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Beth Marie’s makes our ice cream using a machine designed in 1927, which produces ten gallons of ice cream in eighteen minutes. Our ice cream is classified “premium quality”, containing 14% butterfat. New flavors are being created regularly to match the desires of our customers, licensees, retail stores and restaurants that sell our ice cream.
Located on the South side of Denton’s Historic Square, in a building built in 1876, Beth Marie’s original location has the atmosphere of an old fashioned ice cream soda fountain. Our new locations, keeping the same comfortable atmosphere, are on the South side of Denton at Unicorn Lake, across from Cinemark and in Old Downtown Carrollton next to Babes restaurant.
Central Market food stores in Texas offer a variety of Beth Marie’s homemade ice cream flavors in pint containers. We've also found our way to Metzler's BBQ in Denton, the concession stands at UNT's Apogee Stadium, 3 Rudy's BBQ restaurants in Northeast Texas, Hypnotic Emporium Dallas, The Silver Saddle Saloon in Granbury, All Things Kids in Georgetown, and most of the quality hotels, restaurants and convenience stores in the Denton area. See the map page "Where's Our Ice Cream" on this site to see our locations. |
Things You Might Not Know About Beth Marie’s Ice Cream
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Brief History
Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream is a local landmark in Denton, TX.. Original owners, Beth Marie & Dr. Randy Cox, first opened their doors in November, 1998. They wanted to create an authentic historic ice cream & soda fountain parlor on the "sleepy" Historic Courthouse Square, anticipating that it could help bring back activity, life and visitors. It did just that, and became a landmark in the heart of Denton. Beth & Randy decided to pursue other challenges in 2003, and a newly formed partnership purchased the business. In 2009 the ice cream parlor expanded to a second location at Unicorn Lake, by the Cinemark Movie Theater. At about the same time Beth Marie's began expanding into other markets, to introduce their premium quality ice cream and unique flavors. In March of 2017 a third location was opened just off the Old Downtown Carrollton Square, at 1020 W. Main. Then an independent licensee opened a Beth Marie's Old Fashioned Ice Cream in Sherman, TX at 2121 N. Heritage Pkwy.
How's It Made
Beth Marie’s has over 150 flavors of ice cream, and the menu changes seasonally. Each location has between 48 and 64 flavors to choose from, at any one time. Most of their premium ice cream is made in an ice cream machine designed in the late 1920s, which makes 10 gallons of ice cream in about 16 minutes, depending on ingredients. After each "batch" is made, it immediately goes into freezers and is ready to serve after 48 hours.
Texas Business Growth
When asked how Beth Marie's Old Fashioned Ice Cream came to be offered in the Central Market locations in Texas, Bob Moses, one of the three partners, noted that it "took some diligence". Moses is a retired Texas Instruments engineer and one of the three partners that has owned Beth Marie's since 2003. “The supplier of our ice cream mix in 2008 was Hill Country Dairies and they were also distributing some frozen products to Central Market. They offered to make the introduction to Central Market. So Ken Willis, owner/partner and head of operations, opened the discussions to see if we had common values. Willis had a 20+ years career with Grandy's Restaurants and a further 15 year's of owner/operator of Ruby's Diner on the Denton Square. Luckily, Beth Marie's and Central Market had some very important common values.” Those standards included, “First, we are a local Texas business with a strong product. Second, we support the community in many ways & efforts. Central Market was also looking for a company with flexibility that could offer signature flavors.
“When the Central Market buyers came to Beth Marie’s, they sampled over 30 flavors. Then we settled on featuring seven of our flavors in Central Market stores throughout Texas. Right now we are in pint sizes, in the future we hope to be distributing larger containers....possibly quarts or half gallons. We also have the ability to rotate flavors, as there is only so much shelf space available at each location.”
“When the Central Market buyers came to Beth Marie’s, they sampled over 30 flavors. Then we settled on featuring seven of our flavors in Central Market stores throughout Texas. Right now we are in pint sizes, in the future we hope to be distributing larger containers....possibly quarts or half gallons. We also have the ability to rotate flavors, as there is only so much shelf space available at each location.”
Community Involvement
Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Soda Fountain strives to be very involved in the community. Two of the three owner/partners, Moses & Willis, live in Denton and are very active in organizations such as Denton Main Street, Denton Downtown Task force, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton Chamber of Commerce, Good Samaritan- Lake Forest Retirement Center, Denton State Supported Living Center, Denton Kiwanis, Denton Rotary and various church & school organizations/activities. The third owner/partner, Pat Engelbrecht, is a marketing specialist, living in Dallas, and forms a part of the management team.