Award-winning ice cream shop chain files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The ice cream retail sector faced serious disruptions over the last year, which included major chain closings and bankruptcy filings, as many dealt with financial issues related to rising costs due to inflation.

Drugstore chain Rite Aid, which operated 500 Thrifty Ice Cream counters in its stores, filed for bankruptcy in May 2025, shut down all the ice cream shops, and liquidated the assets in October 2025.

In the first half of 2025, a franchisee of a popular ice cream fast-food chain, Dairy Queen, shut down about 30 locations in Texas over a dispute with the parent company.

A Rita’s Italian Ice franchisee in St. Johns, Fla., on June 9, 2025, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking to restructure its debts, and another Rita’s franchisee in Tuscaloosa, Ala., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1, 2025, seeking to reorganize its business.

Batch Ice Cream files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize.

Image source: Shutterstock

Batch Ice Cream chain files for bankruptcy

And now, all-natural premium ice cream chain Batch Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its business, according to an alert from Bankruptcy Observer.

The Longmeadow, Mass.-based ice cream shop chain filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts, listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $500,000 to $1 million in liabilities, according to court papers.

Batch Ice Cream’s largest unsecured creditors include Headway Capital LLC, owed over $99,000 on a business line of credit; Ondeck Capital LLC/Celtic, owed over $84,000 on a business line of credit; and iBusiness Funding USA, owed over $69,000 on a merchant cash advance.

The debtor also owes Revenued LLC, over $52,000 on a merchant cash advance; Bank of America, $34,000 on a business credit card; and American Express, over $31,000 on a business credit card.

Batch Ice Cream did not indicate in its petition why it filed for bankruptcy, but it listed five unsecured debts as disputed.

Ice cream chain operates as normal

The ice cream shop chain’s locations in Longmeadow and South Hadley, Mass., and two ice cream trucks continue operating normally, according to a company employee contacted by phone.

The popular ice cream chain opened in 2009 as a lone Boston-area ice cream truck service, led by founders Susie Parish and Veronica Janssens.

Owners bought the company in 2018

Nine years later, the founders sold Batch Ice Cream to current owners David and Deborah LeRiche, according to a statement in May 2018, and the new owners expanded the business to two shop locations and two ice cream trucks.

“We are excited about the tremendous potential of Batch Ice Cream,” company president and co-owner David LeRiche said at the time of the purchase.

“The company founders did a great job building the Batch brand,” Deborah LeRiche said at the time. “We have such a strong foundation to build upon.”

National expansion stalls

The LeRiches planned to expand the brand across the nation after they purchased the company, but those plans have not yet come to fruition.

Batch Ice Cream’s original owners introduced the brand with flavors such as Carmelized Banana & Walnuts, Salted Caramel, Ginger, Mocha Chip, Vanilla Bean, Dark Chocolate, Mexican Chili, and Roasted Almonds, which were also offered in retail stores, including Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, and Shaw’s, according to the founders’ LinkedIn page.

Batch contracted with an ice cream manufacturing company in Southeastern Massachusetts to make products to the ice cream chain’s specifications.

Ice cream brand won awards

MassLive media named Batch Dark Chocolate as the Boston region’s No. 1 ice cream and Batch Vanilla Bean as the No. 3 ice cream, according to the May 2018 statement.

In its early days, the ice cream chain won several other awards, including Top 5 Ice Cream by GQ Magazine and a Sofi silver award winner, according to the LinkedIn page.

Related: Defaulted convenience store chain files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

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