Hildebrandt’s Celebrates 100 Years of Ice Cream and Family Tradition

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, you’ve heard of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Hildebrand’s ice cream has a history of being 100 years old, and it’s celebrating its 99th anniversary or 100th anniversary. And it’s the official ice cream of the New York Mets. And, well, this might be one of the official ice creams of the Gristidis and D’Agostino. And what is today is Zach Sarf.

0:24 He is the grandchild of my best friend forever, Larry Sarf. And well, Zach, tell us about how did you get into this Hildebrand ice cream?

0:36 Speaker 2 Thanks, John, for having me on. So the way we got into ice cream was we grew up in this town, New White Park in Long Island. And there’s this little place called Hildebrand that’s been around, like you said, 99 years.

0:46 And after COVID, they weren’t going to make it and they needed someone to save it. And me and my family stepped in and.

0:52 Speaker 1 We took it over. Understood. And so it’s 100 years old in New York. The New York Mets have endorsed it. Gristini’s is going to endorse it, and we carry it in all our stores, and D’Agostino in all our stores.

1:09 And what makes Hildebrand better than any other ice cream that Gristini’s carries?

1:19 Speaker 2 So I would say the main difference, two main differences is, well, number one, everything is homemade. So a lot of the stuff like Haagen-Dazs and all that other ice cream, meaning of fact, you know, like that, you feel the love with our ice cream. It’s made in the same establishment since 1927. We have all different flavors. When you come

1:34 into the restaurant, you have the same feeling as when you buy a pint in one of your places. And also, like you said, now that the Mets picked it up, we have such a big Long Island following with the team and all of that, even though the team stinks, the ice cream is great.

1:47 Speaker 1 Understood. What is the next step for Hildebrand’s ice cream for the soft family?

1:56 Speaker 2 I mean, obviously we want to get it all around, but I think that what also makes our ice cream so great is we have such a loyal Long Island following. We don’t want to lose that. We don’t want to make it like another big corporate ice cream brand. We want to grow low and slow and get into the

2:11 places that resonate with our brand.

2:14 Speaker 1 Now you’re the official ice cream of the New York Mets. You’re going to be the official ice cream of of Christie’s and D’Agostino. And you’re going to keep growing it.

2:25 Speaker 2 Yes, I mean, the plan is the plan is to keep growing it. We’re very excited for the 100 year anniversary coming up, too. We definitely want to grow, but we also want to keep the same traditions and the same ice cream as we keep growing, which is a challenge.

2:40 But it’s also what makes it so great.

2:42 Speaker 1 And tell me, what else would you like to tell the American people this Sunday morning?

2:49 Speaker 2 I mean, I got a lot to say. So if you haven’t had our ice cream, we have a location at 84 Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park, New York. That’s our original spot. You can also find us in all of the Grissidis and D’Agostinos in Manhattan. You can find us in Citi Field. And then if you have

3:05 a deli or a supermarket in your town... and you request that you have Hildebrandt, you can have them call us on our landline or email HildebrandtNY at gmail.com.

3:15 Speaker 1 Well, thank you so much for coming on this Sunday morning. Give your dad and your grandfather, a long, long, long-time friend. We worked together, feels like 100 years ago, in the supermarket business. Thank you for coming on this Sunday morning, and we’ll catch up again real soon.

3:35 Speaker 2 Thanks, John, for having me. I appreciate it.