Owner Chad Draizin had graduated from
NSU University School and studied
beer brewing at the
University of Florida before an internship at
Portland Brewing. After realizing brewing beer on an industrial level was not for him, he began Fifty Licks as an
ice cream truck in 2009. That ice cream truck, which operates only during the summer, was named one of Portland's "best new food carts" in 2011 by
The Oregonian. "Fifty Licks" is an estimate of the number of licks required to eat one scoop. The second location opened on
East Burnside Street in the
Buckman neighborhood in 2017, which led to increased popularity for the company. Fifty Licks offers approximately eleven flavors daily as well as two
soft serve flavors and offers ice cream cocktails. The ice cream parlor also makes an effort to provide non-dairy and
vegan options, and hopes to eventually feature fifty-percent dairy-free products. In 2018,
Akron Beacon Journal reporter Katie Byard wrote about "some feasting in Portland, Ore., considered one of the country’s best food cities..." and "... an ice cream place dubbed Fifty Licks. Specializing in nontraditional flavors, it touts that it makes its base for its ice creams in house... a friend bought some 'Chocolate as #$%&' with housemade ganache for us to try. The name works... " During the 2018,
Occupy ICE protests, the Fifty Licks food truck distributed free ice cream to protestors. In 2020, Fifty Licks opened its third location in the
Slabtown district of the
Northwest District neighborhood. Later that year, following the
George Floyd protests, one of the shops was briefly targeted by a rioter who tore down a
Black Lives Matter poster displayed in the shop's window. An
Associated Press article reported that Fifty Licks was featured in the
Hulu television series
Shrill. Peter Cottell of
Thrillist said Fifty Licks is "beloved for simple, elegant flavors in no-nonsense spaces." ==Locations==