Small businesses have opened to an eventual
expansion of being able to sell franchises.
Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream is one such creamery that was founded in Kansas
City, Kansas in 1989. Now, there are
over 400 franchised stores in the US where the ice cream is freshly made. Ben and Teena Katz purchased a franchise located
at 39-33 Bell Blvd, in Bayside but found it to be more profitable and easier to
operate by buying the location and renaming it Ben and Teena’s Ice Cream
promising the same quality or better.
Ice cream’s richness varies on the
amount of butterfat used. It provides a
creamy texture and mouth-feel, adds its own flavor, absorbs and delivers other
flavors, makes the ice cream firmer, and slows melting by stabilizing the air
bubbles.
On any one day you can choose from
over a dozen flavors, keeping in mind that although 24 are listed the flavor
may not be available due to the time of year, particularly when it comes to
fruit or holiday.
Ben and Teena’s is certainly a mecca
for the kids, who love flavors such as: cake batter, cotton candy, ginger
bread, marshmallow, and pink bubblegum.
Party, party, party as they are brought to the store for a school trip
or birthday celebration. Ben tells me
that the response from the children is what has been bringing them in. There is
seating for 24 plus a ledge in the back that seats four.
What can be better than to have
unlimited toppings on your ice cream. It’s as if you were in a candy store. We are
not just talking Oreo cook crumbs, Reese’s Pieces, gummy bears, Kit Kats and
waffle cone pieces. Think of it as buying the ice cream and creating your own
sundae with items such as: bananas, marshmallow sauce, apple pie filling, fudge
brownies, raspberries, caramel, and chocolate sauce.
Darian Gonzales, an employee, talked
with me about the “101” on purchasing. “For instance,” he said, “a large size
has four scoops and can be four flavors.
Toppings are limitless and have the option of placing them all atop,
doing mix-ins, or we can give you a 6 oz cup on the side. This means you have the opportunity to place
the wet and fruit ingredients on the top, dry ingredients in the cup at a cost
of $9.24 including tax. A pint of ice cream sells for $6.99 with as many
flavors that will fit. You can mix in whatever you want or take home the cup of
mix- ins.”
Sweet Cream ice cream is the perfect
flavor for adding the unlimited mix-ins as it is the base for the other
flavors. Thus, if you are going for a
sugar rush, that’s another reason to add the mix-ins as I personally didn’t
find the ice creams to be overly sweet. In fact they were sweetened enough so
that the flavors stood out even more.
I did get to sample eight of the
flavors. Espresso – definite coffee but not strong enough to get a caffeine
“high.” Cookies and cream – with this
one I had the sweet cream flavor with added “oreo” pieces. Pistachio – no doubt on the flavor although I
was happy to not have the actual pistachios added. I sampled both the chocolate
and dark chocolate which basically depended upon the use of either dark or
regular cocoa. I’m a chocoholic so both
were just fine.
Fruit flavors are strong when it
comes to their sorbet as I sampled mango and raspberry. The small amount of cream gives it the
texture without the full fat content.
Ben and Teena’s Ice Cream is open
every day from 11am to 10 pm (718-229-0229).
How great can that be to skip your dessert and “scream” your way there.
