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Caitlin Pierce, owner of Lady Chiller
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Lady Chiller’s Jane King Cubes and Carillon Spears with olive and thyme inclusions
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Pierce and husband Grayum Vickers work in tandem to cut Jane King Cubes on the bandsaw.
Caitlin Pierce never planned to become Richmond’s most in-demand ice slinger. Yet once a week, she loads hundreds of crystal-clear cubes and spears into a truck and delivers them to some of the city’s top cocktail spots, including Lost Letter, sibling bars The Jasper and The Emerald Lounge, Morty’s Market & Deli, Fanboy, and Charlotte’s.
In a city where the beverage scene has grown increasingly ambitious, Pierce has emerged as the ice purveyor of choice. Her business, Lady Chiller, which launched in October 2025, is steadily gaining traction among bartenders attentive to the craft. “I kept hearing the same thing over and over,” Pierce says. “Ice deliveries were inconsistent, quality wasn’t great and freezer space was always an issue.”
In today’s cocktail climate, many drinks hover between $14 and $18, and imbibers don’t want to rush. High-quality ice is now an essential element, dictating a beverage’s dilution, temperature, clarity, texture and presentation. A cloudy cube dissolves quickly. Air bubbles mean more surface area, and therefore more melting. But a clear cube holds its shape — and its chilling properties — longer, allowing drinkers to take their time. With this accent, a cocktail doesn’t just taste right; it’s a thing of beauty.
Pierce uses a chainsaw to break large blocks into manageable pieces for the bandsaw.
Noticing a gap locally, and propelled by a what-if spirit, Pierce traveled to Nashville for a peek at the inner workings of Bar Alliance, a nationally respected handcrafted ice operation. Back in Richmond, she connected with mentors through the Capital Region Small Business Development Center and joined the Shelfie Program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Shift Retail Lab business incubator. Lady Chiller soon followed.
Late last year, Pierce secured a small space on Hull Street as her chilly headquarters. Dressed in overalls, a branded electric blue beanie and matching T-shirt, chainsaw in hand, she owns the ice-girl persona. She hauls 300-pound blocks from the directional freezers, lets them temper and slices them with a food-grade bandsaw, making each cut with precision as the saw produces icy ASMR.
The process is meticulous. Each block starts with 40 gallons of water, filtered through a coconut-shell activated-carbon system and frozen from the bottom up over two days. The directional freezing pushes air and impurities out, resulting in perfectly clear ice. Once cut, cubes are frozen again, packed in single layers and delivered weekly to local bars.
Pierce, a lover of scotch on a cube, doesn’t have a hospitality background, but she’s always been drawn to the process. Raised in Oklahoma and Texas, she moved to Richmond in 2021 after teaching high school English in St. Louis and New York, and spending over a decade in audio production, ranging from story editing to creating podcasts. She also has a connection to the industry via her husband, Grayum Vickers, who is a sommelier at Lost Letter, Lillian and The Brooklyn.
“I love production, and it felt like something I could actually wrap my head around,” she says of the transition to her ice business.
Lady Chiller’s core offerings include a 2-inch king cube — clear enough to read the logo on a bar napkin through the bottom of a glass — and a 5-inch-tall spear designed for Collins glasses, where the ice nearly disappears. She’s also begun experimenting with freezing herbs, chile peppers, olives stuffed with pimento, and edible flowers such as roses and marigolds within her products.
Pierce operates the uniquely designed hoist she uses to lift 300-pound ice blocks.
The reception has been positive, particularly among industry pros familiar with the pluses of high-quality ice, happy they no longer have to source it outside the city, overorder cubes or throw product away. Brittany Jones, bar manager at Carytown’s The Jasper, says they transitioned to Lady Chiller ice months ago.
“I haven’t had a problem with them sticking together and becoming a mess — they’re just perfectly cut; they’re crystal clear,” Jones says. “The idea of working with somebody locally is great, to be able to support that. [Pierce] has created this cool thing that I feel like Richmond was missing.”
Pierce recognizes the challenge of convincing others in the industry, especially decision-makers who don’t work behind the bar. Freezer space is too precious to use for anything other than food, and high-quality ice is rarely a priority due to its cost.
“There can be a disconnect between the people making drinks and the people making purchasing decisions,” she says. To bridge that gap, Pierce plans to host open houses and pop-up events this spring, inviting bartenders and owners to experience the difference firsthand. “Until you try it, it’s hard to understand why it matters,” she says. “These bartenders are so talented. Putting a great cocktail on a cloudy cube doesn’t do it justice.”
For mixologists considering making the switch to premium ice, Jones insists the proof is in the glass. She says all it takes is a side-by-side comparison — make the same drink with craft ice and with standard bar cubes, and the superiority speaks for itself. “I think that is enough to sell it to anybody,” she says.
In her research, Pierce stumbled upon Jane King, a formidable 19th-century Richmond businesswoman dubbed the “Ice Queen” who helped modernize the industry as refrigeration emerged. The connection was compelling, and now Lady Chiller sells its king cubes as Jane King Cubes. “She was watching the trends and adapting,” Pierce says. “That really resonated with me. I want to make my brand really women-operated, so it could not be more perfect.”
As Richmond’s bar scene continues to sharpen its edge, Lady Chiller fits neatly into that evolution — behind the scenes, but impossible to miss once you notice. “Once people experience it,” Pierce says, “they start to see the difference everywhere.”
