San Marcos will soon gain its first-ever Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt shop at 109 S Las Posas Road. The highly-anticipated Pacific Beach store will open in March, with the San Marcos location following soon after, on Apr. 1.
The faces behind Handel’s existing Carlsbad and Del Mar franchise locations are San Marcos locals Marcus Weenig and Travis Campbell. They decided to franchise after trying Handel’s at the Encinitas store.
“We believe in the concept, and we believe it’s a good price point for what you’re getting,” Weenig told What Now San Diego. “You don’t feel like you’re getting robbed every time you go to the ice cream shop.”
The Ohio-born brand was founded by Alice Handel in 1945, when she began selling ice cream at her husband’s gas station. Her recipes included fruit from her own garden.
Now, Handel’s has over 100 flavors, and they use the interior of their ice cream shops just to store the tubs. Rather than entering the shop to order, customers wait in lines outside. Weenig explained that the local branches of Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream like to hire high school students and help them gain work experience.
“It’s a great first job for teenagers,” Weenig said. “And we always make sure to have great customer service. People come for the ice cream, but they come back for the customer service.”
The San Marcos store will feature six walk-up windows for ordering, as well as a patio seating area. Weenig hopes that the outdoor lines will ease people’s COVID concerns. The Pacific Beach location is set to open on Mar. 1 at 4475 Mission Blvd.
