Imagine the early 20th century: small, quaint shops, personable people, efficient service, and specialized sweet treats. Now place yourself in today’s Old City neighborhood in Philadelphia and you get the Franklin Fountain. Home of homemade ice cream and toppings, along with specialized soda treats, this old-fashioned ice cream parlor takes anyone back to the days of young men clad in bow-ties and aprons standing behind a marble counter making banana splits and phosphates.
Started by the Berely brothers in 2004, the Franklin Fountain brought back ice cream parlor history and charm to Philadelphia. When first entering into the Franklin Fountain, the small corner soda shops décor takes you back to the days of the 1930’s and 40’s when it was a treat to eat out for desert. With the walls covered in vintage posters selling candy, ice cream, and soda and antique shelving holding old-fashion soda, a customer feels like they should be dressed in letter sweaters and bobby socks to match the atmosphere. Besides the tin covered walls and ceilings, vintage moldings, and tiled floors, seating is available either at a bar stool at the marble counter top or the small metal tables in the back of the parlor.
To order the traditional treats, customers line up at one end of the counter and choose from twenty-three homemade flavors that range mint to maple-walnut, an assortment of homemade toppings, nine different sundaes, and four different varieties of fountain sodas and ice cream treats. After picking from choice seating, the deserts are brought to the tables by the soda shop jerks.
Most notably known for the Franklin Mint sundae that was featured on the television series Man Vs. Food, every treat on the menu deserves their fifteen minutes of fame. The Mint, made of mint chip and vanilla ice cream and topped with homemade marshmallow, chocolate syrup, and crème de Menthe, is whipped cream, making it a refreshing treat for anytime of year. The Homemade Hot Fudge sundae, a classic combination of vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate fudge, which is made from local milk, cream and butter, and cooked in an antique copper kettle, is the ideal sundae to describe the Franklin Fountain: a timeless classic.
Besides the sundaes, ice-cream sodas, shakes, and phosphates (available in twenty-five different flavors) are available to order. Moreover, the Franklin Fountain also makes homemade marshmallows and sells old-fashion candy and sodas.
Along with the Fountain, the Berely brothers acquired Shane Confectionary and restored its Victorian era interior. Located next door to the soda shop, Shane’s is known as the oldest confectionary in Philadelphia, creating over twenty different types of candy. The candy, which is also sold at the Franklin Fountain, is traditional, homemade candy that is with mostly local ingredients.
So to travel back in time to the 1940’s or the Victorian Era, head downtown to Old City and taste the sweet goodness of the Franklin Fountain or Shane Confectionary.