Dave and Andy’s Ice Cream shop, opened in 1989 by Dave Tuttle and Andy Hardie, is reopening its doors under new ownership on Atwood Street after closing in April. 

“We’re really happy to see to see the name continuing on, and we’re excited to see it reopen,”
Greg Hardie, Andy’s son, said. “It was a sad day when we had to close, but we had so much support from the community that it made sense to try and keep it going.” 

After closing at the end of last spring semester, Dave and Andy’s was bought by Laura and Jason Kasten, Andy’s family friends for decades.

“Jason is actually the nephew of one of Dad’s close friends that he’s known since, I think, back in elementary school,” Greg Hardie said. 

Sarah Kasten, a junior media and professional communications major at Pitt and Laura and Jason Kasten’s daughter, said she grew up going to Dave and Andy’s often. Her parents even had their first date at the shop. 

“On my dad’s side of the family, a couple of them worked there as students at Pitt and my parents actually had their first date there,” Sarah Kasten said. “So obviously, when it was closing, it was pretty sad to everyone, but then the conversations started about taking it over and it all worked out.” 

This type of local legacy helps small businesses thrive in Oakland. Shawn Fertitta, executive director of the Oakland Business Improvement District, said keeping small businesses open is very important to Oakland’s commercial district. 

“Dave and Andy’s is a staple of Oakland. They’re a small business, and it’s so exciting that a family with such close ties to the business is reopening it,” Fertitta said. “It just adds a sense of creative identity. It adds vibrancy to anyone who comes to work, to study, to live or to visit.”

While small businesses add revenue to a community, Fertitta said they’re also great for job creation. 

“Small businesses are a huge, significant source of jobs for a community. The more we can get small businesses to a neighborhood, a community, a business district, it just becomes a more interesting and exciting place to be,” Fertitta said. 

With a legacy of homemade ice cream and waffle cones, Sarah Kasten said Dave and Andy’s is a community favorite in Oakland and the family plans on keeping many things the same to keep with the Dave and Andy’s tradition. 

“We were really careful about keeping a lot of things the same, the way people know and love it,” Kasten said. “We have all the same recipes and all the same flavors. The only thing different is that there’s a new coat of paint on the wall.”

To keep the flavors the same, Kasten said past employees trained her family on how to use the equipment and make all the recipes. In addition to rehiring some of the past employees, Kasten said they also hired a couple of new people who they have been training. 

“It’s going to be really exciting. We wanted everyone to get situated with coming back to school, of course. Now that everyone’s back and kind of has a handle on things, we’re going to get started and they’ll be ready for that,” Kasten said. 

With an opening set for Sept. 7, Kasten said her family has been doing a lot of interviews to announce the reopening. 

“Along with that, what’s really great is people spread the word just by mouth, which has been really nice. If you pass them on the street and tell them, they’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to go,’” Kasten said. “That’s how it was previously. They never did any sort of advertising. Everything was just by word of mouth, so I think that really helps with our customer base being that way.”

Going into the future, one of their goals is to reestablish their customer base but continue living in the moment. 

“Everything has been great. For long-term goals, we just really hope to be open for another amazing forty years,” Kasten said.