The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Hastee Tastee now open for business
When Mark Foster and his wife, Kathy, bought the Hastee Tastee about five years ago, he followed a habit honed decades earlier.
As a boy, Foster stopped twice a day at the ice cream stand: On the way home from school; and while delivering newspapers.
“I was born and raised in Amherst,” said Foster, 55, who graduated in 1980 from Marion L. Steele High School. “This was on my paper route. The baseball team used to come here, too.”
The business has been around at least since the early 1960s, and possibly since as early as the late 1950s, Foster said, adding he would enjoy seeing evidence of when the business started.
“It was funny,” he said. “I befriended (the owner) when I was a little kid.
“I was at least twice a day buying something. Banana split was my favorite, no doubt about it. If I had the money for a banana split, that’s what I got. If not, a chocolate malt. I can remember it easily.”
The Fosters said they bought the business as a way to encourage their children – Nick Foster, 21, and Maley Foster, 18 – to earn their way through college.
The family ran it for four years without many changes to figure out the ice cream business, Foster said.
“What we’re trying to bring back is the old flavor of the custard style,” he said, “where we make all of our own homemade stuff in house: Strawberry shortcake, brownies and our own homemade pretzel dogs and pretzel sticks. They’re really good.”
One of their best selling products is homemade orange sherbert, Foster said.
“That’s getting really popular,” he said. “People come from all around for our orange sherbert.
“The other thing we did when we purchased this, we found premium ice cream in the soft serve. We wanted it to be the richest, creamiest ice cream you could get.”
Hastee Tastee opened April 1 with service seven days a week. During school, open hours run from 2-8 p.m. and in the summer, hours run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The phone number is 440-984-2663. The shop generally closes for the winter in the first week of October or so.
“This year, we have a whole new lunch menu featuring steakburgers and french fries,” Foster said. “Our food menu has really grown.
“We bought a new machine so now we can offer 13 flavors of premium soft serve ice cream: mint chocolate chip; peanut butter; banana; strawberry; espresso; cotton candy.
“We’re hoping it will be a big draw for us. We’re trying to let people in Amherst know this is a really good place for them to go.”
Kathy Foster added, “We also have Irish creme, English toffee and maple nut flavors.”
They hire about 15 students from Amherst.
“They’re wonderful kids,” Mark Foster said.
“We only hire friendly girls and boys,” Kathy Foster said.
In addition, a local company designed the ice cream cone logo, Mark Foster said.
“We’re trying to keep all the business we can as local as possible,” he said.
Family maintains a strong presence in the business.
Mark Foster’s mother helps with baking. Kathy Foster’s sister, Karen Migra, helps manage the restaurant, while her husband, Ken Migra, offers maintenance help.
Nick Foster enjoyed the business so much he created Colonel Foster’s Gourmet Popcorn out of the same location.
“He’s got a real nice following in Lorain County with weddings and fundraisers,” Mark Foster said.
To add a point of trivia, he said the Hastee Tastee was shown in the movie, “The Bronze,” which partially was shot in Amherst.
Business has been growing over the last four years, they said.
“With the new food items, we’re hoping to take it to the next level,” Mark Foster said. “When we started, we didn’t really know much about ice cream other than eating it.
“We want people to say, ‘If you want something to go with the quality, you have to go to Hastee for it.’ Once they come up here, we usually keep them as a customer.”