Rose Keppel and Clarence Coss have the scoop on what’s new in Otego.
The couple bought the former Sprinkles ‘N’ Cream ice-cream shop at 3567 state Highway 7 in Otego, rebranding it as the Dairy Lounge. The ice cream parlor, which will continue serving lunch and dinner, will be managed by the pair’s granddaughter, Nayla Jimenez.
Jimenez said the Dairy Lounge marks the realization of her grandmother’s lifelong hope.
“My grandma worked in an ice cream shop as a young teenager, and it’s always been a dream to own her own,” she said. “She used to have an ice cream truck that she would go around with. She lives in Bainbridge and I’m from Sidney and Feb. 29 is when we took over. She had a brick-and-mortar restaurant before — a pizza shop in Hancock — so this isn’t her first brick-and-mortar, it’s just her first ice-cream shop.”
Jimenez, who said she’s planning on a late April opening day, said the Dairy Lounge will bring back favorites, with a twist.
“We’ve done a lot of upgrades,” she said. “We’ve really kind of rebranded the whole place and fixed the outside (with) all new siding, a new roof and we’ve repainted everything inside. The menu is some of the same, and we did keep everybody’s favorites, but we also added some new items that we’re really excited to share. We’ll have a pulled-pork sandwich and specialty sundaes, such as a strawberry cheesecake sundae and a s’mores sundae, and we’ll have a Philly cheesesteak and meatball parm toasted hero.
“It’ll be Perry’s still for hard ice cream, and our soft is Crowley’s ice cream,” Jimenez continued. “We have milkshakes and we’re going to have a banana float and root beer float. We’ll have Brooklyn old-fashioned egg cream and a couple different flavors for that, and we’re still going to do a fish Friday special and, as we move, we might add on some other specials. We definitely have a flavor for everyone. We have over 100 (flavors), because we just got a new flavor burst machine and not a lot of places have this. It’s a special ice-cream machine that mixes up whatever flavor you want — up to three flavors — and it mixes it up with vanilla, so it looks like a twist in a cone, but with whatever flavors you want, so it’s really neat.”
Jimenez said she and her family have been pleased to see early support and hope to deepen their connection to community.
“We’re finishing up everything now and will be open by the end of April, for sure,” she said. “I started a whole new Facebook page that I run, and everybody has been great. We supported a lot of local businesses through the people we hired for the work and the siding, and we have already donated $200 worth of gift cards to Otego Little League.
“I think our demographic will be anyone and everyone,” Jimenez continued. “We expect everyone from Bainbridge, where (Keppel) is from, and out toward Oneonta and surrounding areas. We just really want to get involved with the community and make this a fun place for families and kids to come, and hopefully we will get some cool activities and events in here as time goes on.”
Jimenez said she plans to be open from “11 a.m. to 9-ish p.m., depending on how traffic is.” The Dairy Lounge will be “open every day,” she said, “but closed Mondays.”
For more information and opening announcements, find The Dairy Lounge on Facebook.