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One of the owners of Pleasanton’s famous drive-thru ice cream store Meadowlark Dairy confirmed with the Weekly that they are planning to submit their plans soon to open a new location in Livermore.
Jesse Takens — who along with his wife took over the family business from his parents Bruce and Patti — said they are still in the early stages of getting their second shop, which would be located in the former Bank of the West building at 2287 Second St. in Livermore.
But he said after some initial conversations, the city of Livermore is “open minded and excited to see if it would work out or not.”
“Meadowlark Dairy’s decision to open in Livermore is an exciting addition to our downtown. They’ll offer a unique experience for residents and visitors,” Livermore City Manager Marianna Marysheva said in a statement to the Weekly. “We look forward to seeing their plans come together and welcoming them to Livermore.”
City public information officer Stephanie Egidio confirmed that staff met with the Takens family and that their “short-term objective is to focus on interior demolition and tenant improvement work to open for walk-in business as soon as possible.”
Takens said some of the details, like whether there will be a drive-thru aspect, for the Livermore location are still in the air — one of the key issues he noted with the drive-thru is traffic in a congested area like downtown Livermore. However, he is aiming to open the new Meadowlark Dairy in Livermore by mid to early spring.
“Meadowlark does not intend to use the building’s drive-thru at this time, though they may reassess that later. Their intent is to open in spring 2025,” Egidio said.
Takens tossed April as a goal, although he noted that anything involving construction could take longer than anticipated.
Takens said there were many reasons why he wanted to open a new store in Livermore — one being that the Pleasanton location keeps seeing its customer base grow more than the West Neal Street shop’s infrastructure can sometimes handle.
“We bring a lot of people with our business,” Takens told the Weekly. “You’re packing a whole lot of people into a space that wasn’t built for that many people.”
Business has been booming, Takens said, as more people continue to come from all across the Bay Area — some having driven all the way from San Francisco. But more business also means longer lines and longer wait times.
“It’s great that they’re coming here and I would love for them to be in Pleasanton … and enjoy the dairy,” Takens said. “But at the same time, at what expense.”
He said he sometimes sees customers frustrated with the long lines, which is why he hopes the new location will help even out the traffic so that people — both long-time customers and new ones — aren’t discouraged by the queue of cars.
Takens also said Livermore has its own history with dairies, which is another reason why he wanted to bring the Meadowlark Dairy to Livermore. Holdener Park, on Hansen Road, was actually named after a family who operated a dairy in Livermore from 1931 to 1980.
“This used to be a normal thing,” Takens said about drive-thru dairies in the past.
That’s why he said he’s not so concerned about working out whether the new location will have a drive-thru as much as he’s concerned about opening the new store and bringing back a part of Livermore’s — and the Tri-Valley’s — history.
“We’ll see about the drive-thru later on,” Takens said.
But at the end of the day, he said he just wants to expand the Meadowlark Dairy’s reach so that people across the Tri-Valley and the rest of the East Bay can continue to enjoy his local business — “even if it’s not exactly the same as the original.”
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