First Posted: 3/26/2015
DELPHOS — People come from all around the area to get ice cream from The Creamery in Delphos, and now, owner Dan Warnement is hoping they’ll do the same in Kenton.
The Creamery announced an upcoming expansion into the Kenton market on its Facebook page on Wednesday, and customers gave a huge, excited response.
“If you do business like you do in Delphos, you will put Kenton on the map again,” said D’Anne Conley, on The Creamery’s Facebook post announcing the expansion.
Warnement has owned The Creamery for about three years, but his family has owned it for 20, and its been a Delphos institution since the ’80s.
The new location, which will be in Kenton at 836 E. Franklin St., is an effort to “keep the business growing and to reach a little further,” Warnement said.
There’s no date for opening yet, as Warnement plans to take his time and do it right, so he doesn’t disappoint The Creamery customers.
He wants to paint, clean the site up and possibly add on to the building, he said. The approximately 700-square-foot property, across the street from Hardin Memorial Hospital, was an ice cream store previously but has been sitting empty for the past year or so, Warnement said.
“It’s going to be an exciting new step,” he said. “To grow and expand into the next step into a community like Kenton. … It seems like we’re going to have a real good welcome there.”
The move will also bring jobs to Kenton, Warnement isn’t sure how many yet and hasn’t started hiring, but said he hopes the location will grow to the size of the one in Delphos, which employs about 30 people during peak season.
“That’s kind of my vision for it,” Warnement said.
He didn’t expect the reaction on Facebook or from Kenton residents.
“So great to know another empty building is going to become a business again,” said Pam Sprang on The Creamery’s Facebook post about the new location. “Looking forward to sampling your product. Welcome to Kenton.”
