Americans have sought the treat for centuries, with colonialwilliamsburg.org stating that “ice cream began to appear in the American colonies during the first half of the eighteenth century.”
According to the site, “The first known instance of ice cream being served occurred in Maryland in 1744, when Governor Thomas Bladen put it on his dessert table. It was May, and the sight of something frozen to eat in the warm months astonished the guests.”
Today, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, the average American eats roughly 20 pounds, or four gallons, of ice cream annually.
Local cone connoisseurs said now is their sweet spot.
Heather and Michael Ross, owners of Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream & More, said business is busier than ever.
The Rosses are the eighth owners of the Polar Bear business, begun in Oneonta in 1949 by the Daightons. The Rosses purchased its previous iteration, Pie in the Sky, from the Potter family in 2015.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Polar Bear brand and the 5212 state Highway 28, Oneonta site operates from the last Friday in March through late November.
“It’s a family-owned business and we do a lot of stuff,” Heather Ross said. “My husband was a contractor for over 20 years and, in 2012, he brought home a cotton candy wagon. That’s how we got into food service, and the Potters were looking to retire and they approached us and that’s what coordinated that.
“We like to call it Polar Bear on steroids, because we knew there’s such a history with Polar Bear that, when we bought the name and the brand and the machines, we had one chance coming out of the hole to make it different,” she continued. “This building used to be our hayfield, and my husband and my son built this whole thing.”
“It’s a lot of family blood, sweat and tears,” Jessica Buel, Ross’ daughter and Polar Bear manager and co-owner, said. “We run on a lot of coffee, and we do have our new brand of Polar Bear coffee that we just released to celebrate our 75th. And we have new (ice cream) flavors and new improvements and, this year, we’ve grown so much we even installed a pager system that I thought of over the winter to move customers faster. It’s been small steps over the years and we did it slowly, but we’ve definitely grown.”
Polar Bear features from-scratch soft and hard custard-style ice cream, along with an evolving menu of baked goods, pizza and casual fare.
Learning curve
In Bainbridge, Tamee and Ronald Bradbury are marking the 25th anniversary of their ice cream stand, Country Classics.
Country Classics, 2447 state Route 7, offers Perry’s hard and soft ice cream as well as savory snacks and meals.
Tamee Bradbury, of Mount Upton, said ice cream stand ownership was a long-held hope.
“When we bought this place, there was a trailer sitting here, just a residential trailer, and, for my husband and I, it was a dream, to buy it and make it an ice cream place,” she said. “We told the lady (who owned it) that we would like to be the first ones to buy it, so we did. We used to see the (ice cream stand) across the river and how busy it was and our friends and everybody would show up there. I always worked in a factory and hated it and wanted to get out and we figured it was a good thing to start, but starting it, we were green and we didn’t know nothing.”
Country Classics is open from late March until the end of September.
Terry Gelber, owner of Daisy Queens in Walton, launched his 10 West St. spot, which features art and ice cream and is named for his partner, Deissy Riano, in May 2020. Daisy Queens is open from April through Halloween.
Gelber, too, said he’s seen interest in ice cream rising.
“There’s a learning curve, but we came in reasonably well financed and built our way out of whatever issues we had,” he said. “We added soft and hard ice cream very quickly. It takes time for people to recognize that you’re there, but we’re in our fifth season and there’s a steadiness to the day.”
Sources said offering quality product and developing signature items has helped cement reputation.
“The big item last year was, we added Belgian waffles with the ice cream, and that’s a unique item,” Gelber said. “But actually, the thing that came out of trying a whole bunch of specialty items was, last year, we made banana splits in a clear cup instead of a paper cup, so it comes out looking like a 22-ounce parfait and it gets decorated really nicely. We took a picture of that and put it on Facebook and before the (customer) had left, somebody was pulling into the parking lot saying, ‘I want this.’ There are days I’m sure we sold 40 or more, and, from that, the girls kind of invented a milkshake with various flavors and toppings. There’s one that’s a bonfire and a s’mores shake, and people go crazy for those. And there’s a peanut butter explosion and pina colada shake, and those are very successful. We sell a lot of peanut butter – peanut butter shakes, peanut butter ice cream and, of all the specialty shakes, (we sell) the peanut butter explosion more than anything else.”
“It’s all word-of-mouth now, and I don’t even have to advertise,” Bradbury said. “I put it on Facebook and everybody knows when we’re here. We have a big menu and we started right out with both. It was a small menu when we first opened, and we tried to add each year something to it. Our spiedies and our Phillies (are most popular), because I cook the meat myself and marinate it myself and it is super good. And, I’d say the custard; I have people come from Oneonta and Gilbertsville and all over the place, because they like the custard and I’m the only one in the area that sells it and it’s just so creamy.”
