Marcia GreenwoodRochester Democrat and Chronicle
After living in Miami, Florida, for 18 years, Jay Negrin decided it was time to return to the Rochester area.
The goal was to be in proximity to relatives and friends again.
“My family’s here,” said the 47-year-old Greece native. Negrin’s wife, Katie, who is from Syracuse, has family in town, too. And the couple has three children, 13-year-old twin daughters and a 6-year-old son.
“So, the schools and all the other good stuff” factored into the decision, he said.
Their move also is bringing something back to Irondequoit.
Negrin is about a month away from opening a Bruster’s Real Ice Cream location, built from the ground up, at 1930 East Ridge Road. All he needs is a certificate of occupancy from the town of Irondequoit (which will be issued after electrical and plumbing work is completed and a gas meter is installed) and to finish hiring a mostly part-time staff, which will consist of several family members, a couple of friends and around 25 teenagers. (Information about applying will be posted to the business' Facebook and Instagram accounts, @brustersirondequoit.)
“I like the idea of mentoring some young kids and being part of the community,” said Negrin, while standing inside the not-quite-finished 1,450-square-foot space. “There’s no fryers in here, there’s no cooking. It’s just a simple business where people are going to come and enjoy ice cream. Who doesn’t love ice cream?”
Founded in 1989 in Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, Bruster’s serves ice cream made in-house at nearly 200 locations in 22 states, Guyana and South Korea.
It entered the Rochester market in May 1995, when a shop opened at 1041 Ridge Road in Webster. Two others followed — at 2755 East Henrietta Road, Henrietta, and in Culver Ridge Plaza, Irondequoit — but both closed. The Henrietta location now is home to Happy Days on the Go, which serves Perry’s Ice Cream, and the Culver Ridge Plaza location became a Rochester Regional Health Laboratories site.
Unlike Negrin’s forthcoming Bruster’s, the Culver Ridge shop was not highly visible from the street and did not have a drive-thru lane, an option whose popularity has surged in the age of COVID.
Last year, Lisa van Kesteren, CEO of market research firm SeeLevel HX, told CNBC that widespread vaccination could cause drive-thru ordering activity to moderate somewhat, but not to pre-pandemic levels because a “heightened awareness of germs is here to stay.”
The other way to order at Negrin’s shop will be at walk-up windows, so, “You’re still outside, you still feel safe,” he said.
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Surrounded by a 24-space parking lot, the East Ridge Road Bruster’s will be open year-round from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily, and outdoor seating will be available as long as the weather cooperates. There is no indoor seating.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.
Bruster’s has about 150 ice cream recipes in its repertoire; typically, 30 are offered at a time. Standard flavors account for two-thirds of the menu, and more unusual ones — like Graham Central Station, graham cracker-flavored ice cream with graham cracker swirls and chocolate flakes — comprise the rest.
“All the ice creams are made fresh, and after six days, we’ll get rid of them,” said Negrin, who is living in East Rochester while a family home is built in Victor. “We don’t buy buckets of ice cream, we make buckets of ice cream.”
Prices will start at $3.99 for a single scoop in a cup. A small cone (two scoops) will be $4.85.
A 1993 graduate of Greece Athena High School who got his bachelor’s degree in business administration from SUNY Oswego and an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Negrin also owned businesses in Miami, including a hair salon with wife Katie. Bruster’s is his first foray into fast food.
He considered a number of locations for the venture. However, 1930 East Ridge Road has “got the demographics,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that live in the area, and they’re familiar with the Bruster’s brand because it used to be down the street.”
He wasn’t influenced by the fact that activity on East Ridge Road has picked up during the past year as a number of other new businesses have opened.
“Honestly, that’s just a bonus,” he said.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips tomgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter@MarciaGreenwood.
