Main Street Business

Above: Modeled after the counter and stools in the former F2 Ice Cream Bar, the home of the Modern Milk Bar was designed and built by Lee Krueger. Photo courtesy of the Kruegers.

How did a couple from eastern Long Island seeking a place to retire create an ice cream shop in Sheffield?

Raven: We were contemplating a life change and knew that we wanted a quieter, rural life not too far from family. We sold our house in Calverton, NY, and bought a house here in December 2022. Travelling back and forth on Route 7, Lee noticed a “For Sale” sign on this long-vacant building. He was looking for something different to do. The local owner had previously run a business here with her husband and had even imagined running an ice cream shop. She liked the idea of a couple running a business together, and we bought the property. After a substantial renovation, we opened a year later on Memorial Day, 2024. We were well received.

Did you know anything about the ice cream business?

Lee: Raven knew about restaurants and food science, and I knew about construction. Our family has always been large consumers of ice cream, and we consulted with Stu Feldschuh of Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe in Riverhead, NY, who gave us great advice and beginners training.

Raven: I read every book I could about making ice cream, and together we experimented in our kitchen making small batches with our Cuisinart ice cream maker. What we didn’t know was how much work it would be. Lee gets here sometimes at 6:30am to make ice cream and often doesn’t leave until 10 or 11 at night.

What’s special about your ice cream?

Lee: We make all of our ice cream and most toppings ourselves. Our milk/cream base is from the grass-raised cows of Ronnybrook Farm in Ancramdale, NY, our flavorings are all natural as can be obtained, and we make our cakes, brownies, and toppings ourselves from scratch.

Our hard ice cream base is 16% butter fat, which the industry considers “super premium.” We strive to use only natural flavorings, colorants, and inclusions, for example purple carrot, red beet juice, and spirulina for colors and real local fruit, nuts, maple syrup, and shaved Belgian chocolate as add-ins.

How did you decide on the name Modern Milk Bar?

Lee: When we started learning about the history of the area, our daughter gave us the book Old Route 7: Along the Berkshire Highway. There was a photo of the former F2 Milk Bar, which was located just across the road from us. The “2” was actually a Z, the initials of the first owner Frank Zollner who founded it in the late 1930s. Modern Milk Bar seemed both an acknowledgement of the past and very contemporary like our design.

What’s on the menu?

Raven: We offer 19 flavors of hard ice cream and two feature flavors that rotate out. We serve chocolate and vanilla soft serve ice cream and a different flavor of soft serve low-fat frozen yogurt each week. We strive to have two flavors of vegan ice cream made with coconut cream and a no sugar added ice cream sweetened with monk fruit.

In the store we also sell soft serve ice cream cakes, flying saucers, ice cream bars, and Modern Mutt bones or pup cups for our canine friends. Custom hard ice cream cakes with any of our flavors can also be ordered in store or online. We want everything to be really good, but not too exotic. Some of our favorite flavors are Housatonic swamp thing, which has chocolate, chewy brownie pieces, marshmallow cream, and black raspberry, and cherry pistachio, which is always a surprise flavor for most people.

What’s most difficult? What makes you feel great?

Lee: Prices on everything have gone up dramatically since we opened, and the energy cost of running refrigeration equipment is a challenge. The cost of chocolate and other ingredients has doubled. Ice cream should be something everyone can enjoy, but it seems like it’s becoming a luxury item for many in this economy. We’re doing everything we can to keep it affordable and fun to take the kids or your spouse out for a treat.

We get a lot of “thank yous” from our local customers, which is very gratifying.

What’s your personal favorite flavor? What’s the most difficult to make?

Raven: I love sundaes with all the embellishments, especially hot fudge, which I make myself.

Lee: My favorite changes often, but today I would say my favorite is Mass maple cream made with Turner Farms maple syrup.

The black raspberry ice cream takes the most effort to make while vanilla or cotton candy with just one extra ingredient are the easiest.

What did you learn in your first season? What surprised you most?

Raven: The sudden, dramatic drop off in business after Labor Day should not have surprised us, but it did nonetheless. We stayed open during the winter as promised to our local fan base, but January, February and March were bleak. This year we’re thinking of closing New Year’s Day and reopening in April for some much-deserved time off.

How have you marketed your business?

Lee: We moved our larger-than-life ice cream cone from in front of the shop to out by the road where people could see it driving by and have advertised in Out and About and the Sheffield Times, but that’s about it. We did some billboard ads in the fall, but I’m not sure how effective that was. Word of mouth and happy customers are always the best marketing.

Raven: Our daughter-in-law makes us “modern” and handles all of our social media, which is key to any business these days. She does our website, posts on Instagram, and is in charge of our brand consistency. Our son Will is also very creative and has great ideas and people skills. Our cow and cone logo was designed and drawn by our dear friend Johnson back on Long Island.

Who makes the ice cream? How do you divide up responsibilities?

Lee: Raven’s the brains, and I’m the brawn who makes the ice cream and keeps the machines clean and running. I also make and decorate our cakes. Raven is customer facing and creates all of our flavors, toppings, and sauces.

How many employees do you have? Are they hard to find?

We have nine employees who are 14 and up and eager to work and enjoy the atmosphere. Fortunately for us, working in an ice cream shop draws the interest of our local young adults and they help keep us young as well!