Dessert news
Arlington police officer opens ice cream shop by Ohio cult fave Handel's
Handel's ice cream is made fresh daily.
An ice cream chain from Ohio has started scooping in Arlington: Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, known for its smorgasbord of flavors, has opened a location off I-20 at 4407 Little Rd. # 690, in a newly built space in the Green Oaks Plaza shopping center.
The shop is from Deric and Vanessa Sheriff, a husband-and-wife duo with a history of public service. Deric is an Arlington Police officer of 22 years, and Vanessa is a retired nurse and paramedic.
“I guess you could say we enjoy serving the community — in more ways than one,” Deric says.
The Arlington shop is the couple’s first location with Handel’s, but they have previous experience in dessert franchising. In 2014, they opened a franchise location of the popular cake chain Nothing Bundt Cakes in Burleson, which they still manage. Their son also operates a Handel’s location in Southlake.
Before joining Nothing Bundt Cakes, Vanessa did some cottage baking, selling pies out of the couple’s home. The family lived in Arlington for about 10 years before moving to Mansfield in 2008.
“Vanessa likes baking, and I like ice cream, so once we saw that Handel’s was franchising this way, we got super excited,” Deric says. “We were like, 'We need to do this.'"
Handel’s is known for its homemade-style ice cream, made fresh at each store. “It reminds us of homemade ice cream like Grandma would make,” Deric says.
The company has more than 100 flavors of ice creams, sorbets, and sherbets, with a minimum of 45 offered at each location. They have the classic vanilla-chocolate-strawberry but also unique options such as:
- Graham Central Station: graham ice cream with graham cracker ripple and chocolate-covered crunchies
- Monkey Business: banana cake batter ice cream with bananas, caramel ripple, and brownie pieces
- Blue Monster: blue vanilla ice cream with Oreo and Chips Ahoy! cookies
The location spans 2,300 square feet, with seating for 15 (although they're still waiting on the arrival of bar stools), and will serve seasonal flavors such as Black Cherry, Buckeye, Coffee Chocolate Chip, as well as dairy-free flavors such as Chocolate Almond Milk.
Handel’s was founded in the summer of 1945 in Youngstown, Ohio. Founder Alice Handel started the company by making ice cream with fruit from her own backyard and her own recipes. Handel’s still uses her ice cream-making methods and recipes, according to the company website.
The company has about 125 stores in 12 states. The Arlington store is their seventh in North Texas, in addition to locations in Flower Mound, Highland Village, Little Elm, McKinney, Plano, and Southlake.
“We want to expand through Arlington and hopefully have multiple Handel’s in Arlington,” Deric says. “We’ve both worked in Arlington, and we just love the city. Our kids grew up here, and we know the town very well.”
