Kandios keeps ‘em coming back for more

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Anelisi and Kara Witherell, along with Kierstyn Hodges, made their second trip to Kandios this week during their vacation from the Orlando area. Anelisi had a tough time choosing between the birthday cake or the coffee-flavored ice cream as her top two favorite flavors.

Ice cream shop expands offerings

While working as a head teller for a national bank in north Florida, Kandice Foster purchased a modest houseboat that she planned to use for weekend getaways to the Keys.

Little did she know that houseboat would soon become her permanent residence, and her long-time dream of running an ice cream shop would come to fruition after she was laid off following 20 years with her employer.

Luckily, she scoped a small rental space at the corner of U.S. 1 and 91st Street across from the Florida Keys Marathon Airport that had long been the home of Two Scoops Ice Cream Shop.

Anelisi and Kara Witherell, along with Kierstyn Hodges, made their second trip to Kandios this week during their vacation from the Orlando area. Anelisi had a tough time choosing between the birthday cake or the coffee-flavored ice cream as her top two favorite flavors.

“It worked out well because a lot of GPS navigation systems still have this location in their systems,” she noted.

Kandios offers nearly 20 different flavors of Edy’s and Ice Cream Club flavors, but the staff said key lime ice cream and toasted coconut are among the most popular flavors with their customers.

Once the demand for her ice cream – available by the scoop and filled to heaping portions in her homemade waffle cones – customers began asking her to expand her offerings.

“I’d never made a Cuban sandwich before,” she laughed, adding that finding the perfect bakery from which to buy the necessary Cuban bread offered an initial challenge.

After a bit of experimenting and purchasing a press for her tiny kitchen, Foster has nearly perfected the Cuban sandwich that offers a fabulous and filling meal on the go.

Most small businesses these days are watching their bottom lines with an extremely keen eye and sharpened pencil. Foster admitted she’s trying to keep her operations as cost-effective as possible which keeps her prices low and her customers coming back for more.

Two heaping scoops of your favorite flavor stuffed into a homemade waffle cone will set you back only $4 – nearly the cost a regular cup of coffee at your favorite global chain. Kandios also offers milkshakes made with an array of flavors and even a heaping helping of bananas, ice cream and all the fixings in their monster banana split.

Kandi Foster eagerly responded to customer’s requests for expanded lunch offerings, including a delicious Cuban press.

Besides Cuban sandwiches, Kandios also offers quintessential ice cream shop fair – hot dogs and chilidogs, nachos, ham and cheese sandwiches and even coffee and espresso drinks.

Kandios, located at 9071 Overseas Hwy. (directly across from the airport) in Marathon is open from 11:30 am – 9 pm Tuesday through Sunday.