Frozen custard shop opens in The BLOCK

RIO RANCHO — One thing people crave on a hot day more than a swim at the pool is ice cream. Now there’s a custard shop in The BLOCK that can meet those cravings with the next best thing or in the eyes of the owners, the best thing.

Busy Bee Frozen Custard officially opened its window to the public the weekend of July 8-9, according to partner Helen Martinez.

“We started Busy Bee about eight years ago in a food truck,” she said.

She said that she and two other partners first tried custard while at a farmers market and loved it. A few months after that experience, they looked around for a possible business and happened upon a man with a custard trailer. They convinced him to sell to them.

“We were trying to give it a name, and someone told us that we were being busy bees one day,” she said.

That helped the partners come up with the name Busy Bee Frozen Custard.

Now, according to Martinez, the business has two food trucks and one store in addition to the latest opening in Rio Rancho.

“We love Rio Rancho. We really like the people here. We really like that it has expanded so much. It’s just the variety of people that you get in Rio Rancho,” she said.

Busy Bee applied for a food truck spot at The BLOCK over a year ago, and when the outdoor center decided not to have food trucks, they were offered a spot in one of the containers.

“It’s just a beautiful atmosphere. I like that it’s really close to Bernalillo, and then I can zip on home either way, and I get to see a lot of people,” Martinez said.

The Busy Bee Frozen Custard business is known for trying new flavors. Aside from the usual chocolate and vanilla, Martinez said they have cookies and cream, lavender and even tried out an orange chocolate custard at one point. However, the orange chocolate didn’t go as well as they had hoped.

The business also offers custard shakes, cones in both the form of waffle and cake, lemonade products, cold tea products, sundaes and snow cones. They also take orders for custom custard pies.

“If you are looking for good, honest frozen custard, it’s better than ice cream here. We are proud of our flavoring,” she said.

One thing people will notice when they approach the small custard shop is there are usually only two people there. Part of it is the confines of the space, but Martinez also said she likes that one-on-one experience with customers and looks forward to meeting more people at The BLOCK.

More information about Busy Bee can be found at busybeefro.com.