Brooklyn, N.Y.-based OddFellows Ice Cream keeps its customers coming back with a constantly changing menu.

High Road Craft Ice Cream & Sorbet, Marietta, Ga., started in Atlanta as a group of chefs who made ice cream for other chefs to serve in restaurants, hotels and resorts.

MilkMade, Brooklyn, N.Y., takes the personal touch to a new level. The company delivers its pints right to its customers’ doors each month.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream started in the spring of 2008 in a buttery yellow truck on the streets of New York City.

Coolhaus co-founders Natasha Case and Freya Estreller started baking cookies, making ice cream and combining them into “cool houses” in 2008.

Beachy Cream, inspired by the California surfing days of old, has created many unique flavors around that very theme.

We spoke with six artisan ice cream companies about where they find inspiration, how they grew their businesses and why local, pure ingredients matter most in the artisan world.

Ice cream production has increased for three years in a row. Processors of ice cream, gelato and frozen novelties find success with sweet-and-salty combinations, candy bar inclusions and cocktail-inspired flavors.