This Frankfort ice cream shop can whip you up one of Disney’s most popular treats

Pardon the pun, but ice cream lovers across the Bluegrass are going hog wild over Hoggy’s, an ice cream parlor that opened its doors in 2019 on Main Street in Frankfort.

A scant two years later one can usually find a line winding halfway around the block just waiting for a cone or a cup.

Just what has made this locally owned business such an attraction for ice cream aficionados? It might be the welcoming pink and blue storefront with its pink and blue hog hoisting a pink and blue cone. Cute, but then there are lots of cute ice cream parlors.

It might be the friendliness of owner Crissy Hogsten, but then one would hardly expect the proprietor of an ice cream shop to be dour.

It might be the 20 flavors of ice cream, which, with a few exceptions, rotate on a weekly basis. But then, Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors and Ben & Jerrys has a whopping 60 flavors.

Cuteness, friendliness and unusual flavors aside, what really sets Hoggy’s apart is that Hogsten believes they are the only place in Central Kentucky that serves Dole Whip, a mouth-watering soft serve originated by the Dole Pineapple Company in 1986.

While the Dole Company gets credit for creating the concoction, Disneyland in Anaheim, California gets credit for putting it on the map. For years, it was said that the only spot on earth where one could enjoy a cup of this gelid goodness was at the Happiest Place on Earth. It was no coincidence that Dole Whip could only be found at the park’s Adventureland, in a restaurant called the Tiki Room, sponsored by Dole.

Since then, Dole Whip has branched out beyond the Magic Kingdom, although finding a place that serves it is a bit like finding a nugget of gold on a rock pile.

At Hoggy’s you can enjoy a cup or a cone of pineapple, strawberry, lime, orange, raspberry and lemon Dole Whip on a rotating basis, and Hogsten says she can also do a twist of any two flavors that are on the menu that week, as well as a Dole Whip float in any of those flavors.

Just what is the reason for Dole Whip’s incredible popularity?

“It’s dairy-free, fat-free and gluten-free,” says Hogsten, “but you would never know it because it’s so flavorful.”

Hogsten, 42, is relishing her time now in what she calls “the coolest, cutest, most fun job in the world,” serving up scoops to appreciative customers. Formerly a stay-at-home mom with five children known around the Hogsten house as “baby hoggys,” she found herself with more time on her hands when her youngest, Greyson, then seven years old, started school.

“I asked myself what was I going to do with the rest of my life,” she says.

Deciding that ice cream was her future, and encouraged by her husband Kenny and no doubt the five little Hoggys, she embarked on the coolest, cutest, most fun job ever.

She doesn’t make her own ice cream – opting to work with United Dairy Farmers out of Ohio in creating such fan favorites as coconut almond chip (“like an ice cream almond joy”, says Hogsten) and Fudgy Cow (“like Rocky Road but without the nuts.”)

She does make her own waffle cones and has come up with some specialty creations unique to Hoggy’s. One of those is the Boss Hogg which Hogsten likens to a Reese’s Cup sundae.

“It’s three scoops of ice cream (the customer’s choice), caramel and hot fudge, whipped cream and a ton of Reese’s candies,” she says.

Then there’s the Squealin’ Sampler where if you have the physicality of an American Ninja Warrior you can try balancing 20 mini scoops on a single cone or cup.

Kids are sure to love the Little Hoggy, two scoops of ice cream embellished with a chocolate pig’s face.

For the overachievers, Hogsten initiated the Hog Wild Challenge. If you think you’re up to it, you can fill a huge bowl with 16 scoops of ice cream, eight dollops of whipped cream, eight cherries, hot fudge and caramel and four toppings of your choice. Finish it in 45 minutes, and you are awarded a Hoggy’s T-shirt and a picture on their Hall of Fame.

Fail and your infamy will be recorded for posterity with your picture on the Wall of Shame, located in the men’s and women’s rest rooms. In the name of journalistic research, I checked out both and it appears that the Hall of Shamers outnumbers the Hall of Famers.

Dole Whip ice cream and clever marketing have succeeded in making Hoggy’s — if not the Happiest Place on Earth, certainly the Happiest Place in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Hoggy’s Ice Cream

Where: 301 West E Main St., Frankfort

Hours: Noon - 8 p.m., Tue. - Sat.; 1 p.m. - 7 p.m., Sunday; Closed Monday

More: hoggysicecream.com; 502-699-2710

This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 6:00 AM.