One of Ohio’s oldest ice cream chains is making its way down south.
Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, the Youngstown-based chain founded in 1945, is set to expand to Cincinnati.
Six new parlors will open across the Cincinnati area, with the first slated for late summer 2027. No locations have been announced yet, but all six will be owned by Royal Scoop, LLC.
“What really stood out to us about Handel’s was not only the strength of the brand, but the people behind it,” said Raj Patel, operational principal of Royal Scoop in a press release. “As experienced multiunit operators, we know how important it is to have a strong partner behind us as we grow. The Handel’s team has been incredibly supportive throughout the process, and their commitment to franchisee success gave us a lot of confidence in our decision. We’re excited to bring a product that customers genuinely love to Cincinnati, and we look forward to growing with the brand for many years to come.”
Founded in the summer of 1945, Handel’s began when Alice Handel started serving homemade ice cream from her husband’s gas station in Youngstown, Ohio, using fruit from her backyard and her personal recipes.
The brand now has 200 locations across the U.S. and has recently started rapidly expanding across four markets: Cincinnati, the Chicagoland area, the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and Fort Collins, Colo.
“Cincinnati holds a special place for us as an Ohio-born brand, and we’re proud to bring Handel’s here,” said Handel’s VP of Franchise Development Erin Snyder. “We’ve been inundated with inquiries into this market for a long time, which allowed us to be incredibly selective, and we found exactly the right partner in Royal Scoop. Their experience in multiunit restaurants and hotel operations, combined with their passion for community and genuine love for our brand, makes them the ideal franchisee to introduce Handel’s to this city. Cincinnati is a market that has wanted us for a long time, and we’re developing it in a major way.”
To learn more, visit the official Handel’s website.
