It all began in 1928 with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, two old-fashioned oatmeal cookies, and a quick dip in dark chocolate. With these three simple ingredients, George Whitney created the first chocolate-covered IT'S-IT ice-cream sandwich. For the next several decades, he sold these treats exclusively to Playland at the Beach's passersby and seagull gourmands until the amusement park closed in the early 1970s.

This setback didn't deter Whitney, though. Instead, it inspired him to open a tiny shop and continue making ice-cream sandwiches by hand for the San Francisco area's small local stores. More and more stores began clamoring for the treats, so the company started to expand until IT'S-IT Ice Cream made its way into freezers across more than 15 states. "If you’re not from the Bay Area you might be tempted to call the IT'S-IT just another ice cream sandwich," wrote one Google employee according to The Wall Street Journal, "But you’d be oh, so wrong."

The traditional IT'S-IT sandwich with vanilla ice cream continues to be a staple, although chocolate, mint, pumpkin, strawberry, and cappuccino flavors can also be found. The company has expanded its selection to include a handful of other treats. Scoops of ice cream lie sandwiched between oversized chocolate-chip cookies, as well as dark-chocolate wafers. IT'S-IT's version of a sundae on a stick, meanwhile, features ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and then rolled in roasted peanuts.