A few of life’s little luxuries are actually doing well in this sluggish economy. Alcohol sales are up, same with nail polish, and Americans are still screaming for ice cream.
“It’s definitely a comfort food,” said Greg Steinberger, owner of Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab in Arroyo Grande, and now Orcutt. “Ice cream has a history of being pretty much recession proof. When the economy went down in 2008, our sales dropped only 2 percent, while we were hearing about restaurants dropping 30 percent, in some cases even more.”
Steinberger said for the few families that had to cut ice cream from their budgets, he picked up a few more customers that spend their family night out at his ice cream parlor instead of a restaurant.
“We’ve been very lucky and sales have not dropped because of the recession. It’s not easy. You’ve got to be passionate about ice cream,” he said.
Steinberger is so passionate about it that he’s expanding his successful business, branching out from Branch Street in the quaint village of Arroyo Grande, to another quaint local town. Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab opens the weekend of Feb. 4 in Old Town Orcutt, near the corner of West Clark Avenue and South Broadway Street.
“Orcutt kind of found us,” Steinberger said. “You may remember we had tried to go into the Santa Maria Town Center Mall, and circumstances with the ownership—it seemed like that was not the right move and we backed away from that.
“Once we got out there and saw the Orcutt Union Plaza, the old-fashioned feel of the buildings, heard the reputation of the Will family that owns Orcutt Union Plaza, and how good they are as business people and caring about the community, we felt like it was a very good fit,” he added. “The old town of Orcutt reminds me of the village of Arroyo Grande; the sense of community and a sense of people who really love and care about their town.”
Steinberger plans to be a good neighbor, helping this community raise money just like he has done in the Five Cities area.
He hopes to connect with Orcutt-area schools for fundraiser nights.
“Kids come in and make a flavor of ice cream unique to that night, teachers and principals become celebrity scoopers, and 15 percent of the sales go back to the schools,” Steinberger explained. “And we’ve always committed that we’ll make sure that at least 10 percent of profits go to local youth education programs.”
Doc Burnstein’s also has an annual scholarship day as part of an employee retention tool, he said. One day each August, 100 percent of sales go into a scholarship fund and that gets distributed among Doc’s teenage staff members pursuing higher education in the fall. Their 6th annual Scholarship Day in 2011 created a $2,785 scholarship fund for four of Doc Burnstein’s college-bound Arroyo Grande employees.
“We’re planning to do that for our staff in Orcutt as well,” Steinberger added.
He has already met with representatives at the Orcutt Public Library, which is moving to Orcutt Union Plaza in late 2012, in hopes of collaborating on book reading events for kids.
Steinberger will also sponsor blood drives at his Orcutt ice cream parlor every other month, starting in March.
“There will be a free pint of ice cream for everyone who donates a pint of blood,” he said.
He sponsored six blood drives last year at his Arroyo Grande location, attracting nearly 650 blood donors, and 3,000 blood donors since 2004.
You don’t need to give blood to taste the creamy creations though. Doc Burnstein’s will offer 34 ice cream flavors all the time; half will be consistent flavors and half will change out every week.
Flavors opening week in Orcutt include: Merlot Raspberry Truffle, Doc’s Java Motor Oil, Sea Salt Caramel, Birthday Cake, Elvis Special, Mexican Chocolate, Honey Vanilla, Mint Fudge Oreo, Peanut Butter Cup Delight, Cookie D’oh, Honey Almond, Butter Brickle, Mandarin Chocolate, and many others.
Doc’s makes super-premium ice cream with hormone-free cream shipped in from a Sacramento dairy.
“It’s got the high cream content, it’s made in small batches, it’s much fresher because of that. So our ice cream is usually served a week to two weeks of when it was manufactured,” Steinberger said.
The Orcutt location will have a model train that chugs around the ice cream parlor and a party room, like in Arroyo Grande, but will be different from the original Doc’s in one distinct way—coffee.
DB’s Old Town Coffee will have coffee and espresso bar service daily starting at 6 a.m., featuring “illy” brand and Cambria Coffee Roasting Company coffees and espressos, real fruit smoothies, and iced and blended coffee drinks.
“We’re gonna make that a morning gathering spot for the coffees with outdoor seating,” Steinberger said.
Barista Rita Canclini, who owns Higher Groundz Coffee & Tea Co. in Grover Beach, will run the coffee side of the business.
Look for contests on Doc Burnstein’s Facebook page to help create an Orcutt-specific flavor of ice cream and specialized coffee drink. Customers can submit ideas and vote on their favorites, and the winning ice cream flavor and drink will be exclusive to Orcutt.
The grand opening is Saturday, Feb. 4, which coincides with International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Doc’s will dish out free ice cream from 9 to 10 a.m. at both locations to celebrate the occasion.
For the last few years, Doc Burnstein’s has made a special Maple Bacon ice cream, with real bacon.
“It’s actually very, very good, and we’ll serve it up in either a cone or a waffle bowl with maple syrup—a Maple Bacon Sundae,” Steinberger said.
Hundreds of people—many of them wearing pajamas—lined up to get the free ice cream breakfast last year at Doc’s in Arroyo Grande.
Doc Burnstein’s in Orcutt will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Ice cream will be served beginning at noon.
The Ice Cream Lab is located at 165 S. Broadway St., Suite 101, in Orcutt. (Steinberger is hoping to have the address changed to 166 W. Clark Ave., because the business’ entrance faces Clark.)
For a full menu and more information, go to docburnsteins.com.
Being a native of America’s Dairyland, Sun food and wine writer Wendy Thies Sell was born to love ice cream. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 2-9, 2012.