When Dan Marrazzo opened Koneheads Ice Cream last Labor Day weekend, rather than bemoaning the timing of opening at the tail end of the traditional ice cream season, he turned to establishing his brand through Facebook and Instagram.
He often posts pictures of his latest sundae with the hopes of enticing people out of the snow and into his warm 20-seat ice cream parlor.
Koneheads Ice Cream, on North Olden Avenue, has three soft serve ice cream machines, making six different flavors and three different “twist” flavors. The store always has chocolate and vanilla in one machine, and orange sorbet and vanilla in the second.
The third machine changes each month. Marrazzo said he puts a lot of thought into the flavors of the month and their corresponding sundaes. For the month of February, for example, he wanted something evoking the image of “comforting and hearty for sitting home on a snow day,” hence French toast and salted caramel ice cream flavors.
The soft serve ice cream flavors are then transformed into sundaes with the addition of a wide variety of toppings and sauces. Breakfast cereals are a favorite topping choice as they do not need refrigeration and add an extra crunch.
“I like the crunchy components,” Marrazzo said, “because they are fun to work with.”
February’s feature ice cream flavors were the base ingredient in two of Konehead’s sundaes. C’est La Toast started with French toast ice cream and he added walnuts, maple syrup and French toast crunch cereal.
The Back From Samoa sundae was named in homage to the 80’s punk rock band the Angry Samoans, and the former name of the Caramel deLite Girl Scout cookie (Samoans). It features salted caramel ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce, toasted coconut, crumbled shortbread cookies and a Caramel deLite Girl Scout cookie.
Though the base flavors of those sundaes will be gone in March, Marrazzo tends to keep the toppings, which can be added in any do it yourself sundae, which is comprised of three toppings and a syrup.
Prior to owning Koneheads, Marrazzo, 25, studied film for a year before majoring in tourism and hospitality management at Temple University in Philadelphia. His original plan upon his graduation in 2012 was to attend culinary school.
“After three days in culinary school I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Marrazzo said. He then looked into owning a food truck in Philadelphia to remain in the food industry. Ultimately that proved to be more complicated than he originally thought.
Marrazzo co-owns the business with his father, also named Dan, who is the owner of several area businesses, including Wash-n-Roll located near Koneheads.
Marrazzo (the son) credits his time studying film in school with helping him create names for his soft serve sundaes, all of which have pop culture references. The Augustus Gloop (brownies, chocolate syrup, chocolate ice cream), for example, is named after the boy in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory who fell into the chocolate river. Oh Cap’n, My Cap’n (Cap’n Crunch cereal with caramel sauce) is in honor of the famous Walt Whitman poem.
Marrazzo said that he was still deciding on March’s flavor of the month and the corresponding sundaes as of the Observer’s press time. He said he was considering flavors that make people think of St. Patrick’s Day. Patrons unsure if they will enjoy a flavor are encouraged to try a sample. Marrazzo said that people almost always buy the sample that they try.
Koneheads Ice Cream, 1980 N. Olden Avenue. Phone: (609) 403-6755. Online: facebook.com/koneheads. Open daily from noon to 9 p.m.
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