The Love Shack

The Snack Shack heats up Wilkes-Barre every summer

Gene Padden

Finding The Snack Shack in Wilkes-Barre is easy. As anyone will tell you, just drive down Business Route 309 (a.k.a. Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard) until you see the big cow, and there it is.



Leaving The Snack Shack takes just a little more fortitude. Winner of diamond city's readers' poll in the Best Frozen Treats category in 2005, The Snack Shack recently showed once again why it has such a strong hold on its clientele when it iced the competition during a rooftop contest as part of a WBRE News broadcast. Meteorologist Josh Hodell hosted seven of the area's most famous ice cream institutions, but it was The Snack Shack's caramel apple pumpkin pie sundae that edged the other formidable desserts.



"We were so excited and we knew that since it was our best seller, it would do well," said co-owner Candice Farrell. "We run out of pumpkin ice cream every week."



Candice and Joe Farrell bought The Snack Shack from Darlene Fischer last August, and haven't had much trouble keeping up the joint's reputation for quality and innovation. In addition to countless menu items that include hand-dipped and soft-serve ice cream, frozen yogurt, floats, sundaes, pretzels, flurries, shakes, malts, funnel cakes, sorbet, smoothies, cones, churros, gyros, chili dogs, and parfaits, the local eatery is also fighting in the trenches of the futuristic ice cream war.



That's right, stop by the food court of Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 some time, and check out the dueling "mini" ice cream machines. On the left is perennial favorite Dippin' Dots, the so-called "ice cream of the future" since 1987. On the right, you'll see a Mini Melts machine, the newest contender in the cryogenically frozen food arena.



For $4, you can purchase either product, and a counter on the machine keeps track of the purchases. Joe has a pretty good idea why Mini Melts has out-performed Dippin' Dots.



"Dots comes in a pouch, but ours comes in a cup with a spoon," he said. "And ours is a melt-based ice cream while theirs is more water-based, and we don't have to whip air into the product. We're giving it a three-month test here to see if we can keep the machine or not."



At a quick glance, Mini Melts takes a likeness to Dippin' Dots, but with less of a freezer-burn aftertaste and more of a popcorn shape. The dynamic appearance is what prevents Dippin' Dots from filing a lawsuit, which is touchy grounds considering it lost a suit against Mini Melts entrepreneurs Shawn and Dan Kilcoyne when a judge found Dippin' Dots committed fraud in the patent application process. The story is quite amusing, and the paperwork can be found on the Mini Melts Web site.



Mini Melts is available in the vending machine or at Snack Shack in flavors: vanilla, cookie dough, banana split, chocolate, cookies 'n cream, cotton candy, and mint chocolate chip.



"Darlene and Brian had the product and it did very well at festivals and events like the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival," Joe said. "We're definitely looking at an expansion of the machines."



Snack Shack also stocks animal treats, which is no doubt part of the universal appeal (or its close proximity to the local vet's office). A summer drive-by usually reveals long lines every night of the week, but it's typically a quick wait in the queue.



"The best part of this place is that we have four or five experienced workers returning from last season, and probably 14 total," Joe said. "Everybody wants to work here, so we have a core group that's just fantastic. Even the former owner Darlene and Brian still helps us, and it's very important to us to have their support."