BUCYRUS — Crawford County residents don’t have to go far for good homemade ice cream. They just have to find the firetruck.
Mark’s Homemade Ice Cream, which officially made its debut in 2017, is peddled out of a bright red fire truck once used by as an equipment truck by the Holmes Township Volunteer Fire Department. Mark Pfeifer is the owner, and he’s the master mixer.
“We grew the business pretty quickly out of that truck,” said Pfeifer, a Bucyrus native. “I wasn’t sure when we started if we wanted a brick and mortar facility, but we went with the mobile because we liked the idea of being where the people are and serving as many people as we can.”
On most days between 2 and 9 p.m. that “mobile” is parked in front of Family Video on S. Sandusky Ave. But the familiar red and white truck bearing the dairy cow logo also travels down the street to Schines Art Park and parks itself at the Bratwurst Festival and other county events.
Pfeifer, whose name is synonymous with the dairy industry in Crawford County, actually produces the premium ice cream in the kitchen of the Trillium Event Center north of town. It’s made in a 24-quart batch freezer, using all fresh ingredients in the milk and cream base.
“The quality of the ingredients we use is the one thing that really makes it stand out,” said the 23-year-old entrepreneur, “and the smaller batches allow me to control the density of the ice cream.”
Butter pecan and apple pie are popular flavors, Pfeifer said, but the number-one cone is cookies ‘n cream, which is so chock-full of miniature Oreos that it looks more like chocolate than vanilla.
“Oreos are the best cookie so that’s what we wanted. We want it to be the real thing,” he said.
Pfeifer definitely knows what the “real thing” is in ice cream. He grew up milking cows on his family’s dairy farm on Shafer Road, then continued working at the 500-herd operation during summers of his college years at the University of Akron.
“It’s kind of where my whole basis for the business came from,” said the Wynford graduate, who started researching the idea back in 2015. At first, it was trial-and-error, but he bought an ice cream machine and experimented in the kitchen of one of the farm houses on the property.
He gave away tubs of his early batches to family and friends, then decided to move mixing operations to Trillium. In 2017, he purchased the 1996 model firetruck, which he converted into his ice cream shop on wheels. Mark’s Homemade Ice Cream was born.
Howard and Mackenzie Cole are Mark’s aficionados, who regularly walk over to Family Video from their home near Aumiller Park with their 11-month-daughter, Phoebe, and dog, “Archie.” Howard usually orders a cup of moose tracks, while his wife prefers a scoop of cookies ‘n cream.
“We’ve been coming since they’ve been open,” Howard Cole said, as he spooned out a lick for the animated dalmatian, who was begging for a bite. “It’s just fresher. Ice cream is definitely my weakness. I have it almost every night.”
Pfeifer, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Akron last year, has recently added a second food truck to the line. It takes the frozen concoctions to business events, as well to the Morrow County Courthouse and other locations in Morrow and Richland counties.
And down the road?
Pfeifer plans to bring back a limited-edition flavor later this summer – maple bacon – and pursue wholesaling his product so it’s also available in grocery stores.
“We’re hoping to become a year-round business. That’s the eventual goal.”
