High Hopes Ice Cream

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

Tier classification

Tier 2. Jamie Howard is an independent KC operator with deep roots in the local food-service community (Betty Rae’s, The Rieger, Blackhole Bakery) who built a walk-up small-batch ice cream shop on the Troost Corridor during the pandemic. The level of KC-ecosystem embeddedness is strong; KC-native status not confirmed, which is the criterion for Tier 1. Revisit if KC origins are sourced.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-30 · Source: The Pitch KC¹ · Confidence: Low (Phase-0 stub — small-batch ice cream and walk-up format confirmed; specific flavor lineup not documented; flavors rotate by batch)

Small-batch ice cream. Walk-up format. Flavors rotate.

• Small-batch ice cream — rotating seasonal / small-batch flavors¹

Current flavors / hours:

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Links

• Website: https://highhopeskc.com
• Address: 5536 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO 64110

See also

• blackhole-bakery (same block, 55th & Troost)
• Betty Rae’s (Howard’s prior role: kitchen manager)
• troost-corridor
• Registry

Sources

**** Map-pin needed: 5536 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO 64110 (55th & Troost / Troost Corridor). 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” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/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 ↩⁵ ↩⁶