Richmond, Va.-based Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches has launched a limited-edition S'mores flavor available exclusively at select Target stores nationwide, marking the brand's first officially licensed collaboration with the National Park Foundation. The SKU hit freezer cases in early September and will be sold while supplies last.
The Product
The new sandwich stacks honey graham cookies around chocolate toasted marshmallow ice cream swirled with marshmallow fluff — a format engineered to translate the campfire s'more into a grab-and-go frozen novelty. Like the rest of the Nightingale line, the S'mores SKU uses 14% butterfat ice cream and scratch-baked cookies, the same spec the company has leaned on since its 2016 launch out of a Richmond restaurant and pool hall.
A portion of sales from the licensed product will flow to the National Park Foundation. Amber Hanna, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships and Licensing Strategy at the Foundation, called the tie-up a way to give consumers "a sweet way to support and protect these treasured places for generations to come."
Retail Reach and Channel Context
The Target placement adds a mass channel door to a distribution network that already spans more than 6,500 chain and independent grocery locations — including Whole Foods Market, Costco, Kroger, Wegmans, The Fresh Market, and Harris Teeter. That kind of footprint puts Nightingale squarely in the conversation around premium frozen novelties competing for impulse basket space, a category that continues to grow as consumers trade up from commodity ice cream bars.
The cause-marketing layer is worth noting for c-store buyers and category managers watching the frozen novelty set. Cause-linked limited editions have demonstrated measurable lift in trial and social engagement for food brands, and the national parks theme gives the SKU a broad demographic hook — families, outdoor enthusiasts, and nostalgia-driven shoppers alike. While this launch is Target-specific, Nightingale's expanding retail presence signals the brand is building the scale that typically precedes convenience channel conversations.
What's Next
CEO and Co-Founder Hannah Pollack framed the National Park Foundation partnership as personally motivated — she has a stated goal of visiting every national park in the United States within five years — and as an extension of the brand's broader strategy of grounding elevated flavors in familiar American food traditions. Nightingale has built its identity around foodservice-quality frozen novelties positioned against legacy frozen dessert brands, a playbook that has gained traction as the premium frozen snack segment continues to take share from center-store staples.
Whether a c-store version of the S'mores SKU materializes depends on how the Target exclusive performs through the fall season, but operators tracking the frozen novelty category should note the brand's trajectory: from a single Richmond location a decade ago to a five-figure retail door count and a national nonprofit partnership in 2026.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
