Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt is a popular ice cream company franchise founded by Alice Handel in 1945 in Youngstown, Ohio. As of 2020,the company was operating 50 corporate and franchise stores in nine states. Today, it is owned by Leonard Fisher and maintains a corporate headquarters in Canfield, Ohio.
Handel’s began when Alice Handel started serving ice cream from her husband’s gas station in Youngstown, Ohio in the summer of 1945. The first batches were made using fresh fruit she picked from her own backyard, with old fashioned recipes. Handel’s includes locations in California, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Arizona, Alabama, Utah, Texas and Nevada. The menu also expanded to over 150 flavors of homemade ice cream and yogurt. Its success has been reported in various publications including the Travel Channel, which recognized Handel’s as “One of the Best Ice Cream Parlors in the Country.”
