Friday, May 26, 2017

Business Spotlight: Cherries on Top by Michelle Libby

https://www.facebook.com/Cherries-on-Top-463399930453842/Everyone deserves to have ice cream and at Cherries On Top, Ingrid Fockler does everything she can to make sure that she has choices for all ice cream desires.

Fockler bought Cherries On Top last September. Since then she has been dreaming about the shop at 1252 Roosevelt Trail in Raymond. As a 911 dispatcher, she was constantly dealing with people on their worst days. 

“Now I’m not dealing with death and heartbreak every day. You need a little bit of sunshine in your life,” she said. Fockler’s goal is to make the shop personable and have good customer service above all else.  

Cherries On Top sells Annabelle’s hard serve ice cream, which is all natural, kosher, gluten free, with no additives or artificial colors and only 16 percent butterfat. They also have some Hershey’s flavors like: cotton candy, bubble gum, and chocolate and vanilla moose tracks. For a true taste of Maine there will be blueberry ice cream as well. 

“When I got into ice cream, I didn’t realize there were different kinds,” Fockler said.  

One of the bestselling ice cream products is the soft serve that has 30 flavors. The soft serve frozen yogurt is low in sugar and glycemic index as well as gluten free. It also has very few calories. 

They brought Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt to Cherries On Top because it is extra smooth and creamy and tastes like traditional soft serve ice cream but with all the benefits of frozen yogurt. It even contains probiotics and is safe for most people sensitive to lactose. One topping of choice can be mixed in with the cones. No more sprinkles falling all over the car. 

“It’s good for diabetics. One person told me, it’s been 15 years since they had black raspberry soft serve,” Fockler said. Some of the most popular flavors are: peanut butter, pina-colada, pumpkin pie, expresso coffee, salted caramel, triple chocolate and graham central station- which consists of graham cracker ice cream, graham crackers and chocolate covered pretzels. Customers are invited to call ahead for pre-packaged pints and quarts of soft serve and hard serve ice cream.  

“What kid should grow up not having ice cream? It’s for everyone,” said Fockler. They have very good procedures in place to avoid cross contamination, but there are nuts in the shop, she warned.

They offer cake cones, sugar cones, waffle cones and waffle bowls. They also make frappes, smoothies and of course, banana splits. They also make fresh java frappes, made with Coffee by Design coffee.  They also sell a cherry bomb, which is crushed ice with a Red Bull.  

“I’ve learned about food, you have to make it pretty,” she said. She does her best to give everything a special look or design. “It’s like art.” 

Cherries On Top doesn’t stop with ice cream. They also offer red and blonde hot dogs, fluff-a-nutter sandwiches and have plans to expand to homemade baked goods and possibly pizza.  

The shop has had a lot of support from locals and surrounding areas like South Portland, Auburn and Gray. Cherries On Top has six employees and they are accepting applications for older high schoolers or graduates. There is also outdoor seating. 

Once school is out, the hours at Cherries On Top will be noon to 9 p.m. For now, the hours are Wednesday and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information and to find out what’s new, visit www.cherriesicecream.com or call 207-655-6437. You can also find them on Facebook where you can read five star reviews on why their ice cream and frozen yogurt is so amazing.  <

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