10 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY,JULY3.2002
Two new custard shops open, offer competition for Custard Cup
By Todd Smith Kansan staff writer
With temperatures rising as the summer rolls on, students looking to cool off with frozen custard will soon have more options.
Sheridan's Frozen Custard and Culver's Frozen Custard Butterburgers join the Custard Cup as the three custard shops in town.
Duke Frye, owner of Sheridan's Frozen Custard, 2030 W. 23rd St., said the store should open July 15. The store will occupy the building where Hardee's was located.
Frye said he decided to bring a Sheridan's to Lawrence because of the potential market and the location he was able to acquire. The company has seven stores in operation, not including the Lawrence location.
"The 23rd and Iowa location in my mind is the prime site in town," he said. "It is the highest traffic intersection in the city."
Frye said Sheridan's was a high volume frozen custard business that was capable of making a lot of custard in a short amount of time.
Custard had a higher percentage of butter fat and eggs than ice cream, Frye said. It is also served at about 20 degrees, while ice cream is served at below zero.
He said it provided a huge number of items to put on its product, including pecans, cherries, bananas and strawberries.
"That is why it does not freeze your teeth as much when you eat it," he said.
David King, Abilene spring graduate, said he had been to the Sheridan's in Olathe and liked the taste and wide variety of ingredients.
"The custard at Sheridan's was really smooth and it tasted really rich," King said.
Frye said as far as competition goes with Culver's, the newest frozen custard restaurant in town, he thought Culver's focused more on food service than custard.
John Olson, co-owner of Culver's Frozen Custard Butterburgers, 2111 W. 33rd St., said their restaurant provided a different niche than the other custard stores in town.
Olson said it sold a lot of custard,but the restaurant also sold a lot of food items.
He said the combination of frozen custard and butterburgers made the restaurant unique.
A butterburger had fresh ground beef chuck on a lightly buttered and toasted bun, Olson said.
Olson said they chose the location on 33rd Street because of the expanding retail market in the area. The movie theaters were nearby, and JCPenney, SuperTarget, and Walmart stores are close to their store,
"Other than downtown, this is the hottest retail center in the city," Olson said.
he said.
He said the business was doing well since it opened on June 17.
"We have been busy, and we have done little advertising, and sales have been 35 percent above projections." Olson said.
He said he thought there was plenty of room in Lawrence for his business, Sheridan's and the Custard Cup.
The Custard Cup, 529 W.23rd St., Suite E, used to be the lone custard shop in Lawrence.
Bonnie Plumberg, owner of The Custard Cup, said her custard was different from the others because of her vanilla.
"Our vanilla comes from Madagascar and costs $90 a gallon and makes a big difference in our flavor," she said.
She said when she opened her frozen custard shop in 1999 she heard some of the bigger chains, like Sheridan's and Culver's, were looking into the Lawrence area.
Plumberg said her business was locally-owned and operated, unlike the other two frozen custard stores.
Plumberg said she thought if she presented the community with a good product and had a couple of seasons under her belt, she could establish a regular clientele.
"We have a lot of people come in here on a regular basis and Lawrence residents
LAURIE SISK/KANSAN
Jason Goodvin, wichita junior, scoops up a "Trufflicious," a special offering at Culver's Custard. The new store is one of the new choices for custard in Lawrence.
are pretty loyal to their local businesses and they have been good to us," Plumberg said.
Contact Smith at tsmith@kansan.com. This story was edited by Mike Gilligan.