PLAY-DOH Ice Cream Sweetens Summer for Sundae's

As a parent, you've probably told your kid once or twice not to eat PLAY-DOH. And then found an empty yellow container with no PLAY-DOH in sight minutes later.

a Montville-based business with both Towaco and Pine Brook locations, has come up with a solution for this issue that satisfies the young and older: entirely edible PLAY-DOH ice cream.

No, there is not real PLAY-DOH in it. Instead, explained Owner Tammy Martini, there are pieces of food-colored sugar cookies mixed in a vanilla base.

PLAY-DOH ice cream has already been a huge hit at Sundae's so far this summer. But other new flavors have given customers sweet teeth as well.

Martini said the Banana Oreo, Bailey's Irish Cream (which does not contain alcohol) and other, more traditional flavors, have been popular this year.

"The good ol' reliable Mint Chocolate Chip is popular this summer," she said.

On weekends, Martini said the business has seen a surge in novelty ice cream treat sales, such as large and small Chipwich ice cream sandwiches and chocolate-dipped bananas. Sundae's also specializes in custom-made ice cream cakes, which, Office Manager Lia Hatziemanuel said, are unique to Sundae's.

"With our cakes, you can pick two of our flavors and get them together," she said.

Martini and her husband, Frank, have owned Sundae's for 16 years, starting with the Towaco location, which is open seasonally. This year is the second season the Martinis have also managed the Pine Brook location, in the Changebridge Plaza on Changebridge Road.

Martini said her husband grew up in Towaco and after seeing the success of the first location, he would encourage her that they needed to open a second Sundae's in Montville.

"I would say, 'Why? It's the same town!,'" she said.

But soon after opening the Pine Brook parlor, Martini said she came to realize that Towaco customers rarely come to Pine Brook for ice cream and vice versa. The Pine Brook shop also gets customers from Parsippany and the Towaco location also gets customers from Lincoln Park and Pequannock, she said. Aside from location, the only two main differences between the stores are that the Towaco parlor has outdoor seating and offers Sabrett hot dogs. The Pine Brook shop is also open year-round.

The Pine Brook location also offers hot and iced coffee, which Martini said is new this year. She said she realized that no other businesses in the plaza offered coffee, so she thought it would be a good idea and began serving it in the winter. She also thought it would be nice for parents who bring their kids to the shop.

"Parents come in and they don't want ice cream," she said.

All of the ice cream sold at Sundae's is homemade by the Martinis, but not at either location. Martini said she thinks people are under the impression making ice cream is difficult.

"Ice cream's really not that hard to make," she said.

Most ice creams start with a vanilla base, with the exception of chocolate ice cream, and then fruit purees and toppings are added, she said. Sundae's customers are also able to request flavors and Martini said she will do her best to make them.