Zeds Real Fruit Ice Cream is planning a new shop at 3637 Far West Blvd. in Northwest Hills, with construction scheduled to run from December 2026 to April 2027. The ice cream brand is owned by Mack Brown.
The shop will go into a 1,390-square-foot suite in the shopping center, with a $350,000 interior remodel to turn the space into an ice cream shop. The center, near Far West Boulevard and Hart Lane, is also home to a Starbucks, Wholy Bagel and Westlake Dermatology.
The new shop would be at least the fourth for Zeds in the Austin area, which is known for its real fruit ice cream made in the New Zealand style, with vanilla ice cream blended on the spot with frozen fruit. Each order is made to order in a small blending machine in under a minute, and customers can add sauces such as honey, coconut cream and peanut butter, and toppings including streusel, buñuelo crumbs and gummy bears.
Zeds started in Portland, Oregon. Founders Caleb Schmidt and Matt Porter, who met in college, were inspired by a 2015 trip to New Zealand and bought a 1966 Chevy van, which they parked outside the Oregon Zoo. The first shop opened in Southeast Portland in April 2016. Brown and his partner TJ Brogran took over ownership in 2022 and moved operations to Texas, where the brand had opened its first Austin shop in 2021, in a former barbecue joint at 1814 Harvey St.
Since then, Zeds has expanded quickly. A second Austin shop opened in 2025 at 2727 Exposition Blvd. in the Tarrytown neighborhood, followed by a third in Westlake that summer. The brand is also planning its first San Antonio shop at The Collection shopping center at 7959 Broadway in Alamo Heights, and Brown has said he wants to grow the company without losing its neighborhood feel.
