This summer, Whitefish’s flagship ice cream shop is creating flavors in a new community.

Last month, Sweet Peaks opened its newest shop in downtown Coeur d’Alene, marking the third market after the Flathead and Missoula areas. Marissa Dauenhauer, who co-owns Sweet Peaks with her husband, Sam, said the Idaho lake town is a perfect reflection of the markets where the homemade ice cream shop already thrives.

“It seems really logical to us because it’s a similar environment,” Dauenhauer said. “It’s resort oriented but it has a great community core. It’s a really vibrant downtown community.”

The environment sounds pretty familiar to markets in the Flathead and Missoula valleys: Resorts line the lakeside, walking and biking paths wander through town, and residents have a keen eye for local ingredients.

Dauenhauer said she’s planned a few plays on ingredients local to Idaho, like a chocolate-covered potato-chip flavor and an espresso flavor made in collaboration with an Idaho coffee roaster.

“It gives us another opportunity to do more fun flavors and have more connections with Idaho farmers and producers,” Dauenhauer said.

Moving over state lines is a new achievement for Sweet Peaks, which is going into its seventh summer as a business. Dauenhauer said Idaho has been receptive to the business, in both customers and employees.

“We’ve been spending the last six years establishing ourselves here,” she said. “So to go over there, you have to kind of establish and introduce yourself. But we’re still young and we have a lot of work to do.”

For Sweet Peaks, getting into the new market includes becoming a regular vendor at Coeur d’Alene farmers markets and other events. Last fall, Sam Dauenhauer transformed an old horse trailer into a new mobile ice cream truck to travel from city to city this summer.

Aside from Coeur d’Alene, Sweet Peaks has brick-and-mortar locations in Whitefish, Kalispell, Missoula and a seasonal shop in Bigfork. Last summer, the ice cream shop got a five-year contract with the city of Whitefish for a city beach concession stand, which also sells gourmet hot dogs, pretzels and other summer snacks.

With the new Idaho shop firmly in place after a month, Dauenhauer said she and Sam are ready to bolster business in the market at home.

“We’re expanding our fleet in the Flathead Valley and in Missoula as well,” Dauenhauer said. With the new trailer, Sweet Peaks is looking to extend its reach this summer with a mobile approach to the summer tourist season. The company will also sport a new cooler-carrying bicycle loaded with ice cream, ready to set up shop at events and farmers markets around the valley.

Dauenhauer said the company’s employees have made the growth and expansion possible. Nearly seven years ago, Sweet Peaks started with 12 employees in Whitefish. Today the company employs over 70.

“It’s awesome, and it’s an awesome responsibility,” Dauenhauer said of commanding a fleet of ice-cream-shop employees. “If you have that many people, you want them to be advocates for our company and be the face of the store. It’s important that they have a connection with what we’re doing.”

With 12 new employees at the new Coeur d’Alene store, Dauenhauer said the biggest change to her workload as owner will be traveling to Idaho to better understand the market and customer needs. She’ll travel to Idaho a few times a month to meet with employees, customers and the local food producers about what will help Sweet Peaks become the flavor of Coeur d’Alene.

“There’s a learning curve of making it work; what makes the town tick. Things like ‘Do they like late nights or early mornings?’ It’s the beginning of a relationship,” Dauenhauer said.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.