Marcus Purtzki will be thinking of his late friend each time he serves a special scoop of ice cream in September.
The Made By Marcus founder wanted to do something to honour his friend, Jonathan Sobol, a local chef who was killed in a traffic collision northeast of Calgary two years ago.
And what better way than with a special treat.
For the next month, Made By Marcus will be serving a flavour at both its locations called Jon’s Greatest Hits, featuring a malt base with chocolate-covered potato chips, coffee grind caramel and doughnut crumb.
“It’s always kind of stuck with me. Even though it’s been two years, things like this still linger, especially for the family,” said Purtzki, noting Thursday marked the anniversary of his death.
Sobol, 33, and Alec Bracegirdle, 20, were on their way to film a meeting with a local producer when the fatal collision occurred.
Sobol was known for meeting directly with farmers and agricultural producers as part of his interest in connecting the food he was preparing with the land it was raised or grown on.
Purtzki said he and Sobol worked in the same building when Made By Marcus opened and the two grew close over the years.
He said he wanted to mark the anniversary this year on “a positive note.”
“I said it would be fun just to do like an ice cream, in his name, of things he really liked as a child,” Purtzki said. “I got his mom’s opinion on things that he liked and things that I knew (about) Jon.”
He described the flavour as “very fun, kidsy, but complex.”
“He was like a big kid at heart, so we put like a malted ice cream base, which is very nostalgic of childhood memories of like a malted milkshake,” Purtzki said.
All proceeds of the ice cream flavour will be donated to the Chef Jonathan Sobol Memorial Reward Fund, a scholarship given to SAIT’s hospitality and tourism students who show an interest in local agriculture.
It is available throughout September.