Serving up new treats at Dairy Swirl

MCAFEE n Twenty-one years ago, when Roman Czerhoniak was an eighth-grader in Vernon, his parents bought a small roadside restaurant on Route 94 in McAfee known as The Chuck Wagon. They transformed it into an ice cream shop they called Dairy Swirl that became a fixture in the region. Czerhoniak took over management of the business seven years ago and as the Vernon area expands, he continues to develop Dairy Swirl’s offerings and has recently moved to a year-round shop. “As the town grew, we grew,” said Czerhoniak on recent weekday morning as he opened his shop for another day of business. Dairy Swirl has changed quite a bit over the past several years. Five years ago, he decided that the store would make its own ice cream after its previous supplier, Welsh Farms, was bought out by Parmalat. “It was a quality decision,” he explained. While the move required new equipment purchases, it has also provided Czerhoniak, his wife, Margaret, and his mother a chance to experiment with and introduce 25 new flavors. Recently-introduced flavors include a lemon ice cream called Lemon Cello and an as-yet unnamed Graham Cracker recipe. “Other businesses have already used ‘Graham Central Station’ so we may want to come up with our own name,” said Czerhoniak. The changes don’t end there. Last Fall, Dairy Swirl changed from a seasonal to a year-round business. “In each of the previous years we had added a month” to the business calendar, said Czerhoniak. After operating from March until October through 2003, Dairy Swirl kept the store open through December for the next two years until it shifted to the year-round schedule last winter. One of the factors behind the decision was that no other ice cream businesses in the area were open year-round, said Czerhoniak. Still, he’s not sure how to gauge the first winter’s business. “It was such a warm winter, I don’t know how to base it,” said Czerhoniak, who added that the company’s ice cream cake business remained steady. As might be expected, ice cream cake sales are strongest in May and June since the two months bookend Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, First Communions, Confirmations and graduation parties. In 2006, Dairy Swirl launched an ice-cream catering business. Czerhoniak and members of his six-person staff bring a freezer with eight tubs of ice cream and set up a table of toppings at a party. “We scoop the ice cream and they go at it with the toppings. It’s worked out well.” Still, the ice cream business hasn’t always been smooth for The Czerhoniaks. Escalating fuel costs have cut into Dairy Swirl’s profits. The cost of a case of milk has risen from $38 to more than $47 since April. That forced Czerhoniak to raise his prices a few weeks ago. The hours are long, too, especially in the summer, when Dairy Swirl’s doors are open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. “It’s a lot of hard work,” said Czerhoniak. “I don’t recall going to bed before 1 a.m., often later.” That’s tough on the family. He and his wife have a 6-year-old daughter, Alexis, and are expecting another baby in October. Looking ahead, Czerhoniak said he’s toying with the idea of expanding Dairy Swirl’s hard ice cream line from 32 to 48 flavors to go along with its mix of soft ice cream, sugar-free and fat-free frozen yogurts and Italian ices. He may even begin selling pies and coffee this Fall.