Whit’s Frozen Custard partners with Bill’s Donut Shop for new flavor

After being open for two years, owner Jeff Neace said he was ready to collaborate with what he calls “a community icon.”

He said prior to launching the flavor he invited Marshall Lachman, the owner of Bill’s, to sample what they had came up with. At that time, they had two flavors — one made with a glazed yeast donut and the other made with a sour cream cake donut. Ultimately, they decided to go with the cake donut because the texture and taste wasn’t quite there with the yeast donut, especially when it was frozen.

Neace’s daughter, Emma, helped perfect the new flavor. She said her and her brothers went to Incarnation Catholic School and every Friday morning they would make a stop at Bill’s Donut Shop. The sour cream donut is her favorite donut and she knew right away it would go well with custard.

The new custard flavor was announced Friday evening and by Saturday afternoon it was sold out. Emma made another batch Monday morning and the shop sold out well before they closed. She was at the shop Wednesday morning making two fresh batches.

The frozen custard at Whit’s is made fresh daily. Each day the shop had four fresh flavors — vanilla, chocolate, the flavor of the day and the flavor of the month. Neace said he wanted to have the new flavor available every day and the only way they could do that is through pints.

Donut Dream joins another flavor with ties to the Miami Valley.

In February they launched Kiefaber Krunch, a churro-inspired custard flavor consisting of cinnamon custard, caramel drizzle, cinnamon sugar and crushed graham crackers. The name of this flavor was inspired by Emma who was a UD junior at the time living on Kiefaber Street. For every Kiefaber Krunch pint sold, $3 goes to Dayton 6th, the name, image and likeness (NIL) organization for UD Basketball.

Neace’s goal is to have four to five flavors with local ties stocked at all times. The next local flavor will be a collaboration with Boston Stoker.

“Dayton is great at things of this nature, these collaborative tie-ins,” Neace said. “I think everyone wants to help everyone.”

Donut Dream is available in the shop’s Grab-N-Go freezer, located to the left of the counter, for $7.50.

“We opened up with a vision of becoming part of the community and I think we’re getting there,” Neace said. “This is their Whit’s. This is their place to go.”

More details

Whit’s Frozen Custard is located at 199 N. Main St. For more information, visit whitscenterville.com or the shop’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@WhitsCenterville).