There was a time when a visitor to the Jersey Shore couldn’t walk a block on the boardwalks of Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood, or other seaside resorts without running into a Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard or a Steel’s Fudge store.
Though not as ubiquitous as they once were, these seaside snack sellers — both more than a century old — remain very much a part of the shore landscape. And that is as it should be. Who can resist, at any time of year, some soft ice cream and fudge?
Though York, Pa. is more than 150 miles away from Atlantic City and other shore points, it was the spot where a man named Archie Kohr bought a gas-powered ice cream machine in 1917.
Though Kohr was a schoolteacher, he also helped his two brothers run the family dairy farm. He was brought up in the dairy business, so making ice cream with his newfangled machine was the next logical step.
Although Kohr had some success with his first batches of homemade ice cream by way of door-to-door delivery in York, as the story goes, Archie, and brothers Lester and Elton, were not all together happy with the product or the machine. Not only did they change the recipe several times, they also made some adjustments and upgrades to their ice cream machine.
With a lower-fat, lower-sugar recipe, and the mechanical adjustments, the finished ice cream closely resembled the Kohr Bros. soft-serve that customers have loved for more than 100 years.
An uncle suggested that Archie and his brothers try selling the new product at the shore. Their first stop, only two years after they made their first batch of ice cream, was the Coney Island Boardwalk. It has been reported that the Kohr brothers sold almost 20,000 ice cream cones that weekend.
The only change made to the original recipe was the addition of eggs, which helped prevent the ice cream from melting too quickly in the warm, salt air. With the eggs added, the product seemed more like custard than simple ice cream. And that’s when Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard was born.
There were some changes in management through the years — Elton went out on his own, and another brother, Morgan, joined up in 1927 — but Kohr Bros. remains family owned. Kohr Bros. currently has four stores in Ocean City, two in Seaside Heights and two in Rehoboth Beach, Del., as well as stores in Cape May, Wildwood, Point Pleasant Beach and Stone Harbor. And it’s still delicious.
Though Steel’s Fudge currently has only one store in Atlantic City and one in Ocean City, the company has been around as long as Kohr Bros.
Steel’s also started in 1919, on the Atlantic City Boardwalk at 1633 Boardwalk, 10 or so blocks from their current location. Elizabeth and Howard Steel started Steel’s. According to the Food Network, Steel’s is using their original recipe.
“Atlantic City has changed radically since 1919 when Steel’s Fudge opened,” stated a recent Food Network post, “but the boardwalk shop remains unchanged: same formula, same pans.”
In addition to “Grandma’s old-time recipe fudge,” the company also offers a wide range of other tasty confections, including saltwater taffy, brittles, nuts, macaroons, chocolates and fruit slices. And, although Steel’s only has two stores currently operating, they report that more are in the offing. Steel’s internet and mail order businesses continue to do very well, especially at holiday time.
Steel’s claims to be “the oldest existing original, family-owned candy and fudge business in the United States.” But the powers-that-be at Steel’s may want to take note of Shriver’s on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
Shriver’s was founded in 1898 by William Shriver. In 1959, the business was purchased from the Shriver family by four brothers from Philadelphia. Today, Shriver’s is owned and operated by Meryl and Blu Vangelov; Meryl is the great-granddaughter of one of those Philadelphia brothers, making the Vangelovs the third generation of that same family to run the company.
As one of Steel’s thousands of Facebook followers posted, “I won’t get fudge from any place else.”
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