‘You want quality’
Ross said that at Polar Bear, she strives to blend new products with a sense of tradition.
“If you’re going to indulge, you want quality,” she said. “Our espresso (ice cream) has been a great hit, and one of our mainstays is peanut butter tracks, and Jess came up with that when we first opened and we always have that on hand — it’s a vanilla base with homemade peanut butter sauce and broken peanut butter cups. So, there’s always going to be something next and we have a couple of things we’re working on. On July 7, we’re having our anniversary celebration, with (the band) Off the Record, from 4 to 7 (p.m.).
“When the Potters sold this, they were looking for somebody that was going to keep the tradition going and we’ve always focused on (that),” Ross continued. “But also … we’re bringing on new pieces — in ’21, we brought on the bakery to do the rolls and pizza slices. But No. 1 is the ice cream and it’s known for (being made in) the original batch machines invented by Tom Carvel. There were only 73 of them and it was before he became Tom Carvel that he invented (them) and they’re still in operation today. They’re very slow, so we do have modern equipment, but we do run product through those and those are the originals from when they opened.”
Sources said the sweet life is not without its challenges.
“All through the winter, we think of ways to improve,” Ross said. “It’s just staying with it. My husband and I are here seven days a week and we do 14-hour days, so you’ve got to love what you do … because it consumes.”
“It’s keeping up with the ice cream production,” Buel said. “She’s up at 2 in the morning sometimes making ice cream, so I would say that’s the most challenging. They’re married to it, but they have to be to be successful.”
“Sometimes it feels like you’re here 24/7,” Bradbury echoed. “I get here at 8:30 to open and get the warmers turned on and get over to Frog Pond (Farms) for whatever produce I need, then I’m back here at night to close. My husband is 72 and I’m 65 and, with my health the way it is and arthritis, someday I’d like to sell it, hopefully to one of the kids that works here and knows how to run it and not change anything.
“So, this keeps us pretty busy,” she continued. “A couple months prior (to opening), I have to start looking up prices from my vendors – Cisco and Huff – and I have to get all the updates. There’s some people that think you can just open the door and turn the machines on and you’re ready to go, but there’s a lot of work you have to do every morning before the windows open – cleaning the machines weekly, getting all the (sundae) bars set up and filled and making sure we have all the produce and bread out that we need.”
Dealing in dessert
Gelber said the administrative aspects of business ownership are tricky, too.
“It’s payroll; it’s a combination of A. the price and B., finding (employees),” he said. “Usually we start with about 10, and right now we’re at five, and it’s early to be at five. Minimum wage makes it very difficult when you’re selling a three- or four-dollar item. And it’s very difficult to find people who can be ready to do what we do here out of the gate. Everybody sees an ice cream place and thinks, ‘Oh, it would be fun to work there,’ but there’s literally hundreds of recipes you need to know – toppings and candies and the banana splits and sundaes and things like that.
“It’s a lot more hours than it looks like,” he continued. “If we’re open for nine or nine and a half hours, we’re here early and we’re here late and it’s very difficult for the two of us to get a day off. I start thinking about (opening) way before April, and kind of come up with a plan.”
But, sources said, dealing in dessert is satisfying.
“It’s the atmosphere,” Gelber said. “I always knew I’d like it, but I didn’t quite realize how much. It’s much more visiting than selling. Obviously, there are days where we don’t know a lot of the people, but there are a lot of days where it’s just neighbors that come in and sit down and have an ice cream, but stay for an hour or two, hanging around and chatting.”
“We have a good location, for one and, for two, we give a good amount for what you pay for,” Bradbury said. “That was a big thing with us when we started; we wanted a good quantity for what they’re paying for and everything, as far as the food goes, is homemade; we don’t buy frozen. And we’ve got a really good staff that helps out with the making of salads and slicing meat and all that. We always have four people on each night.
“It’s just the pleasure of what we built,” she continued. “We built this ourselves and it took us about five years. We didn’t buy all brand new, but we went to auctions for the equipment as we were building, so it’s just rewarding to see what we’ve built and how far we’ve come and that this is our 25th anniversary.”
“It’s seeing people happy in these times and seeing families coming together and enjoying simple things,” Ross said.
“And community,” Buel added. “We do a lot for the community, like sponsoring T-ball teams, and our ice cream has such a history behind it, that it’s just special.”
For more information, find Country Classics, Daisy Queens Ice Cream and Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream & More on Facebook.