Sweet Treats On The Wharf Of Port Washington Wins Best Ice Cream, Milkshake On LI

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — As Douglas & James Homemade Ice Cream (Sweet Treats on The Wharf) of Port Washington celebrates 30 years in business, owners Doug and Rhonda Shepardson — who are married — have mastered the craft of making ice cream.

The shop, at 405 Main Street, is celebrating its sixth straight Best Ice Cream on Long Island and fifth consecutive Best Milkshake on Long Island wins in the Bethpage Best of LI Awards.

"It’s a blessing," Doug told Patch. "When you work as hard as we have worked for as long as we have worked to get that recognition — the first time we got it, we had no idea that we were in the competition. Suddenly, I got a notification that we had won. I was like, ‘Won what?’ I was clueless."

The shop has been perfect in winning both categories ever since — a feat in consistency and quality given the sheer amount of notable ice creameries on Long Island.

"It was humbling," Rhonda said. "There are a lot of incredibly delicious ice cream stores throughout the island, so we were kind of shocked and humbled."

Doug said he uses a "unique" gelato machine that was made in Italy that he attributes to his "flavor intensive" ice cream.

"God help me if that machine breaks down, because that, I cannot replicate," he said.

A barrel churns ice cream the old fashioned way, Rhonda said, where whoever's making the ice cream places a huge spoon into the machine.

"Most people can make a tub of ice cream in but a few minutes, but ours is at least 15 minutes to make each tub of ice cream. It’s very unique," she said.

While the machine creates a flavorful ice cream, Doug credits the "time-tested" recipes in his head for the shop's consistency. Ingredient prices became "prohibitive" during the coronavirus. While the shop had to raise its prices, Doug continued to use the same products.

"Consistent, good quality ingredients is the most important thing," he said. "You can’t skimp, ever. Even though the cost may be exorbitant, you just need to stick with your original ingredients."

Sweet Treats on the Wharf carries "interesting flavors," but the classics are what makes the shop successful, Rhonda said.

"The classic flavors are the ones that are the time-tested winners," Doug said. "I hate to say it, but vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee, cookies and cream, those are the ice creams that sell the best."

Rhonda said great employees are also responsible for the shop's longevity. She estimates the shop has hired close to 1,000 high school or college students to work at Sweet Treats on the Wharf over the years.

Now, the shop even has its second generation of employees — children of the "kids" who worked 30 years ago are now finding employment at the award-winning ice creamery, Doug said.

"They are part of the family," Doug said. "I’m not a boss in the traditional sense. I view everybody as a partner. That’s another thing I attribute to the success of the business. We are always looking for the input of our employees and our customers. They’re not just employees. They’re friends. Our customers are friends. That’s critical in how we’ve achieved what we’ve achieved over the years."

The Shepardsons themselves have four children.

They were all under 5 years old when their parents opened the store. As they grew, they would work there during summers.

"Our customers got to watch our children grow up," Rhonda said. "Jenny is our youngest but she’s 30 now. We’ve had her so involved over 15 years. The customers really developed such a relationship with her. Her twin brother, our son James, he made the ice cream. Our older son Doug made the ice cream. Our older daughter Katie dealt with all the customers. It was a real family affair. Now our kids are lawyers, professors and TV producers. They’re not involved as much, so we count on kids working from the community."

Finding enough help to run the store has been the biggest challenge for the Shepardsons over the 30 years, Rhonda said. The store currently closes in the winter.

"We’d like to reopen in April, but the college kids don’t come home until mid-May," Rhonda said. "It’s really hard."

The community has been "very understanding about our crazy hours," Rhonda said. The venue will likely only be able to open on the weekends in May until it has enough staff to open during the week.

The couple thanked their customers over the past three decades.

"We love them. Our success is their success," Rhonda said.

Doug added, "We couldn’t have done it without their support."