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La Diperie, the ice cream shop whose novel soft serve cone creations feature a multitude of dips, coatings, and toppings, is about to expand. The concept from entrepreneurs Sam Arif and Francisco Landaeta will open a first franchise in NDG, on Monkland, in what was previously a Ben & Jerry's. Management expects to unveil the makeover sometime in April, just in time for ice cream season. A second franchise is also slated for the Eastern Townships, in Coaticook, and a corporate outlet is in the works for Toronto. Meanwhile, La Diperie's original ice cream parlour on des Pins in the Plateau will reopen soon after a winter interlude.
La Diperie opened in 2014, and quickly became a cult hit thanks to over the top soft serve vanilla dips like cheesecake white chocolate with pistachios, hazelnut milk chocolate with roasted hazelnuts, and Belgian milk chocolate with crushed salted pretzels and caramel ganache. The flagship shop was forced to close prematurely last November because of construction on des Pins, but took advantage of the hiatus to retool for the 2016 season.