Those brands include, of course, the 38-year-old Pinocchio’s with its legendary favorites Sanibel Krunch, Dirty Sand Dollar and other island favorites — in all, more than 135 unique flavors, among which more than 30 can be enjoyed daily — along with Geppetto’s Beach Foodies next door, opened in 2012, where delightfully unique baked goods, gelatos and Italian custards can be most thoroughly enjoyed. “Everything we make, it’s created by hand and with only the highest quality ingredients,” Donna notes. “And the only place you can get it, with our famous ‘over the top’ portions, is right here. No restaurants. No stores. Just our location.” That’s not to say, however, that someday there won’t be other locations. A year ago this November, the Pumas — operating as Gustare Foods, LLC— had yet another opportunity: they franchised the Sanibel location to Laurie Verme (another New York transplant with a varied, and highly successful, business background) and her daughter Alice. But with so much personally invested in their brands, and so much passion, the Pumas aren’t going far. “We think we have something that’s truly unique, something special,” Donna says. “We’ll continue to work hard to keep it that way, wherever the future may take us.” ALL HAIL QUEENIE’S Once upon a time, there was a woman named Vanessa Viglione who loved a specific brand of ice cream so much that she had it regularly shipped from its Ohio origins to Captiva Island, Florida. For her birthday, so this story goes, boyfriend Dave Jensen enrolled her in Penn State University’s famous “Ice Cream Short Course.” Armed with this knowledge and passion (she was voted “class president” of the course), Queenie’s Ice Cream was born in 1998 — and continues today, true to Queenie’s vision, led by the passion and dedication of Liz Marcantonio, who has
{ www.queeniesicecream.com } Queenie's Ice Cream
A true family affair in the beginning, Donna, Tom and Stephanie (with a culinary background and business degree from Johnson & Wales) worked literally very early morning, noon and night to bring their passion, artistry, demand for quality and marketing creativity to “the little green store” on Sanibel. “Every year we would travel to Europe for two weeks, and invest one of those weeks in advancing our craft,” Donna notes. “We still do that today. We’re truly learning from masters, and we always make sure we bring back unique flavors and ideas we can incorporate into our brands.”
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