A craving for custard

WALES, Wis. — From cones to sundaes to pies, LeDuc’s Frozen Custard is revered for one thing in particular — its custard. Serving customers from a walk-up window since opening in 1980 in Wales, LeDuc’s is a fixture in this Waukesha County community.

Custard is available in cones, dishes, pints and quarts. It is also the featured item in shakes, malts, cookie sandwiches and ice cream sundaes with names like “Chiquita” and “Armadillo.”

LeDuc’s frozen custard pies are a holiday favorite. Flavors such as turtle and cinnamon pecan find their way to countless Thanksgiving dinners, while peppermint, three-layer candy cane and grasshopper pies fly off the shelves at Christmas.

“Custard is our specialty,” Anna Scheibe said. “It’s what we do best.”

Steve and Nancy Kinsey own the business, while their daughters, Scheibe and Andi Kinsey, handle day-to-day operations. The Kinseys purchased LeDuc’s in 2016 from the establishment’s second owners.

Each day, LeDuc’s serves chocolate, vanilla and a flavor of the day with about 90 flavors in its repertoire. Made onsite from the ice cream shop’s original custard recipe, core flavors made every month include butter pecan, black raspberry, salted caramel, amaretto cherry, mint chip and almond chocolate joy.

“We’re running the same custard base they started with in 1980,” Scheibe said. “We purchase it from a dairy plant and add our own twist to it.”

The Kinseys have added many new flavors of custard since taking over LeDuc’s. Puppy chow and frosted animal cookie are a couple examples of the shop’s unique yet popular flavors.

“Puppy chow was our most popular monthly sundae by far, and everyone loved it so much that we made it a flavor of the day,” Scheibe said.

This flavor contains homemade puppy chow that is made by covering Crispix cereal in chocolate, powdered sugar and peanut butter. The puppy chow is then mixed in vanilla custard and dressed in chocolate sauce and peanut butter sauce.

Custard is made fresh daily, coming out of the machine at about 18 degrees. Scheibe said it has to thaw a little before serving.

“Custard has a lot more egg yolks, is a lot denser, and is served at a warmer temperature than ice cream, which is why it melts a lot quicker,” Scheibe said. “Since it’s so dense, you can’t really scoop it when it’s frozen. You can usually scoop ice cream right away because there is so much air in it.”

Since becoming LeDuc’s new owners, the Kinsey family also expanded food options to provide an extensive grill menu that includes grilled cheese, cheese curds, mozzarella sticks, cheeseburgers and more.

“Our cheese curds and sticks are definitely a popular side,” Scheibe said. “We hand wrap all of our mozzarella sticks in wontons, and they are really good and very popular.”

The Kinseys have also added a lot of specials or feature items, such as a sundae of the month. They also do featured shakes frequently and a build-your-own sundae option. Themed flavors like blue moon for their cookie sandwich or incorporating Green Bay Packers colors into their cookie sandwiches made this product explode in popularity, Andi Kinsey said.

The Kinsey sisters said they recognize their dependence on the dairy industry for the success of their restaurant.

“It’s all dairy here,” Kinsey said. “We don’t sell much that doesn’t have dairy in it.”

Scheibe agreed.

“The dairy industry is very important to our business,” she said. “If we did not have dairy, we would not be here.”

In the summer, the shop goes through about 400-500 gallons of custard per week. On a busy Saturday in the summer, LeDuc’s takes about 500-600 orders.

Customers order outside from a walk-up window whenever weather permits. The old-fashioned approach is part of the shop’s appeal, Scheibe said. Retro music plays in the background, creating a classic ice cream parlor atmosphere.

“I think people like the old-school feel,” Scheibe said. “It’s an experience as well as getting a treat.”

Open every day year-round, LeDuc’s offers indoor and outdoor seating and extended hours in the summer. The store thrives from a loyal customer base that keeps coming back for more.

“This is a growing area,” Scheibe said. “We always have some new customers as well as lots of repeat customers.”

Its location across the street from a high school helps draw in more customers too.

“Customer service is extremely important to us,” Scheibe said. “We have such great staff and employees. That’s a huge thing that sets us apart. On top of that, we are confident in our product. We serve a really good, consistent product.”