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Handel's plays April Fools' on customers
By Kalea hall
CANFIELD
Handel’s customers with an addiction to the beloved chocolate-pecan flavor were distraught when they learned the flavor would be discontinued April 1.
But the Canfield-based and Youngstown-born ice cream company did not actually take away the sacred chocolate pecan ice cream thousands flock to Handel’s to get no matter the weather.
It was just an April Fools’ Day joke.
“We are very embedded into the community, and we feel the customers are like our family,” said Jim Brown, chief operating officer.
The company posted a warning of the chocolate pecan discontinuance on signs at its locations.
“People are so worked up over it,” Brown said. “Everyone has been having a good time. We have plenty of chocolate pecan. It was just our way of taking in the holiday with a little bit of fun.”
The company’s first April Fools’ joke was circulated to the press.
“Due to heavy crop damage and prolonged freezing, this year’s pecan crop does not meet Handel’s high standards,” the press release reads.
However, the Pecan Growers Association president — Lirpa Sloof — who confirmed the crop damage in the release had a name that clearly spelled “April Fools” backward.
Handel’s also has recently launched its mobile food truck for special events and the company is “very, very close” to releasing what its next ice-cream novelty item will be, Brown said.
“We are pretty jacked up about it, and we want to make sure that everyone has a chance to see it and taste it,” Brown said. “We would not be here without the good folks of Youngstown. They have put us on the map.”