Cookies and Cream Detroit grew out of a late-night craving and a moment of inspiration on the West Coast. Visiting family in California in 2015, owner Jason Shaifer wandered into CREAM in Berkeley after a cousin insisted he see the cookie-ice-cream-sandwich spot that had inspired his own brick-and-mortar dreams. At 9:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, Jason found a line wrapped around the corner, ordered a double-chocolate cookie with banana-walnut-fudge ice cream, and walked out knowing he needed to bring that kind of magic back home to Michigan.

Back in Metro Detroit, Jason began hunting for a storefront, eyeing busy corners like 9 Mile and Woodward in Royal Oak, but the build-out and rent numbers never quite worked. Instead of giving up, he flipped the script: after a food-truck seminar made it clear that a custom truck was too expensive, he tracked down a beat-up 1971 Ford E300 Champion camper for $500 and saw a blank canvas where everyone else saw a relic. With help from his best friend’s dad and a circle of friends who lent tools, muscle, and weekends, Jason gutted the camper and rebuilt it into a rolling cookie-and-ice-cream sandwich shop, piece by piece.

Cookies and Cream Detroit hit the road in 2016, serving warm cookies, ice cream sandwiches, donut sundaes, and over-the-top creations built on Guernsey ice cream to weddings, graduations, neighborhood events, and late-summer festivals across Michigan. Word of mouth and social media turned the truck into a fixture, and before long the guest list included everyone from everyday families to the governor of Michigan and celebrities like Jeff Daniels, Dave Coulier, Jelly Roll, and Post Malone at private events and performances.

Through hundreds of weddings, corporate employee-appreciation events, birthdays, and community celebrations, Jason kept the original Berkeley spark alive: long lines, fresh cookies, and the feeling that dessert should be an experience, not just a menu item. As Cookies and Cream Detroit approaches its 10-year anniversary in 2026, the story has come full circle—from one late-night ice cream sandwich on the other side of the country to a black-owned, family-run Michigan favorite that specializes in turning special occasions into core memories, one cookie sandwich at a time-