Ice cream shops and candy stores are a staple for any beach-side boardwalk area, but proprietors Richard Fischl Jr. and Mark Watkins-Fischl have found a way to keep customers cool, while keeping their business original.
Coastal Point • RYAN SAXTON
Erika Belletti, frosts some fresh doughnuts at Berry Good Treats in downtown Bethany Beach. The doughnuts are one component of the shop’s 15/15 Challenge sundae.
Berry Good Treats has all the traditional makings of a beach-front business to satisfy a sweet-tooth, but the new owners have brought completely new concepts to Bethany, from handmade doughnuts and fried candy bars to an eating challenge that has to be seen to be believed.
Since their re-opening in April, Berry Good Treats has been scooping out more than 35 flavors of Edy’s Ice Cream, including conventional tastes of Butter Pecan and Rocky Road, to off-the-wall flavors like Green Tea and Kona Coffee. Most recognized, however, are the store’s homemade, hand-frosted doughnuts, made fresh each day.
“I get a little dirty sometimes,” said Manager Erika Belletti, who frosts each doughnut as requested — applying sugar, sprinkles and nuts, to order.
“We make a huge batch at one time, and that makes about five dozen. I’ve gone through five batches at a time before.”
As student manager of dining services at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, and working in the food industry business since she was 14, sweets and treats have become more or less Belletti’s perfection. Working with Richard Fischl Jr. prior to Berry Good Treats, it wasn’t hard for Belletti to make the transition to the beach.
“He called me up and told me he opened this shop,” she said, “and I needed a summer job, so it worked out.”
With the ice cream sales booming in the evening, the doughnuts are big sellers in the early morning.
“A lot of people stop by in the morning for a coffee and doughnut; something quick before they run back home,” Belletti said. “We get lines of people outside the door in the morning, waiting for doughnuts. Other than the Frog House [restaurant], we’re one of the only places here on the boardwalk open for breakfast hours, at 7 a.m., sometimes earlier.”
If the painstaking precision of the handmade doughnuts didn’t keep the employees busy enough, fresh-squeezed lemonade and handmade waffle cones assure workers there’s always something to keep them occupied.
Their fried candy bars are a one-of-a-kind treat in the area, and the concept is taking off rapidly.
“We do everything from minis to full candy bars,” said Belletti. The sweet chocolate candy is dipped into funnel cake batter, adding a fried, tasty twist. “We have Snickers, Milky Ways, and Three Musketeers, as well as Twinkies and Oreos. The minis are my favorite.
“Mark developed this philosophy that if it looks like a zero, it must have zero calories,” she said with a laugh of the hypothetical hit on the waistline, at least according to her boss. “Everybody loves them, especially the locals.” Frozen bananas dipped in chocolate are also a hit with the summer crowd.
Those who don’t want to take Watkins-Fischl’s nutritional suggestion at face value still shouldn’t let all the “sweet-talk” turn them away from Berry Good Treats, though. The popular cookie line Sweet Christine’s Confections is also found there, offering gluten- and wheat-free baked goods with organic ingredients. Even selected Edy’s Ice Cream flavors come in sugar-free.
Berry Good Treats also carries salt-water taffy, cotton candy, hot dogs and soft pretzels, promising to touch any summertime craving one might desire.
Fischl and Watkins-Fischl – dog-lovers at heart – also wanted to be sure not to leave their four-legged friends out of the fun. Frosty Paws — frozen, non-dairy treats, made specifically for dogs — are also sold at the store. Biscuits are also kept on-hand for the canine customers, and a water station set up outside will even keep the thirstiest hound hydrated.
Without a doubt, one of the most notorious attributes to Berry Good Treats emphasis on sweet goodness is their “15/15 Challenge.”
The folks at Berry Good have developed another use for those plastic beach pails beyond sandcastle-building — fill it with a massive sundae, chocked full of whipped cream, bananas, mounds of ice cream, and even some homemade doughnuts, and dare customers to scarf it down in 15 minutes.
If they accomplish that perilous mission, customers are congratulated and can go on their way, full stomach and all. Otherwise, it costs them $15. Photos of every courageous contender line the walls inside.
“We’ve only had four people complete the challenge,” said Belletti, “and we’ve had close to 45 people try.” The record for the quickest ice-cream inhalation to date is seven brain-freezing minutes. “There’s usually at least someone each day [who attempts the challenge]. A lot of the time, if people see someone try, they’ll come back the next day and take a shot at it.”
“We wanted to create something completely unique,” said Fischl. “We’d heard of the impossible sundaes, and we decided to throw together most of what we serve in the store and see what would happen.”
It’s a kind of spirit that the shop’s employees have found contagious.
Ricky Gaona, a year-round resident, began working at Berry Good Treats mid-June. “It’s a lot of fun working here,” he said. “It’s something new for the area.”
“The shop’s seen a lot of success since we started,” Fischl said. “We wanted to have something that was original, but was also family-oriented and affordable.”
For more information, stop in at Berry Good Treats on the south side of Garfield Parkway in Bethany Beach, or call (302) 537-9679.