La Michoacana Ice Cream Spot grows from one shop to 8 locations across Arizona and California

For Tucson residents looking for a cold treat, a familiar Mexican snack or a taste of home, La Michoacana Ice Cream Spot has become part of the city’s growing raspado and paletería scene. The shop at Oracle Road and Navajo is one of eight locations operated by owner Eric Zuñiga across Arizona and California, extending a business that began with a single store in Long Beach in 2010.

The Tucson location offers much more than traditional ice cream. Customers can order paletas, or Mexican-style frozen pops, raspados, esquites, tostielotes and fresas con crema, along with ice cream flavors such as cucumber with chile and tres leches. The menu reflects a broader trend among Mexican ice cream shops, where frozen desserts share space with savory and sweet snacks dressed with fruit, chile, chamoy and other toppings.

For Zuñiga, the business grew from memories of being picked up from school by his mother or grandmother. They would stop for a paleta or ice cream before going home, an experience he later tried to recreate for customers. He said people often tell him the shops remind them of home. Even the scent is meant to be consistent from location to location, creating a sensory connection for customers who recognize the smell associated with a Mexican paletería.

That familiarity is especially relevant in Tucson, where raspados and related treats are widely available in locally owned shops, taquerias, food trucks and specialty dessert businesses. A local guide updated in June 2025 lists shops serving shaved ice, fruit, ice cream, elote, Tosti-Locos and fresas con crema throughout the city. La Michoacana Ice Cream Spot’s Oracle Road shop is part of that network, and the local guide also identifies a La Michoacana location on Craycroft Road, offering another option for paletas, raspados and ice cream.

Tucson’s frozen treat businesses vary widely in size and style. Some specialize in raspados, which can combine shaved ice with juice, fruit, ice cream and sweetened condensed milk. Others add spicy candies, chamoy, Tajín or saladitos. Shops such as Funland have served raspados, snacks and desserts for more than two decades, while other businesses have expanded from one location to two or added drive through service. Raspados El Paraiso, for example, grew to a second location with a drive-through in 2021, while other Tucson businesses combine frozen treats with tacos, tortas, burritos and other Mexican foods.

The popularity of La Michoacana shops reaches well beyond Southern Arizona. Across the United States, the name is commonly associated with paleterías, even though many owners are not from the Mexican state of Michoacán. The name carries a connection to the state’s reputation as the birthplace of paletas, particularly the town of Tocumbo, which has a large paleta monument and an annual festival dedicated to the frozen treats. There is debate over the history and use of the name, and legal disputes have taken place over the term.

Food writer Fany Gerson has argued that La Michoacana functions more like a general description for a paletería than a conventional brand name. Other observers have compared it to using Kleenex as a synonym for facial tissue. The name is now common enough that Michoacana paletas and frozen products are sold in major supermarkets, including Walmart, Smart and Final and Costco. In many communities, customers understand immediately what kind of food they will find when they see the name.

The shops have also become small businesses that help families build economic independence. Paletas are sold in Mexico from carts, stores and other small operations, and the work has provided a path into entrepreneurship for people without formal education or large amounts of capital. Owners in the United States have expanded the concept by adding eye catching storefronts, unusual flavors and popular antojitos to distinguish their businesses from nearby competitors.

One example is Ruben Jiménez, whose La Michoacana Plus has grown to more than 85 franchises in several states, with shops offering more than 100 paleta flavors and over 50 ice cream flavors. His business has also expanded internationally, including a location in Dubai. Other owners have developed their own versions of the concept. In Florida, La Michoacana Natural added three shops after opening in 2019, while a Brooklyn business draws customers from surrounding states and produces thousands of paletas depending on demand.

That growth does not eliminate the financial pressures facing smaller operators. Zuñiga said the cost of cups, fruit and utensils has risen, noting that a package of cups that once cost about $40 now costs roughly $60. He said long days and late nights are part of running the business, but he continues trying to keep prices as low as possible for customers. For Tucsonans, that means the Oracle Road shop represents both a convenient dessert stop and a local example of how Mexican food traditions, childhood memories and family entrepreneurship continue to shape the city’s food culture.