Greg and Jenny VanWyk were lucky enough to retire a few years ago. They traveled and enjoyed each other’s company, but after two years, they realized they were too young and had too much energy to do nothing. (Greg was 47 at the time.) They racked their brains for ideas. While eating at a Kilwins Chocolates, Fudge and Ice Cream on vacation, the couple agreed this was it.
Kilwins St. Charles opened April 1. It’s the first franchise in the St. Louis area and the second in Missouri. (The other is in Branson). The sweets shop first opened as a bakery on Mackinac Island, Michigan in 1947, but Don and Katy Kilwin quickly transitioned to homemade fudge and “original recipe” ice cream. Greg explains that the super-premium ice cream has a high butter-fat content (meaning, it’s the good stuff).
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“We wanted something fun and something that would match our goals and value system, something community-oriented,” Greg says. “It’s a happy place—a unique, nostalgic experience.” The ice cream is shipped in from Michigan, but many items, including the old-fashioned fudge and caramel, is made right on Main Street.
The couple is from the Alton-Godfrey, Illinois area. Before retiring, Greg was a contractor, and Jenny was a 20-year veteran of Boeing. Now, they live just 320 steps from their Kilwins shop. Greg says the response has already been overwhelmingly positive; he even had a group of German students delay their bus departure, so they could try “the best ice cream they’ve ever had.”
There are more than 40 ice-cream flavors, along with chocolate, toffees, caramel, brittles, and more. Greg says his favorite flavors are pistachio and peppermint stick, but the bestsellers are salted caramel and toasted coconut.
“Everything is made the same way it was when the company was founded in the 1940s. We cook the fudge from scratch, the caramel from scratch—it takes us two hours to make a batch of caramel,” he says. “The other really fun thing is we employ about 20 young people. That’s really a blessing for me and Jenny to get to work with them.”
Kilwins St. Charles is open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. The grand opening is Saturday, May 9, and includes a Dixieland jazz band, chocolate mousse, and free samples.
