Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream opened today at 1784 Old Morganton Rd, in the Lowe’s Foods shopping plaza. This is the 151st Handel’s location and the fifth in North Carolina. Handel’s originally began in Youngstown, Ohio in 1945 and has since held its tradition of making the ice cream fresh in-store daily.
The owner, Jim Flanagan and general manager/ COO, Ted Yatsko, have their own sweet backstory. “When you’re a senior in high school you know everyone. When there’s a new face you know there’s a new face,” says Ted who noticed Jim on the first day of school. After talking with his parents about the “new kid” he came to learn that Jim was actually a cousin who just moved schools to Youngstown. They were two scoops in a cone from there (that works, right?)
“When you wanted something special it was always Handel’s,” says Jim. “The real reason we’re doing this is because it’s a taste of home,” says Ted. Jim bought the franchise 18 months ago asking Ted to help him run it. It was a no-brainer for Ted, “It’s ice cream, ice cream is fun,” he says.
Each Handel’s location offers 48 flavors, varying store-to-store, of ice cream including a sherbet, sorbet and “ice.” Flavors are subject to change seasonally. Banana splits, hot fudge sundaes, milkshakes, pup cups and more are also available. Ice cream is also for sale in quarts or pints. Jim says, “When you’re getting ice cream there’s just something about getting it through a window,” which is how the original location was and why they opted for the walk-up windows for ordering.
There will be a separate window for online orders like grubhub, uber eats, door dash or ordering directly from Handel’s online. The shop is open seven days a week. Hours are Sunday through Thursday noon to 9 p.m. and Friday through Saturday noon to 10 p.m. Hours may extend in summer.
