>>Pav’s Creamery, located in the Portage Lakes, has launched a retail line of its frozen Kustard and authentic Gelato and Spumoni.
All 15 Acme Fresh Market stores — from Cleveland to Canton — will offer Pav’s frozen Kustard in pints and will feature seven to 10 flavors. The Acme in Portage Lakes will carry 14 flavors. Classic flavors, like Chocolate Almond, Pistachio, Nuts Over Coconut and Black Raspberry, will be featured year-round.
West Point Market, in West Akron, will feature Pav’s Gelato as well as its homemade Spumoni. The creamery imports its Gelato flavors direct from Bologna, Italy.
Each pint of Kustard, Gelato and Spumoni will be made and hand-packed at Pav’s Portage Lakes location.
Pav’s Creamery opened as a Tasty Freeze in the early 1950s. Robert Pavlik later purchased it in 1969 and changed the name to his nickname, Pav’s. In 1978 Pav’s was purchased by Bill and Claire Micochero, and today, the business is owned and operated by their daughter, Michelle.
“I've been thinking about expanding our operations for the past two years and couldn't decide whether or not to open up a second location or explore the retail market,” she says. “In the end, we decided that the best way to build our brand would be to first establish ourselves in the retail market.”
Micochero says her focus this year is on Pav’s Portage Lakes location and its wholesale and retail accounts. Pav’s supplies its products to local restaurants, such as Gervasi Vineyard, 91 Wood Fired Oven, The Office Bistro, Beau’s Grille and Vaccaro’s.
”We’ve always had interests in opening up another location, and if the right location came along that made sense, we'd consider it. Hopefully that won't happen until 2014,” she says.
So what’s Micochero’s favorite flavor? It’s a tie between Pav’s Butter Pecan Kustard and Nuts Over Coconut.
“I’m also a huge fan of our Nutella gelato,” she adds.
In a cup or cone?
“Cone all the way,” she says. “Ice cream and cones were meant for each other.”
Pav’s Portage Lakes location opens this month, and its Kustard flavor of the week is posted online at www.pavscreamery.com.
