A sweet new addition to Main Street: Ben & Jerry’s opens Thursday in Riverhead

A Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop will open in downtown Riverhead on Thursday at noon, bringing classic and exclusive flavors from the iconic ice cream brand to East Main Street.

“We are very fortunate that the community has welcomed us,” said Steven Siliato of Wading River, who runs the business with his wife Angela. “It’s an exciting time. We just want everyone to just come, enjoy, make some memories, and we want your family to be a part of ours.”

Ben & Jerry’s in Riverhead will be open from 12 to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 12 to 10 p.m. on weekends, Siliato said. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Friday.

Siliato grew up in his family’s liquor store business, working there throughout his life. “Neither myself nor my wife have a job like that that could be like a family business,” he said. He works as an attorney, and Angela works in a hospital pharmacy. 

“We have three little kids — nine, six and three. We wanted our kids to have that experience, a family business experience,” he said. “Plus it also just teaches them good business skills and entrepreneurship. So we were looking for different things and we kind of landed on ice cream. Who doesn’t love ice cream? Great business for the kids to be involved in.”

“Did I think at this point in our lives we’d start a business? No, because we’re pretty established with our own jobs and our children and life in general,” Siliato said. “It’s a new, exciting, fun family adventure — with a little bit of nervousness behind it.”

The shop offers 30 flavors of frozen dessert, including ice cream, dairy-free ice cream and vegan sorbet. Those include exclusive “scoop shop” flavors: Marshmallow Sky; UltraViolet and vegan Strawberry Swirl. Classic vanilla, chocolate and strawberry — flavors not sold by Ben & Jerry’s in stores — are also available in the shop. 

Siliato’s personal favorite flavor is Milk & Cookies: vanilla ice cream with a chocolate cookie swirl, chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies.

Bags of the cookie dough that Ben & Jerry’s uses in many of its flavors are also available for purchase separately from the ice cream. When the ice cream season dies down in the winter, the shop will add specialty hot chocolates to the menu, Siliato said. The store also sells Ben & Jerry’s “Doggie Desserts” ice cream. 

The Siliatos went to Vermont for a week to train at Ben & Jerry’s corporate headquarters and were assigned a business manager to advise them on opening the store. Ben & Jerry’s also sent traveling trainers to the store to help the Siliatos and shop employees. 

“They’re invested in us, which is nice. They’re behind you. They’re supporting you,” Siliato said. “They want you to succeed. So especially going into a brand new business for us, it’s nice to have someone to lean on.”

“It’s more than just ice cream for them, and we’ve learned that too since we’ve got involved with them,” Siliato said of the company. He likes that Ben & Jerry’s ethically sources its ingredients and buys them from small businesses in Vermont, where the company is based. 

Riverhead’s Ben & Jerry’s store is facing some tough competition from nearby ice cream shops, including Mexicandy and Snowflake, which make their own homemade frozen treats. Siliato believes there is room for all of them. “Do you eat the same thing for dinner every night? No,” he said. “You’re not going to want to eat the same ice cream every day.”

“The competition is good. The camaraderie is good. It’s gonna be good,” he added.

The shop is located at 87 East Main Street, the former site of Sunny’s Riverhead Grill. The restaurant closed during the pandemic and has since been the location of two restaurants run by Lucharitos owner Marc LaMaina; it has been vacant since LaMaina’s last venture there, a fast-casual arcade themed restaurant called Burgercade, closed in November 2023. The Siliatos have renovated the space for the ice cream shop, making the building’s interior almost unrecognizable.

The closest Ben & Jerry’s shops near Riverhead are in Westhampton Beach and Patchogue. Pints of the brand’s ice cream are available at most stores. 

Ben & Jerry’s has roots on Long Island; its founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, grew up in Merrick, before opening their first ice cream parlor in Burlington, Vermont. Ben & Jerry’s products are made, and the company is headquartered in Vermont. It is owned by Unilever, a  British multinational packaged goods company.

In addition to its highly acclaimed ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s is also known for its progressive activism on human rights, environmental protection, and social and economic justice.