We all Scream for 50 years of Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream!
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
Time flies when you’re having fun. No wonder half a century has slipped by since Ye Ole Fashioned Café & Ice Cream first opened its doors in 1972. And what a better way for the iconic ice cream parlor, known for its huge scoops and massive BLTs, to celebrate its golden anniversary than by opening a brand-new shop right here in West Ashley, where it all began.
With two stores in Mt. Pleasant, two in Summerville, one in North Charleston, another in Goose Creek, and now two in West Ashley, the Ye Ole Fashioned brand is as strong as ever. But when speaking with Charleston native and founder Rod Lapin, you get the sense that this newest Ye Old Fashioned in the Ashley Landing Shopping Center off Sam Rittenberg Boulevard is special. Not only is this lucky number seven located just minutes from his West Ashley home, but the back wall of the restaurant is adorned with dozens of framed photographs from 1972 to today. It’s a museum of sorts, a tribute to half a century of serving the Lowcountry as well as a memorial to family and friends who have worked and patronized Ye Ole Fashioned shops over the years. It’s also an homage to what many may think of as a bygone era, a time when the innocence of an ice cream shop could melt away all the turmoil in the world. But when you walk into the shiny new Ye Ole Fashioned you quickly realize that those good ol’ days aren’t over yet.
The magic a humble ice cream parlor once held decades ago is still all right here, from the iconic black-and-white checkerboard floors and blue and white striped walls to the chalkboard sign menu and stainless-steel milkshake machines to the lunch counter and tubs and tubs of delicious frozen confections sitting behind glass cases, just waiting to be piled high on a cone or made into a banana split, covered with chocolate, strawberry, and butterscotch
It’s a throwback in the most wonderfully nostalgic way. Lapin, who is now a grandfather and great-grandfather, isn’t as involved in the day-to-day of businesses, which are all still run like a family ice cream shop. That’s because they are still family shops, or something very close. One of the secrets to Lapin’s longevity in Charleston’s volatile food and beverage world has been his treatment of customers and employees. In an industry where restaurants struggle to retain workers for more than a few weeks, Ye Ole Fashioned has folks who have been with the company for 10, 12, 15, or even 20 years.
“It’s a matter of treating people with a personal touch. Our owners all work in the store and we treat our employees like family,” says Lapin.
Some have even gone on to be owners of a Ye Ole Fashioned. For example, Victor Davydov was basically a kid when he moved to the U.S. from Russia in the ’90s. He began working at the Ye Ole Fashioned on Savannah Highway and 15 years later he bought the ownership rights to the place.
“At the time, I was thinking about how I could step away from the business without creating any real big changes,” recalls Lapin. “Victor had recently come into some money and we talked about him buying the place.” But Lapin says it was important that store manager Cheryl Murray was OK with the move. Murray had been with Ye Ole Fashioned for more than 20 years. Lapin says she was thrilled to have Davydov take on a bigger role and that he had been a vital part of the team for a long time.
Davydov is also the co-owner of the new Ashley Landing store, which recently opened in the space briefly occupied by national chain Famous Toastery. Davydov lured business partner Rolando Revlo from South Beach to invest and come north to help him run the new location. Revlo’s mother and two sisters moved to Charleston and now work at the store.
Lapin opened his first Ye Ole Fashioned in the South Windermere Shopping Center back in 1972. Fifteen years later, he opened the now iconic Savannah Highway shop, which still often has cars wrapped around the building, with people craving one of their 32 flavors of ice cream, a milkshake or old school malt, sundae, or something off their massive food menu. Each store also has the freedom to try different things and if they work, they can find a place a permanent place on the menu. For example, Revlo wanted to offer a little taste of home at the new Ashley Landing location and so there is now a Cuban sandwich on the menu.
While the Cuban sandwich is a new-comer to the Ye Ole Fashioned menu, one sandwich that is as classic as it’s ice cream is the BLT, dubbed “Our Specialty” on the menu. Every BLT has over 10 slices of bacon per sandwich, something that came about kind of on accident. Lapin recalls back when the original shop was still in South Windermere a former employee’s son-in-law came in and she made him a off-menu BLT that was stacked high with bacon.
“People started to point and say ‘I want that!,’” recalls Lapin. “We named it the son-in-law special. And because of that it just evolved over the weeks, months, and years that the portions just become larger. It went to the ice cream and then it went to the French fries,” he says laughing. Lapin still takes pride in that you’re going to get a large portion for a fair price at Ye Ole Fashioned.
While the portions haven’t changed, a few things have recently. During a time when many restaurants are downsizing or closing their doors altogether, Ye Ole Fashioned keeps finding ways to stay relevant without losing the magic that made it a Lowcountry staple 50 years ago. For example, the new Ashley Landing shop has a handful of beers available.
“It’s not something we’re pushing hard, but if someone wants to come in and have a beer with their burger, we now offer that,” says Lapin, who usually sticks to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” business model. But sometimes change is good. During the pandemic, something surprising happened, according to Lapin. The business actual grew. With the rise of Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, Ye Ole Fashioned discovered it had a whole new revenue stream. Lapin says they still do 200-300 delivery orders a day and have perfected a system to make sure that your frozen treat is still frozen when it arrives.
