This summer, the Battle Ground community was treated to a new ice cream cart stationed behind a popular coffee shop: Founder’s Mercantile.
The cart is a mobile operation stemming from Ice Cream Renaissance, an ice cream shop located on main street in Vancouver. Darren Wiley purchased the small shop with his wife Mandy during December 2025.
“My history and my background, I come from operations,” Wiley said. “My wife is in marketing, so we kind of have a little bit of the best of both worlds there.”
Wiley was looking to work in a small town type of business after having spent nearly two decades as district manager for larger companies, eleven years with LA Fitness and eight years with Public Storage.
It was through a friend that Wiley heard the opportunity to set up the cart in a spot behind Founder’s Mercantile.
“I reached out to the owner at Founder’s and she graciously took us in and said ‘absolutely, let’s go for it,’” Wiley said.
Founder’s Mercantile and Coffee offers two spots behind their building for food cart vendors to operate, and Wiley put his ice cream cart in one of them to give the Battle Ground community a chance to enjoy fresh ice cream.
“It’s been a growing experience all summer. I think one of the challenges for us has been that we are kind of tucked back away from main street,” Wiley said.
Even in spite of the location, the cart has been attracting new customers and connecting many residents of the area with Ice Cream Renaissance.
“As we continue to grow through the summer, we’re getting a lot of customers that have come back and are super excited that we’re there,” Wiley said. “A lot of community members have come to us and said ‘we didn’t have any ice cream out here before,’ and have really enjoyed having us out there.”
Because the business has invested in a mobile food cart instead of an additional location, the costs of operation have stayed at a more manageable level. In addition to lower operating costs, Wiley said this allows for the shop to cater events, adding that it would be difficult to do so if they had another storefront location.
Though they are only nine months into running the ice cream shop and carts, Wiley has already shared a vision of what he wants to accomplish.
“Our end goal would be to continue to grow and hopefully build some additional locations, whether that be carts or storefront locations,” Wiley said.
For this entrepreneur, the expansion of the business and success isn’t so much about profit, but providing people with a quality experience.
“It’s really nice to be able to put smiles on people's faces, whether it’s here in Battle Ground, or in another location,” Wiley said. “People are coming, and they’re here with their family, and they’re here for a good experience and a good time.”
Being the first summer of Wiley’s experience with the ice cream cart, Battle Ground seemed to be the right choice for him. Wiley hinted the cart may make a seasonal return next summer.
“Thanks for welcoming us and making it a nice and easy transition,” Wiley said. “We’ve been happy with where we’ve been at, and I will definitely say that there’s a potential opportunity for us to be back next summer.
