Andy's Frozen Custard storefronts are all glass so customers can watch the frozen custard being made in giant stainless steel machines. There is no indoor seating, with customers either making purchases from walk-up windows or a drive-thru.
By Peggie Evans
Round Rock Leader contributing writer
Round Rock has been selected as the first location in Central Texas for Andy's Frozen Custard, a popular Missouri-based family restaurant whose main offering is the frozen treat.
Andy's stand-alone store is under construction and is scheduled to open in November at its location on A.W. Grimes Boulevard near Palm Valley Boulevard, in the shopping center where an H-E-B is located. It will employ about 40 people.
The Round Rock restaurant is the first of as many as 20 or more Andy's planned for the region, said Chris Plumbe, who owns the Andy's franchise for Central Texas. The area's second Andy's is planned for Pflugerville at Stone Hill Town Center, and a search is underway for a site for another Andy's in Round Rock, Plumbe said.
The restaurant's frozen custard is made throughout the day onsite, with no custard sold that is more than an hour old, said Plumbe, with its freshness part of the appeal of the premium frozen treat.
"There is nothing like us here," said Plumbe of the restaurant, who expects Andy's to gain the same popularity with families in Round Rock as it has in Missouri and elsewhere its restaurants operate.
Andy's Frozen Custard was started in 1986 as a small family business in Osage Beach, MO by John and Carol Kuntz, who named their small restaurant after their young son. Today Andy's is based in Springfield, Mo., and has restaurants across Missouri and franchises in a few other states. And Andy Kuntz has grown up and is now the company's president.
Plumbe grew up in Springfield and is a former restaurant manager who worked in Austin with Cheddar's Casual Cafe. When he decided he wanted his own business and was looking for restaurant franchises, he recalled the deep fondness and loyalty his own family and others had for Andy's Frozen Custard, a place many families in Springfield turned to celebrate after ballgames, good report cards and other family occasions.
He bought an Andy's franchise and decided Round Rock would be a good place to start his business because of the city's rapid growth, affluency, and good school system that attracts families, he said.
The restaurant's frozen custard is made with eggs and has a smoother, creamier texture than ice cream and has less air whipped into it, Plumbe said, and comes in two flavors, vanilla and chocolate. It sells cones, sundaes, floats and other treats.
It also sells baked goods baked fresh daily in its restaurants, like brownies and pies, including seasonal offerings like pumpkin and strawberry pies.
All of Andy's restaurants are stand-alone buildings whose storefronts are all glass so customers can watch the frozen custard being made in giant stainless steel machines. There is no indoor seating, with customers either making purchases from walk-up windows or a drive-thru. The restaurant's outdoor patio provides seating.
Andy's Frozen Custard franchises see community involvement as an important part of its operations. It donates frozen custard that it cannot sell within the first hour it’s made to schools and community organizations, Plumbe said, many of which resell the product for their fundraisers.
Andy's is one of a number of new restaurants that have located to Round Rock in the past year, said Mike Odom, Round Rock Chamber of Commerce president. Many of them are new types of restaurants unlike anything Round Rock has had previously, such as Andy's, he said, drawn here by the city's growth, ease of doing business and other factors.
"The growth is across the city," Odom said.