About Us

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Homemade Italian Ice!  

Gardner's Frozen Treats was founded in 2007 when Pam and I decided to bring Real Homemade Italian Ice (made on our premises) to the New River Valley. Living in the Philadelphia, PA area for many years, we enjoyed taking the family to get homemade Italian Ice and Frozen Custard on hot summer nights. We always looked forward to this after dinner tradition we had started with the kids. When we moved to Christiansburg we missed not being able to get that special combination of Italian Ice and Soft Serve Ice Cream (Our Gelatis and our Mountain Mist Shakes). We decided to bring the unique texture and flavors of homemade Italian Ice to Christiansburg when we opened Gardner's Frozen Treats.  We still buy all our Italian Ice supplies from Philadelphia where they call it "Water Ice" or "Wooder Ice".  We make it fresh almost daily and, with it's ever increasing popularity, we always find it hard to keep our freezers stocked.

It was a natural progression to start making our own ice cream, too, to go along with our Hershey's Ice Cream offerings.  We use premium 14% butterfat mix and we sell it faster than we can make it.  Our customers love our Blueberry Lavender.  No matter how much we make, we can't keep it on the shelf.  Our homemade Pistachio is another favorite along with our Double Stuffed Oreo Cookie Ice Cream.  With the ever increasing popularity and multitude of Oreo flavors we have found that making ice cream out of these many Oreo flavors is also increasingly popular for us - Mint Oreo, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreo, Java Chip Oreo, Golden Double Stuff, Lemon Oreo, Dark Chocolate Oreo , Birthday Cake Oreo to name a few.  Stay tuned for new flavors as we make them.  

Let's talk about Soft-Serve Ice Cream for a minute.  Real ice cream is supposed to have at least 10% butterfat in it.  When we first opened we couldn't find a supplier that had this product locally and I insisted that we serve soft-serve with 10% BF.  We had to ship it in frozen.  Since then we have found a local source that ships us fresh 10% mix.  You can really taste the difference.

A year after we opened, in 2008, Pam and I formed a partnership with Hershey's Ice Cream and have never looked back or regretted it.  It was an immediate hit.  Our customers embraced this partnership and your overwhelming enthusiasm still shows 19 years later.  Today, we serve over 50 flavors of Hershey's and because you love their ice cream so much which is reflected in our sales, we have been awarded the Golden Scoop Award every year since 2008.  

Hershey's motto:

"Real Ingredients, Real Ice cream, Real Smiles"

We started Gardner's Grill  in 2013

when Pam and I decided to open the food portion of our little business.  We built a deck and a kitchen and originally served Philadelphia favorites - cheesesteaks, chicken Florentine sandwiches, hot roast pork and roast beef sandwiches and, of course, hoagies, etc., etc..  After many mutations since 2013, we have decided to go back to the basics and serve Classic All-American Grill Food - Smash Burgers, Fries and Shakes with a few must have additions - Philly Cheesesteaks (with our house made cheese wiz), the best Hand Breaded Chicken Fingers, Wraps and Salads.  In 2024, Gardner's Grill was pleased to appoint Chef Matthew Tolbert to the helm in the kitchen.  Along with his mother Cindy ("Momma C"), they have simplified our menu but have left room for future growth.  The menu right now, 2025, is simple but delicious.  Matthew trained at the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas in Greenville, South Carolina.  He went on to work at many fine dining establishments in Kentucky and Indiana before returning home to start Serendipity Chef where he caters and also performs private chef engagements.  Again, we are extremely pleased Matthew is bringing his wealth of culinary experience to our humble little restaurant.  Stay tuned as the best has just begun.  

Look for Chef Matt's Weekend Specials every Friday Night and Saturday.

This season will make 19 years in business.  Along with our Team we are excited to be back for a new season (2025) serving our community.   Our caring and committed Team will make sure you have a fantastic experience with us.  Our goals are to maintain the highest quality standard for our products, to provide the best customer service possible and to promote an inclusive workplace and help the community.  This is "El", one of our "senior" workers, handing out a cone to one of our customers.  Gardner's is many times the first job for most of our young workers and, unfortunately, we only get to keep them for 5 or 6 years until they graduate from college and move on with their lives.  We have been lucky over the years that the bulk of our employees do stay with us for those 2 years in HS and 4 years of College.  Pam and I always say we get the cream of the crop!

The tradition started in 1946 in Moorestown, NJ and was

carried down to the New River Valley in 2007 to Christiansburg, VA. My grandfather, Charles, and my grandmother, Edna, owned Gardner's in Moorestown, NJ,

which opened in 1946. My father, William, and his 2

brothers, Charles and Frank, helped run the business

which specialized in frozen custard and sandwiches.

They had 3 locations in Moorestown, NJ, Clementon, NJ,

and Croydon, PA.  

My Grandmother, Edna Gardner, and My Uncle Charles Gardner outside Gardner's in Moorestown, NJ circa 1947.  This was Post World War II when burger joints and frozen custard stands were all the rage in the US.  It was All-American to it's core.  Burgers and Ice Cream still are All-American.   Somehow I feel like I was called upon to open Gardner's Frozen Treats and Gardner's Grill.  

My Grandfather's and Grandmother's store in Clementon, NJ circ 1949.  They also had a store in Croydon, PA but I don't have any pictures.   .