About Our Ice Cream
As told by Tony
"Homemade" means different things depending on which ice cream shop you visit. Here are a few reasons why our ice cream is so special:
We are the only ice cream shop in the area that purchases milk, cream, and sugar to blend our own ice cream base aka "dairy mix" in-house. We also use very high quality ingredients for flavorings - with a few exceptions I'll share below.
Back in late 2016, during the planning stages of opening Beenie's, I did my due diligence and researched to the best of my ability what other ice cream shops offered. Of 20 ice cream shops in the area, 6 did not sell homemade ice cream, and the remaining 14 made their homemade ice cream using a pre-made dairy mix, sold from one of about four different companies that make it. Same with the flavorings that were added to the mix to create the flavors.
I thought: "how can we make our ice cream taste different (and better) from all the other options in the area, if everyone is buying mix and flavors from the same four suppliers? The answer was making our own base, and literally sourcing ingredients from dozens of different suppliers to make unique and rich-tasting flavors.
It's more work, and our costs are higher, but we are grateful for the opportunity to be here and make people happy with experiencing something different. Making our own dairy base also allows us to actually infuse flavors with milk. We extract flavor naturally from lavender flowers, coffee, cereals, tea, donuts, and other fun foods.
I'll admit there are some ingredients we use that others have. For example, our Coffee Oreo uses a common coffee flavor that other shops may purchase, only because it's a taste that some customers grew up with and love. We do make a coffee flavor in our unique Beenie's style, called Chiapas Cold Brew ice cream, and surprisingly, our sales between the two coffee flavors we carry is about 50/50. We make both because it's what our customers want.
On the other end, some ingredients are unrealistic for us to make in-house. We are not an entirely "from scratch" shop. Some flavors are! Some aren't. We're not splitting vanilla beans and bottling our own extract, but we do purchase a very expensive, pure Madagascar Bourbon extract from an upscale brand others don't know about, and we're extremely proud to use!
I could go on forever, but to wrap-up, our success can be described as this. I focused on a good location, and good ice cream. If we failed, I'd at least know that it wasn't because of a bad location, and that we served bad ice cream. All the opening costs went into making sure those two things were locked down. We're so thankful for the recognition we get from our loyal customers that taste the difference in our ice cream, and who continue to allow us to passionately serve.
-Tony
About Tony
Founder, Owner/Manager
In between a few semesters of design classes and playing drums professionally in NYC, Tony had a job as an Assistant Manager at an ice cream shop. He discovered his love of creativity could be channeled into business. He found himself immersed in designing ways to improve the ice cream novelties and store decor, organizing the operations, and building genuine relationships with customers who enjoyed his work.
With a mind full of original ideas on how the ice cream industry could go from "good to great", and ambitions of having full creative control of his vision, he set out to open his own shop: Beenie's.
In his free time, he enjoys watching movies, joking with friends, and working on house projects. He's enthusiastic about the Mid Century Modern period of design.
About Andrea
Loving Wife, Owner/Manager
An ice cream lover, born and raised in Mérida, México. Andrea grew up with a large family, and completed her BA in Social Communication, with dreams of exploring the world and improving her English. Her parents supported her decision to come to NJ on a work visa, and she met Tony only a few weeks before she was planning on returning home to México.
Their first few dates together were working on the opening of Beenie's: going to Home Depot and Ikea together, painting the store, and testing ice cream recipes. Tony felt he had found a life partner, and Andrea admired his passion and determination to "make things happen". They've been happily married since 2019.
In her free time, Andrea enjoys FaceTiming her family and friends, growing her collection of house plants, reading, and volunteering at Nursing Homes for the elderly.
About Beenie
Family Dog/Mascot
Beenie was rescued in 2001 from a Border Collie farm in upstate New York. His previous owner tied him to a tree on the property, knowing the farm would find him and take him in. We brought him home and he lived 16 love-filled years with us, being a weird, wacky dog. He had a high pitched singing-type bark, and his hobbies included biting and barking at rocks. We preferred to think he was using his imagination, and that he was pretending they were rodents. He was part Schnauzer, and Terriers were originally bred to hunt rodents, so that explanation fits!
He passed shortly after we opened the shop, noticeably becoming weaker during the time I decided to name the shop after him the months prior. I thought Beenie would be a great way to communicate the love and humor that's present at our ice cream shop. Also, our flavors are special, like how Beenie was special to us.
-Tony