Teacher-turned-businessperson Marlene Haley is the owner of The Merry Dairy, Ottawa’s first ice-cream truck business dedicated to nut-free original-recipe frozen custard and premium ice cream. Since 2012, The Merry Dairy has become a favourite among locals, serving more than 100,000 scoops of signature frozen-custard cones from their shop on Fairmont Avenue and mobile fleet of Grumman trucks. Numerous publications and media outlets, including Ottawa Magazine, CBC Radio, and CTV News have chronicled the evolution of the business from a single ice cream truck and its increasing involvement in Ottawa’s amazing community scene. Marlene lives in Hintonburg, Ottawa, with her husband and two children and can often be found at the shop greeting first-time customers and loyal fans.

More About Marlene Haley

While growing up in Richmond, in the Ottawa Valley, Amelia Ryan observed how food brings family, friends, and neighbors together. As she completed her major in business and communications, she saw a fork in the road ahead: was she to choose a corporate life in front of a computer or grab that fork and whip up a life of culinary creation? She decided the food door and hasn’t looked back. As the creative director at The Merry Dairy, Amelia leads the company’s effort to make beautiful ice creams by developing recipes with new flavors and formulating recipes that serve specific diets. She loves how simple pleasures, such as a cone of ice cream, can create everlasting memories. Amelia lives in Ottawa with her husband, Sam.

More About Amelia Ryan

Anne DesBrisay is an award-winning food writer, the author of Ottawa Cooks and three editions of Capital Dining, and the co-author of Atelier by Marc Lepine and Coconut Lagoon by Joe Thottungal. She was the restaurant critic for the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Magazine for twenty-five years, is a senior editor for Taste & Travel magazine and a judge for the Canadian Culinary Championships. She lives in Ottawa.

More About Anne DesBrisay