Ice cream parlor’s
grand opening
a real family affair
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer
FARRAH MAFFAI staff Robin and Scott Kessler are the owners of the new Roscoe’s Ice Cream parlor on Georges Road in North Brunswick.
NORTH BRUNSWICK — The ice cream served at 725 Georges Road has made this house a "home sweet home" to many locals.
For the last month, people of all ages and walks of life have formed lines to the front entrance and to the back service window of the new shop to taste another flavor of Roscoe’s ice cream.
"We always wanted to create a place where everyone in the community could come with their families and friends to make memories," Robin Kessler, who owns the business with her husband, Scott, said.
The East Brunswick residents said they more than fulfilled their dream when they opened the doors to Roscoe’s on May 28 and have since served hundreds of locals their homemade premium ice cream.
"I just love to see kids come in with their parents for the treat they’ve been promised all night," Mr. Kessler said. "Their faces light up as they run over to see what flavors they have to choose from tonight."
Daily, new patrons walk up the stairs and under the front porch of the recently renovated house, which dates back to 1916.
The Kesslers commissioned Scott’s brother, Eric, a general contractor, to make improvements to the home while maintaining the structure of the house to create the atmosphere of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, Mr. Kessler said.
Just through the front door, a team of "hand-picked" ice cream servers under the direction of longtime manager Traci Ceras, of Milltown, wait to take orders behind large, shiny glass display cases filled with colorful confections and tub after tub of ice cream.
"We took the time to hand-pick every employee from other ice cream shops," Mrs. Kessler said.
Unfortunately for East Brunswick, but fortunately for the Kesslers, the Dairy Queen on Milltown Road, where Ceras "always served ice cream with a smile," closed its doors.
"Robin and Scott and their entire family are wonderful people with a vision that just can’t fail, and I’m honored to be working with them," Ceras said.
From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ceras and her staff serve Roscoe’s 22 flavors of hard homemade ice cream on a daily basis. Flavors range from simple vanilla and chocolate to complex concoctions called sloe turtle, cake batter, smurf, and chocolate ecstasy.
"We get our homemade premium ice cream directly from someone who hand-makes each tub with all-natural ingredients," Mr. Kessler said. "There really isn’t a limit, either; we could ask him for any ingredients we want."
Sloe turtle combines caramel, fudge and pecans in chocolate ice cream; cake batter contains pieces of yellow cake; and smurf is comprised of sprinkles in blue raspberry ice cream.
"As for the chocolate ecstasy, well just imagine the most chocolate you can think of and then add some more," Gordon, the Kesslers’ 12-year-old son, said. "Sometimes, if I eat it too late in the day, it’s hard for me to fall asleep at night."
Gordon and his sister, Lindsey, 15, frequent the parlor often with other family members like their 11-year-old cousin, Alexis.
"The kids think it’s great when they can tell all of their friends in and out of school that their parents own an ice cream parlor," Mrs. Kessler said. "People laugh when I tell them that I’m a director at the YMCA and my husband is an attorney."
In order to keep their day jobs in all of the planning and initial stages of opening their own business, the Kesslers had to make their dream a family affair.
"My niece hugged the sign out front when we got it," Mr. Kessler said. "She designed the Roscoe character, who is a caricature of me with an ice cream cone on his head."
The name Roscoe’s comes from the first two letters of her name and the first three letters of her husband’s name, Mrs. Kessler said.
Each of the family members has their favorite treat, ranging from a low-carb cone of vanilla ice cream for Mrs. Kessler to soft chocolate ice cream with whipped cream and M&M’s for Gordan to chocolate ecstasy topped with M&M’s and sprinkles for Lindsey.
"Plenty of repeat customers already have their favorites," Mrs. Kessler said. "A lot of the kids like the bright-colored ice creams, but we do have one customer, a prominent local surgeon, who simply can’t get enough of the Smurf blue ice cream."
Besides the 22 flavors of premium hard ice cream customers can choose from, the shop also serves soft vanilla and chocolate ice cream as well as shakes, floats, egg creams and other novelty items.
For those who prefer lighter treats, Roscoe’s offers nonfat, sugar-free and low-carb ice creams as well as Italian ices.
Patrons can choose to enjoy their desserts at the bistro tables near the bay windows, in the parlor, furnished and decorated like ice cream parlors of yore.
"Some guests like to sit with their cones in the antique chairs we have by the staircase that our parents gave to us in the ’60s, but that coincidentally date back to the same era this house was built," Mr. Kessler said.
Those looking to eat and run can opt to order at the service window on the back porch of the shop.
A large patio with picnic tables beneath a shady tree acts as one of the newest community gathering places in the area, Mrs. Kessler said.
"In the rushed lives that we live today, we want to be people who encourage others to slow down, enjoy a treat and create memories that their families will cherish forever," she said.