From a Tent in Idaho to State Road 200: The Shark Tank Cone Is Coming to Ocala

Picture fresh dough wrapped around a rotisserie spit, grilled until golden, then rolled in cinnamon sugar. Now fill it with soft serve. That is the idea Jeremy Carlson could not stop thinking about after living in the Czech Republic, and it has taken him from a tent in Rexburg, Idaho, to the Shark Tank set. Next stop: a storefront on State Road 200 in southwest Ocala.

The company's Ocala page says the cones are "almost here" and gives the address as 8075 SW Hwy 200, Unit 107, Ocala, FL 34481. Its Google Maps listing goes a step further, with two words where the hours would normally be: "Opens November." As of Nov. 1, neither page gives a day.

A pastry, an aunt's kitchen and a tent

The pastry is trdelník, a grilled chimney cake found across the Czech Republic and Central Europe. Carlson could not find one back home in Idaho, the company's history page says, so he started working out his own in his aunt's kitchen. On May 4, 2018, he opened a tent in Rexburg. Kaitlyn joined that same year to run social media, and two years later they were married.

The tent became a silver trailer in 2019, the same year soft serve joined the menu. The first storefront followed in Logan, Utah, in 2021, then a flagship on Main Street in Rexburg and the start of franchising in 2022.

Then came the Tank. In the episode that aired March 17, 2023, the Carlsons asked for $200,000 for 10% of the company and accepted Barbara Corcoran's offer of $200,000 for 20%. Today the company counts more than 30 stores in 17 states and more than 100 others signed. Its locations page lists six Florida shops already open, from Destin to Palm Beach Gardens. Ocala is on the coming-soon list with Gainesville and Kissimmee.

What Ocala will be ordering

Every cone is made to order, which is the whole pitch. Customers can build their own from a spread, a soft serve flavor, toppings and a drizzle, or let one of four signature cones decide, according to the chain's menu. The Cookie à la Mode stacks cookie butter, vanilla soft serve, cookie dough and Oreo pieces. The Brownie Royale goes with Nutella, chocolate soft serve, Kit Kat and brownie pieces. These are not light desserts: the menu puts those two at 970 and 1,090 calories.

There is a new creation every week, too. Flavors change on Monday mornings and are announced on Sunday evenings, the company says. The specialty on the menu page on Nov. 1 was Phantom Pebbles, a Fruity Pebbles cone with strawberry jam and Cereal Milk ice cream. For anyone not in the mood for ice cream, there is a hot fruit cone and a plain pastry cone with a spread. The chain notes that menu items, prices and availability vary by location, and no Ocala prices appear on the pages we checked.

A busy corner near On Top of the World

The address puts the shop in the Canopy Oak Center, the plaza that Publix lists for its store at the same street number and that is also home to Piesanos. The corridor is still filling in: HCA Florida Healthcare is building a freestanding ER nearby at 8231 SW State Road 200, next to the On Top of the World entrance, and scheduled to open in spring 2027.

For now, the shortest trip to a Crispy Cone is a long one. The company's Ocala page lists Orlando, 67 miles away, and Haines City, 79 miles away, as the nearest shops already serving.

Want a job, or the first word?

The Ocala page says "Now hiring," and the company's hiring form lists Ocala as a location, with a resume required. For news, the company points people to its app and its Instagram, where it says news and deals land first. Crispy Cones gift cards work at every location, so one bought now will be good in Ocala as well.

We will update this story when a date is posted. In the meantime, see our guide to ice cream in Ocala, and what else is on the way at new restaurants in Ocala and new businesses in Ocala.

Sources: Crispy Cones' Ocala, locations, about, Shark Tank, menu, franchising and blog pages and its hiring form, the store's Google Maps listing, Publix's Canopy Oak Center store page and HCA Florida Healthcare's newsroom, all read Nov. 1, 2026. AI tools helped gather the sources and draft this page; each fact was checked against those sources before publishing.