Brooklyn scoops of ice cream and love: 'a neighborhood institution, we can’t lose it'

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS, Brooklyn (PIX11) –  A local ice cream shop in Brooklyn that’s been serving scoops and scoops of love in its Brooklyn neighborhood for four decades is now fighting for its life.

It’s called Scoops and Plates.

“If I can’t have home-cooked food, I come here,” Wendy Metivier, a loyal Scoops customer, told PIX11 News.

Scoops and Plates has served generations of Brooklynites since 1984.

Besides vegan ice cream, this store is known for its vegan lasagna, soups, tofu chicken, and coconut bread. But by August 31, this vegan ice cream and food shop will close on the corner of Flatbush and Fenimore Street in a Brooklyn neighborhood called Little Caribbean.

“My lease has expired,” Tony Fongyit, Scoop's longtime owner, told PIX11 News.

“The landlord decided, and the court agreed that my lease wasn’t being renewed, so that’s the battle right now,” he added.

Owner Tony Fongyit, originally from Trinidad, is hoping the love his customers have for his store for the past four decades can save scoops from shutting down.

Almost a decade ago, a new landlord, Brooklyn-based Jonas Equities, bought the six-story building for $ 14 million.

For the last five years, there has been no lease, just a month-to-month agreement that will end in August unless the miracle happens. 

“He has brought about a difference in people's eating habits,” Winston Nigel, a devoted Scoops customer, told PIX11 News. “Most important health concerns. He has established that you can see his clientele for the people because of the good-tasting food,” he added.

Another longtime customer of the last 20 years, Jonathan Silverstein, told PIX11 News: “There is no place else in the neighborhood where you can get a great scoop of homemade ice cream, and the food is also amazing. It’s a neighborhood institution, and we can’t lose it.”

PIX11 News reached out to the landlord but is still awaiting a response.