A Q&A with Happy Endings founder Terri Mercieca

You founded Happy Endings in 2014, what inspired you to focus your efforts on soft serve and desserts?

I never started out thinking of an ice cream business. It was more experimental at the beginning. We did dessert only pop ups at first. Then the ice cream bit came later on in about 2015/16. We made our first soft serve at a little ice cream bar we had at eat 17 in hackney in 2016, and then from there in our mini dessert bar in Spitalfields. I’m obsessed with making something that tastes like what you think ice cream tastes like when you’re a kid, but with way better ingredients. 

What’s the secret behind Happy Endings success and what makes you different from other ice creams out there?

Woah big question! That’s kind. I guess it’s staying true to your values and not compromising ever on quality and staying consistent. 

You combine modern and traditional techniques to create your desserts, talk us through your processes?

I trained as a chef originally and then ended up with a dessert chef life. Totally fine with how it played out. I think having a great foundation for classics and good sound pastry knowledge is a great place to start, then you can get more experimental with things as you understand the basics well. Kind of know the rules to break the rules vibe. 

When I’m thinking of a dessert or ice cream, I’m thinking about what I want the person to experience when eating our ice creams. One of the best chefs I ever worked for taught me that once you have the idea, you think about what you need for it to function in the way you want. Like the bite, texture, creaminess etc. then choose the technique, so it could be more of a modern approach or using classics and mixing the two to get the desired result.

Follow: @happyendingslondon and @Terri_Mercieca 

Photo credit: @theburgeraddict