Did you know that California produces 80% of the nation’s strawberries? Carlsbad Gourmet, a local restaurant, is able to feature California’s most prominent fruit with their many strawberry incorporated spreads, sauces, dressings and more. 

Back in 2009, the restaurant had an annual strawberry pop-up location at the Armstrong Garden Center next to the Carlsbad Flower Fields, where they could sell their goods to customers. This continued yearly until June of 2020 when the Carlsbad Gourmet opened their first permanent location in the Carlsbad Village called “The Strawberry Shack”.

The Strawberry Shack can be found at 2906 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA 92008 and opens daily from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. However, this father and son run business faced turmoil as their plans to open became pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“My dad originally had the plans with the city to start building on this space and it just so happened March of 2020 hit and that’s when the lockdown happened,” Co-owner Tyler Bruhn said. “We were [asking ourselves] ‘What do we do? Do we continue or do we see how the pandemic goes?’ So we chose to follow through and now we are just about to hit our two years in June.”

Regardless of the difficulties, the Strawberry Shack has pushed through and found major success within their small business. Each year the Strawberry Shack gets their highlighted product locally from the Carlsbad Strawberry Company until they go out of season. They then acquire their strawberries from Northern California. 

Currently, the Strawberry Shack offers customers an array of different strawberry desserts. One of their most popular items, the strawberry shortcake, has found its way into the hearts of many. 

“It tasted fruity but also sweet at the same time,” Junior Olivia Denton said. “The combination of the cake and the strawberries was really good.”

Another item loved by customers is their strawberry shake shack, a milkshake made from fresh strawberries and vanilla custard before being topped off with their homemade whip cream has become very popular.

“It was very rich, sweet, creamy and fruity,” Junior Ela Sims-Mahoney said. “I’d definitely order it again.”

Unlike many of the buyers, Bruhn’s favorite menu item runs a little more under the radar. 

“We have this lavender sundae that’s one of my favorites,” Bruhn stated. “ We make a lavender jelly and then we heat that up and sauté it with the strawberries, put that over some ice cream and angel food cake. That one is really good…it’s something that no one will have because nobody really makes lavender jelly.”

The Strawberry Shack regularly adds new strawberry flavored treats to their menu. With visitors coming from all over to try their new and old “World Famous” desserts, the lines in front of the shack are constantly packed. 

For now, The Strawberry Shack is focused on continuing to proudly serve their consumers with quality sweets and create fun and tasty new menu items. However, in the future Bruhn believes that finding the best locations for an additional Strawberry Shack to open its doors would be great for their tiny business to expand, allowing them to gift many others with the sweetest and juiciest strawberries around.