Locals get ready for spring with ice cream, soft serve

STEVENS POINT – In what can sometimes seem like dreary and unrelenting winters in central Wisconsin, the owners of two popular seasonal ice cream and soft serve businesses say their openings seem to help residents shake off the cold — at least for a little while.

King Cone, 2534 Post Road in Plover, will open Friday, while Belts' Soft Serve, 2140 Division St., will open Saturday. After a stretch of nearly two weeks with several days of below-zero temperatures, high temperatures are expected to be 12 degrees on Friday and 16 degrees on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Cole Racine, the third generation of his family to run Belts', and Ben Klosinski, the second generation of his family to run King Cone, say people typically show up excited and in good numbers for their respective openings.

"It seems like our seasons are a little better earlier on than later. To me, a 30-degree day in February is better than one in October," Klosinski said. "I think it's a mindset for people that they want to start thinking about warmer weather."

Racine said the long-standing tradition for customers to camp outside in the days before Belts' opens is a welcome sight for him, except when temperatures dip below freezing in the evenings as they did last year. This year, temperatures are expected to drop to minus-11 degrees on Thursday night and minus-7 degrees on Friday night.

"I don't know if we'll see as many people outside as we have in previous years, and you want people to be safe," Racine said. "To see that kind of enthusiasm for what you do is pretty gratifying, and gets me excited about opening."

Entering Belts' 35th year of operation, Racine said the week is primarily being spent getting soft serve machines up and running and baking the various treats such as peanut butter cups and brownies. Racine said he will have about 20 employees working this season.

Along with vanilla, chocolate and twist, Belts' has a rotation of about 20 specialty flavors, beginning with Irish mint in March. Racine says mint is one of the most popular flavors, and it's mixed with brownies and mint chips as popular flurry choices. Racine said he likes to add new items to the menu — such as imperial shakes, which combine soft serve and candy — and is working on adding some new wrinkles this year, like possibly pie a la mode or a monster cookie flurry.

"Nothing is set in stone, and we usually like to wait until later in the season because people are more interested in getting their usual choices earlier on," Racine said.

King Cone, now entering its fifth season in Plover, is known for its wide array of homemade ice cream. Klosinski said they've developed about 100 flavors, with between 70 to 80 being in regular rotation. Several flavors have received honors from the National Ice Cream Retailers Association, including butter pecan kruncher, caramel apple sucker, lemon pie, raspberry lemonade and zanzee chocolate bar.

Klosinski said that based on a customer survey, King Cone will debut five new flavors as this season gets underway. Some of those flavors will be recognizable, including German chocolate, oatmeal cookie, "Cinna-Ben" which is a cinnamon roll flavor, and "Midnight Sky," which is zanzee chocolate mixed with a peppermint swirl. But one flavor, "Bethy's Goat," will challenge customers with the unique flavor of a caramel rum-flavored ice cream with a hint of goat cheese.

"I think customers will be surprised how good it is. There's so many different flavors to experiment with," Klosinski said. "We love it that people have their favorite flavors that they look forward to every year, but it's also nice to have them step out of the box and try something new."

Klosinski said he expects to have about 10 to 12 employees this season between King Cone locations in Plover and Amherst, located at 113 Highway KK, which will open in either April or May.

Nathan Vine can be reached at 715-345-2252. Find him on Twitter as @SPJNathanVine.

Opening day giveaway

People who head to the opening King Cone or Belts' Soft Serve this week could find themselves with some free items.

King Cone, 2534 Post Road in Plover, will open at noon Feb. 27, and the first 100 customers will receive a pint of its zanzee chocolate bar. Belts' Soft Serve, 2140 Division St., opens at 11 a.m. Feb. 28, with the first 25 customers receiving free T-shirts and the first 100 customers receiving free Belts' glasses.