hours for your order to process and be prepared. ($40.00)
  • 3 Gallons — Please allow 72 hours for your order to process and be prepared. ($100.00)

Novelties

  • Choco Taco ($6.00)

Add-ons

  • Sauce — 2 oz of house made sauces to add to your scoop. ($0.25–$0.75)
  • Toppings — 2 oz of house made toppings! ($0.00–$0.75)

Flavours (pint picker, as of 2026-08-13)

  • Vanilla
  • Chocolate
  • Strawberry
  • Strawberry Soda Pop
  • Bourbon Butter Pecan
  • Cookies & Cream
  • Strawberry B-day Cake
  • Cake Smash
  • Brown Butter Cookie Dough
  • Black Sesame
  • Campfire S’mores
  • Mother Earth
  • Cinnamon & Honey
  • Mint Stracciatella
  • Coquito — listed (V) for vegan.
  • Banana Haze
  • Salted Butter Swirl
  • Baba’s Baklawa
  • Candy Cap Mushroom
  • Mango Chamoy
  • Key Lime Pie
  • Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake
  • Joy of Almond — listed (V) for vegan.
  • Mixed Berry & Lemon Sorbet — listed (V) for vegan.
  • Passsion Fruit Sorbet — spelling as published.
  • 24 Carrot Magic — listed out of stock.
  • Strawberry Champagne Cheesecake — listed out of stock.
  • Cranberry Cheesecake — listed out of stock.
  • Java Mocha Riot — listed out of stock.
  • Reptar Bar — listed out of stock.

Sauces (add-on picker)

  • Caramel
  • Hot Fudge
  • Magic Shell
  • cosmic shell
  • Local Honey
  • Chamoy
  • Strawberry Sauce
  • pistachio oil

Toppings (add-on picker)

  • Rainbow Sprinkles
  • Chocolate Sprinkles
  • Sea Salt
  • Smoked Salt
  • Oreo S’mores
  • Oreos
  • Choco Taco Chunks
  • Candied Pecans
  • Pecan Shortbread Crumble
  • Mixed Nuts
  • Peanut Butter Mix
  • Dark Chocolate Curls
  • Strawberry Shortcake Crumble
  • Puff Pastry Pieces
  • Pop Rocks
  • Mini Marshmallows
  • Chocolate Chips
  • Whipped Cream
  • Gummy Bears
  • Joy of Almonds mix
  • Cherries
  • Rice Krispy Treats
  • Peanuts
  • Almonds
  • White Chocolate Curls
  • Holiday Mingle Mix
  • Fruit Roll-up Shatter
  • Graham Crackers

Merchandise (same storefront)

  • High Hopes X KC Current T-shirt ($28.00)
  • KC Drip Print — Framed #KCDRIP print from @edweird_see. ($30.00)

.]

See also

Sources

Confirm coordinates for map layer.

Footnotes

  1. The Pitch KC — “Mise en Place: High Hopes owner Jamie Howard lights up about melting mouths with thoughtful ice cream flavors” — accessed 2026-06-30. Asserts: High Hopes Ice Cream; 5536 Troost Ave, KCMO; owner Jamie Howard; former kitchen manager at Betty Rae’s; also worked at Rieger and Blackhole Bakery; bought used ice cream machine on eBay mid-pandemic (2020); small-batch flavor development; walk-up shop opened 2020. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. High Hopes Ice Cream — first-party Square online store (accessed 2026-08-13) — Asserts: Pints $8.75; Quarts $14.50; 1 Gallon $40.00; 3 Gallons $100.00 (both gallon sizes with a 72-hour lead-time note); Choco Taco $6.00; Sauce $0.25–$0.75; Toppings $0.00–$0.75; High Hopes X KC Current T-shirt $28.00; KC Drip Print $30.00; pickup at 5536 Troost Ave. A. ↩ ↩2

  3. High Hopes Ice Cream — Square product pages for Pints, Sauce and Toppings, high-hopes-ice-cream.square.site and high-hopes-ice-cream.square.site (accessed 2026-08-13) — Asserts: the flavour, sauce and topping option lists reproduced above, including the out-of-stock flags on 24 Carrot Magic, Strawberry Champagne Cheesecake, Cranberry Cheesecake, Java Mocha Riot and Reptar Bar. ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/high-hopes-ice-cream · record updated 2026-08-13