Whit’s Frozen Custard is moving into Avondale this fall, pending approval of a construction permit and completed build-out.
Area owner Jessica McKinley said the site provides Whit’s a presence near Downtown.
“Avondale has an active pedestrian community, which is really a target area for us,” she said.
McKinley noted the restaurants and boutique stores in the center, which is the Shoppes of Avondale.
She and her husband, Michael McKinley, opened their first franchised location in May 2014 in Atlantic Beach.
It was the first location in Florida and the first Whit’s outside Ohio for the company, founded in 2003.
The McKinleys have since opened Whit’s locations in April 2015 in Jacksonville Beach and in February in Mandarin.
The Avondale Whit’s, at 3545 St. Johns Ave. next to The Blue Fish Restaurant & Oyster Bar, should open in early November.
A pending permit application shows LaCour Construction Co. of Jacksonville Beach is the contractor to build-out 1,487 square feet at a construction cost of $86,000. The architect is Doherty Sommers Architects Engineers Inc.
The store formerly was The Avondale Gallery.
Whit’s Frozen Custard opened March 3, 2003, in Granville, Ohio. Founder Chuck Whitman was working in his father’s food-service business and had called on restaurants that included popular soft-serve businesses throughout the Midwest.
He also bought ice-cream ingredients and worked at a dairy manufacturing plant, perfecting a frozen custard recipe. As the whitscustard.com site said, “Frozen custard became his passion.”
His wife, Lisa, and her family had operated ice-cream establishments in the Columbus area. Their son and daughter soon joined the business.
Its tagline is “made fresh daily.”
Whit’s has 32 locations in Ohio, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina. Five are listed as coming soon, comprising the one in Avondale and four more in Ohio.
The Atlantic Beach Whit’s is at 38 Ocean Blvd., the Jacksonville Beach location is at 1232 Beach Blvd. and the Mandarin store is at 11362 San Jose Blvd. in the Gates of Olde Mandarin center. They are open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
The menu features vanilla, chocolate and flavor-of-the-week custard along with toppings, specialties, drinks and food, such as hot dogs and nachos.
It also offers a doggie sundae for pets, a vanilla custard topped with a dog treat.
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