{"id":6546,"date":"2019-05-03T04:25:03","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T08:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=6546"},"modified":"2019-05-03T04:25:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T08:25:03","slug":"kohrs-owner-celebrating-100-years-of-delicious-history-heres-how-it-all-got-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2019\/05\/kohrs-owner-celebrating-100-years-of-delicious-history-heres-how-it-all-got-started\/","title":{"rendered":"Kohr’s Owner Celebrating 100 Years of Delicious History: Here’s How it All Got Started"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Greg<\/a>

Greg Kohr serves a cone of frozen custard outside one of his three stores in Seaside Heights, N.J., May 2019. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

A century ago, Seaside Heights resident Greg Kohr\u2019s grandfather gave up life on a farm near York, Pa. and took a risk, setting up shop on the boardwalk in Coney Island and selling ice cream.<\/p>\n

It would be the distance from home and some initial hiccups that would turn one of many ice cream parlors into a legendary business whose product would carry on for generations and become as much a part of the fabric of the Jersey Shore as the boardwalk and beach itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1919, my grandfather and his two brothers went to Coney Island and started selling ice cream,\u201d said Kohr, standing in his Franklin Avenue shop on the boardwalk where the same machine his grandfather tinkered with produces the store\u2019s signature frozen custard to this day. \u201cThe problem was that the ice cream was always melting because it was hot out, so he had an idea to add egg yokes to the ice cream to, basically, emulsify it and stop it from melting \u2013 hence the invention of frozen custard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kohr, who represents the third generation of his family to operate the business, still holds the patents to the peculiar-looking machine that yields the most delicious of summer treats. A similar machine would cost about $95,000 to hand-build today.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The 1919 machine that, a century later, is behind Kohr\u2019s famous frozen custard. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

There have long been debates about the \u201creal\u201d Kohr\u2019s frozen custard, but both the local business and its southern counterpart can be traced back to the three brothers. It was Kohr\u2019s grandfather, however, who modified an ice cream-making machine and developed the frozen custard recipe that thousands of customers enjoy to this day. The machine was manufactured in Pennsylvania and the family kept up the business during the Great Depression, even as the factory where it was made closed its doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the depression came, he shut down the plant,\u201d Kohr said, of the company that developed the machine that would later produce frozen custard. A few years ago, Kohr ran into a man who recalled the values that his grandfather held even during those difficult times.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I have to hand it to your grandfather,\u2019 because even though it was the depression, he still paid for everything,\u201d said Kohr. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original business on the Coney Island boardwalk didn\u2019t last too long, but its popularity led Kohr\u2019s grandfather to the Jersey Shore, where he opened stores in Asbury Park, Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Heights and Atlantic City. His two brothers went out on their own and agreed to open shops south of Atlantic City.<\/p>\n

Values and Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greg Kohr is technically the third generation of his family to run the business, but he may as well be the second. He began working at nine years old and was running the Franklin Avenue location when he was 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started at nine years old cutting oranges, making a dime and then running to the arcade,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAs a kid growing up in Seaside, I loved it. It was so much fun and it seemed like the waves were always so big. Everyone was out surfing, on the beach, having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family lived above the store, but suffered a setback in 1976 when a fire damaged the building beyond repair. That setback, however, turned out to be minor. The store was rebuilt in just a month\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather had two crews coming in to work all day \u2013 it burnt down in the springtime and we had to get it back open for summer,\u201d Kohr said.<\/p>\n

The 1970s also brought some modernization to the ice cream business, and Kohr\u2019s stores began selling soft-serve. In the beginning, the family bought soft-serve machines like most of their competitors and kept selling the traditional custard as hard ice cream. That practice didn\u2019t last long \u2013 and created another testament to the family\u2019s ingenuity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reformulated everything,\u201d Kohr said, and as it turned out, the soft-serve frozen custard had less fat than traditional ice cream and also carried a richer, creamier flavor. It soon became the signature product.<\/p>\n

A Setback and a Comeback<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohr serves as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Seaside Heights, and witnessed the wrath of Superstorm Sandy firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I hope I never see again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When the storm hit, he owned four stores. A day later, three of the four were destroyed. Only the original Franklin Avenue location remained, and Kohr was faced with a decision on whether to take a significant financial risk in reopening. But not only did he decide to reopen \u2013 he expanded. Today, he operates six stores: three in Seaside Heights, and one each in Seaside Park, Ortley Beach and Lavallette.<\/p>\n

\"Kohr's<\/a>

Kohr\u2019s Frozen Custard, Seaside Heights, N.J., May 2019. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of loans, loans from banks and loans from the state, but I really do believe in the Shore and in our customers,\u201d Kohr said. \u201cThey were so happy we reopened and I feel so honored that we have the support of all our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kohr\u2019s family has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, with employees becoming friends and generations of customers coming back summer after summer. Physicians, attorneys and engineers started their careers selling frozen custard on the Seaside Heights boardwalk, and all benefited from the same values the Kohr family has cherished for the past century.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell everyone who works here, \u2018you don\u2019t work for me, we work together,'\u201d Kohr said. \u201cIt helps having the respect of your co-workers and to make it an enjoyable workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two aspects of the business keep Kohr coming back, year after year: his customers, and what has become an important vocation to keep the family business thriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see the parents bring their kids here and I see the smiles on their faces when they say it\u2019s their child\u2019s first cone,\u201d Kohr said. \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for me \u2013 making people happy and making memories for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kohr\u2019s own two children have established their own careers in accounting and engineering, but have left open the possibility of taking over themselves some day. Tradition is a way of life for the family, and it all dates back to the three brothers who left their farm in rural Pennsylvania to sell ice cream on a boardwalk.<\/p>\n

Kohr and his grandfather were close. He\u2019d come every Monday to inspect the store, then the two would go out to dinner. In a seasonal business where it\u2019s nonstop work \u2013 day in and day out \u2013 for months, the stores would close one (likely valuable) day each summer so the family could celebrate his grandmother\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that you live for, to try and emulate, when you grow up with people like that,\u201d Kohr said.<\/p>\n

~<\/p>\n

100th Anniversary Celebration<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On May 17, 2019, Kohr\u2019s will formally celebrate its 100th anniversary. Proceeds from the store will go to St. Jude\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital, and free frozen custard will be served from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Franklin Avenue.<\/em><\/p>\n

Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., several bands will perform in a celebratory concert on the Franklin Avenue stage on the boardwalk.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A century ago, Seaside Heights resident Greg Kohr\u2019s grandfather gave up life on a farm near York, Pa. and took a risk, setting up shop on the boardwalk in Coney Island and selling ice cream. It would be the distance from home and some initial hiccups that would turn one of many ice cream parlors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,14,5],"tags":[1550,1549,1547,1548,36,20],"class_list":["post-6546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-life","category-seaside-heights","tag-100th-anniversary","tag-kohrs","tag-kohrs-frozen-custard","tag-kohrs-ice-cream","tag-seaside-heights-boardwalk","tag-seaside-heights-nj-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/kohrs_seaside_heights_163.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-1HA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}