Katie’s Korner Opening ‘Right Around the Corner’

Although plans to open in May were halted by the Coronavirus, Katie’s Korner in North Sewickley Township is planning a safe and new grand opening.

Franchise owner, Gary Hummel, said the holdup has been the final aspects of construction—the parking lot.

In a recent interview, Hummel said that is the final piece to opening the doors.

“As soon as contractors are permitted by Governor Wolf to begin operations, we will be having our parking lot paved and then be open for business,” Hummel said.

According to Hummel when the doors do open, his staff will be following all CDC guidelines and recommendations.

“The interior of the new Katie’s Korner has been built to conform to all USDA guidelines and features all equipment, freezers, dipping cases and counter tops manufactured from stainless steel,” Hummel said. “We had planned for and will provide our customers with the most efficiently cleaned and sanitized ice cream shop on the planet.”

Another measure will include social distancing.

“Social distancing will still be the order of the day which is yet another reason the CDC has recommended our ‘tap-dip- or swipe’ point of sale credit card system to help eliminate the transfer of cash,” he said.  “There will be no need to exchange cash when you get your waffle cone at Katie’s Korner as you can just tap with your iPhone to make your payment and you’re good to go.  The system has a customer display so you can easily verify your order.”

Hummel said the anticipation of opening is growing.

“We are ready to treat our customers to the best ice cream they have ever tasted and our 12 employees, all from the local community are anxious to start work” he said. “As a community we are all in this together and I’m certain the sun will be shining soon.”

Katie’s Korner will feature ice cream cones, sundaes, banana splits, milk shakes, and apple dumplings.

“We will be serving a very premium product,” Hummel said referring to the homemade ice cream.

Katie’s Korner is a small franchise based out of Ohio. Hummel said the franchise owner learned to make the specialty ice cream from his mother, and her name was—you guessed it—Katie.

Moving forward, Hummel plans to have his new shop open 8 months of the year from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

His reason for opening a Katie’s Korner franchise at 801 Mercer Road Beaver Falls (the intersection of PA 65 and PA 588 and right across from Spotlight 88) is that he saw a need for an ice cream shop in the community. He said he has already received positive feedback regarding his upcoming opening.

“We have already received a lot of enthusiasm from the community,” Hummel said. “And we are working to be a big part of the community with sponsoring a girls softball team, a soccer team, and little league baseball.”

Hummel himself is from the community and attended Riverside High School, and as an entrepreneur is learning the ropes of business. He said he was fortunate enough to build his facility from the ground up allowing him to develop his vision his own way. He looks forward to the challenges of actually using the point of sale (POS) system that he researched over the last two years. He also has researched the best way to schedule employees and other technologies that will help to run his business and set it apart from others. One thing he said is unique about his Katie’s Korner location will be digital display screens for menus.

“I have attempted to develop a business where I get things right,” he said. “I am very excited to see if I can pull it off.”

In the past Hummel has owned a pizza franchise and a bookstore café. He admitted that it was not necessarily a dream of his to own an ice cream shop, but his entrepreneurial spirit got the best of him and seeing a need in the community prompted him to action.

He said running a business takes a drive to continue despite challenges and that mistakes are the way you learn. When it comes to success, he likes to refer to the Winston Churchill quote, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Katie’s Korner will feature a seating area for gathering and prices will be competitive with other area shops.

You can find Katie’s Korner on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatiesKornerNST/ or you can visit the website: http://katieskornernst.com/

In case you are curious about the flavors … there will be 50:

Ice Cream

Banana
Black Cherry
Black Raspberry
Black Raspberry Cheesecake
Black Walnut
Bubble Gum
Butter Pecan
Butterscotch Ripple
Cappuccino Fudge
Caramel Cashew
Chewy Chocolate
Cherry Cordial
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chocolate
Chocolate Almond
Chocolate Chip
Chocolate Marshmallow
Chocolate Pecan
Coconut Almond
Coffee
Cotton Candy
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
German Chocolate Cake
Grape
Heath Bar
Maple Walnut
Mint Chocolate Chip
Mocha Chunk
Mousse Truffle
Orange Pineapple
Oreo
Pistachio
Praline Pecan
Reese’s
Rocky Road
Salty Dog
Spumoni
Strawberry
Strawberry Cheesecake
Vanilla
Vanilla Bean
Whitehouse Cherry

Sherbets

Blue Boy
Orange
Red Raspberry

No Sugar Added

Butter Pecan
Fudge Ripple
Milky Way
Peanut Butter Fudge
Vanilla