By Gefen Miller
For Pikesville native Jon Rottenberg, the ice cream business is truly a family affair.
Since June of 2024, Rottenberg, his wife, Tricia Kennedy, and their son, Max, have been the owners and operators of Swirls of Fredrick, arguably the hottest — or shall we say the coolest? — ice creamery in the “City of Clustered Spires” located less than an hour west of the Baltimore area.
Besides such unique flavors such as Toasted Coconut, Mango Milk Tea and Peanut Butter-Banana Sundae, the Swirls experience features a wide variety of bubble teas, coffees, acai bowls and hot chocolates.
A 1985 graduate of Pikesville High School, Rottenberg is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Towson University. Before starting an ice cream business, he worked for 21 years as a graphic designer at LifeBridge Health.
Kennedy is a part-time teacher at the Park School of Baltimore. The family lives in the historic Frederick County town of New Market.
Jmore recently caught up with Rottenberg and Kennedy to get the scoop on Swirls.
Why did you and your family decide to go into the ice cream business together?
JR: It has always been an idea we had together in the back of our minds. We’ve been meaning to start an ice cream business for a while now, and we opened Swirls of Fredrick just last year. They say that after the first year, things get easier for businesses, and it seems to have for us.
Did anything in your previous professional lives prepare you for this business?
JR: Working in graphic design, I’ve mostly handled the marketing and advertisement [for Swirls], and some of the artwork for the logo as well.
TK: When I was a kid, I used to work at Friendly’s, so that gave me some experience with handling customers and the shop. I also work part-time as a teacher three days a week, so that helps me when I am working with younger customers.
What are some of the challenges of managing an ice cream shop?
JR: Staffing can always be a challenge, making sure you don’t have too many or too little workers manning things.
TK: The winter months, especially January and February, are a difficult time for us. Last winter especially, when the weather was very icy and frigid, we had a lot of days when there were no customers at all.
Are any of Swirls’ flavors kosher?
JR: Our soft serve flavors from Leiby’s [Ice Cream House & Restaurant in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania] are certified kosher and delicious, and if I can go on the record and say this, probably just as good if not better than Carvel’s.
Our acai bowls are vegan, and I’m pretty sure that some of our flavors from Taharka are kosher as well. We also currently have Pineapple Dole Whip, which is kosher, too.
The Frederick area is the home of a number of popular ice creameries. What makes Swirls different from the competition?
JR: In Fredrick, most of the ice cream shops are franchises, and we are more of a mom-and-pop shop. All of our products are locally sourced in one way or another, and we like to think our flavors are unique.
TK: We have a very wide variety meant to accommodate the whole family. We offer ice cream, acai bowls, coffee and bubble teas. Many of our options are gluten-free, nut-free and kosher to make sure everyone can enjoy.
What kind of reaction has Swirls received so far from the public?
JR: So far, we’ve received a very positive reaction, and a lot of our customers are regulars. A lot of the time, families [have] one person who has a dietary need. It’s nice to know we can accommodate them.
Growing up in Pikesville, what was your favorite ice cream shop back in the day?
JR: I grew up very close to a Carvel, and to me there is always something so nostalgic about a vanilla soft serve in a cone with sprinkles. Even now, some customers come up to me [about Swirls’ ice cream] and say, ‘This reminds me of back in the day.’ I guess I wanted to capture that feeling with Swirls.
TK: Probably Friendly’s. Working there, I guess I spent more time there.
Where does Swirls get its ice cream from?
JR: Swirls’ ice cream and ingredients are all locally sourced. We get our ice cream flavors from Taharka Brothers [in Baltimore], our coffee from a local roaster [Chesapeake Coffee Roasters in Crofton], as well as the honey [Three Spartans Apiary in Walkersville] for our acai bowls.
All of our ingredients come from the Maryland community and surrounding areas, such as Pennsylvania.
What is your favorite flavor at Swirls?
JR: I’d have to say that my favorite flavor is probably the Chocolate Cherry Chunk ice cream, and maybe even the vanilla soft serve.
TK: I am a big fan of the soft serve as well. We used to use a different ice cream for it, but the newest one we have [from Leiby’s] is very good.
Could you see yourselves opening other Swirls locations in the future? Maybe in Baltimore?
JR: In Fredrick, we’ve been doing a good job so far, so I could see us opening another Swirls shop sometime in the future.
Swirls of Frederick is located at 1305 W. 7th Street, #10, in the Frederick Shopping Center. For information, visit swirlsfrederick.com.
For information about the Maryland Office of Tourism’s “Ice Cream Trail,” visit jmoreliving.com/2025/07/09/satisfy-your-sweet-tooth-along-the-maryland-ice-cream-trail/ and visitmaryland.org/article/ice-cream-lovers-guide-to-maryland.
Gefen Miller is a Jmore editorial staff intern.
A committed philanthropist and community leader, Russel was president of R&H Motors.
The mother of four was a native of Winchester, Virginia, who spent most of her life in Northwest Baltimore.
The Columbia resident worked on the Gemini and Apollo space missions.
On this episode of "The Food Enthusiast," Dara Bunjon talks with Anne-Marie Bonneau, author of "The Zero-Waste Chef."