Dairy and Vegan Options • Always Rotating • Always Made from Scratch
At Magpies, Softserve is more than dessert, it’s a craft. Each flavor is created from scratch by chefs passionate about rethinking what Softserve. We never use premade bases, and every topping is made in-house, delivering a flavor experience that’s layered, thoughtful, and made with care.
"Today, Magpies serves a mix of dairy, non-dairy, and vegan soft serve. Not because dietary restrictions define the product, but because great flavor does."
– Warren Schwartz
The Origin Story of Magpies Softserve
The idea for Magpies Softserve started in the most unassuming of places: a Dairy Queen line, with two restless kids tugging at their parents’ sleeves. Warren and Rose stood there, scanning the menu when a simple, almost throwaway question sparked something: “Why isn’t anyone making different flavors of soft serve using real ingredients?”
Was it a great idea? Or had others tried and failed? That question lingered.
Back at home, they bought a small tabletop Taylor soft serve machine and began experimenting. What followed was a year of failure. Week after week, they ran trials. The product was icy. The texture was off. There were no reference recipes, no roadmaps, just a stubborn dream and two very determined people. Rose had a background in chemistry; Warren brought years of culinary R&D from fine dining and food companies. But they quickly discovered that nearly all soft serve mixes in the U.S. came from just a handful of suppliers, none of which aligned with the vision they had: to make soft serve from scratch, with integrity, using real ingredients.
Still, they pressed on. A small location in Silver Lake became available, and though the recipe wasn’t quite ready, they knew they had to take the leap. Their typical week became a rhythm: brainstorm what went wrong, source new ingredients, test recipes over the weekend. Most trials ended in disappointment. Rose would grow frustrated and step out of the kitchen. Warren would clean up and offer encouragement to try again the next week. Their sons, meanwhile, gleefully used buckets of failed soft serve as backyard ammunition, leaving behind laughter, sticky hair, and a mess only a water hose could fix.
Then, just weeks before opening, something clicked. Rose realized the sugar levels in their recipes were too low. One adjustment later, and everything changed. The texture was right. The flavor was delicious. The soft serve was, finally, amazing. But by this time, their kids had grown tired of taste testing, so when their oldest tried the final version and pulled the cup tight to his chest, declaring he wanted to finish it, that was all the confirmation they needed.
They opened Magpies shortly after.
Because Rose is Korean—and aware that much of the Asian population is lactose intolerant—she felt strongly about offering non-dairy flavors. As they developed the base, they realized that, with a few tweaks, the soft serve could be completely vegan. So they did it. And immediately upon opening, they saw the impact. Guests with dietary restrictions, those who hadn’t had great soft serve in years, were thrilled to find something delicious they could eat.
Today, Magpies serves a mix of dairy, non-dairy, and vegan soft serve. Not because dietary restrictions define the product, but because great flavor does.
