Four locally-owned businesses to satisfy sweet tooth, home-style cravings

Whether they’re a local tradition, offer a unique experience or a new twist on a classic you won’t find anywhere else, local establishments add variety to the world of chain restaurants and big box stores. Here are four locally-owned shops to cover whatever cravings you may have.

Good's Candy Shop

If you’re planning a trip down to Anderson, Ind., you may want to visit Good’s Candy Shop. Located in a building resembling a gingerbread house, Good’s is the third largest independent candy store in Indiana and has the largest selection of chocolate and ice cream in the state, said current owner Randy Good. 

They have chocolates in flavors such as apple pie, maple syrup, strawberry, coffee and cinnamon, as well as caramels, dessert popcorn in thirteen different flavors and milk chocolate-covered potato chips. 

Good’s only serves super premium ice cream, meaning it is only over 13 percent butterfat — the richest type of ice cream. They offer 35 different flavors plus the new flavor of the week, available in shakes, malts, sundaes and custom ice cream cakes. Good said he has come up with over 350 different flavors to fill the flavor of the week slot.

The shop also offers delivery and tours of the facilities.

Good comes from a long line of candy shop owners. He decided to open his own shop right in the town his family was from and they are currently still expanding. 

“It’s more fun to own something than to do something,” he said. 

Cammack Station

It’s hard to miss Cammack Station in the small community of Cammack, just off of Route 332 in Muncie. The restaurant is located in a renovated old-time gas and service station decorated with retro signs. With a soundtrack of 50s and 60s hits, Cammack Station is a tribute to nostalgia, as the current general manager Shane Shafer puts it.

“I don’t know what’s better — seeing a smile on a two- or three-year-old kid the first time they really sink their teeth into good ice cream or if you get a whole family together and you watch the grandfathers walk around and show the grandkids the old things they grew up with,” he said.

As a destination restaurant, Cammack Station attracts a great diversity of people. Shafer said people of all ages come from all over the state and sometimes from other countries. The ice cream is the exclusive Sundae’s from Indianapolis, a family business that has won multiple award for the city's best ice cream. 

Cammack Station has a large selection of flavors, including Peanut Butter Fudge and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. You can get the ice cream in the restaurant's own variety of sundaes or build your own. 

The menu is traditional American fare: burgers, pulled pork, corn dogs, fries, homemade potato salad. They also use fresh meats and produce and prepare all the food in house. In addition to their other options, Cammack Station offers a burger of the month.

The Wedge

The Wedge Artisan Grilled Cheese in Yorktown has only been open for a year and a half, but it’s already making a splash with Ball State students. Located in a retro hot dog drive-in right off of Route 32, The Wedge’s menu has 16 variations of grilled cheese. 

There's the “The Classic,” a traditional American cheese on Texas Toast. There's also the Buffalo Chicken, a sandwich made with cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese and boneless chicken wings on Texas Toast with Ranch or blue cheese dipping sauce. Another variation is the Strawberry Shortcake, a grilled pound cake with strawberry cream cheese and fresh strawberries topped with whipped cream. The restaurant also serves tomato soup and salads.

In their first year of operation, The Wedge won best soup, sandwich and best overall in the Taste of Muncie and is looking to repeat its winning streak next month.

Steve Wickliffe and his wife decided to open The Wedge after they came across a grilled cheese food truck in Florida. 

“The experience encouraged us to share our love of grilled cheese with the world,” Wickliffe said. 

The couple already had a few grilled cheese recipes they then adapted for the menu, and there are an additional 10 grilled cheese sandwiches that are rotated in as the sandwich of the week. Some new flavors they have are “Hot Chick,” featuring jalapenos, and “Dutch Melt,” which features chili butter — a Wedge invention.

The Wedge does not offer delivery but does offer carryout.

Lowery's Chocolates

Also down Route 32 is Lowery's Chocolates. Lowery’s has been in the Muncie area for over 60 years and offers over 120 varieties of chocolate treats, including Tiger Paws, Polar Claws, peanut butter “smoothies” and cremes. 

Their specialty is the Dark Secrets: a one of a kind crème surrounded by a rich dark chocolate. The recipe for the treat has been a secret for 65 years. 

Lowery’s gets its chocolate from Blomers in Chicago, a company that processes cocoa beans in the U.S., but they do make their own centers and toffees and roast their own nuts in house, as well as taking care of hand-dipping all the chocolate treats. 

Lowery’s was started on Main Street in Muncie in 1941. Dee Lowery learned the art of making chocolates and opened the store in her family’s basement, which had no air conditioning, right around the beginning of World War II. She had to persuade neighbors to give her their sugar rations so she could make the candy. 

The business nonetheless succeeded and in 1964, Don Brown, a cousin of Lowery’s, bought the business and it moved to its current location. 

Lowery’s has since expanded to include the house next to it. In 1974, current owner Vicky Brown, Don Brown’s daughter, took over Lowery’s, taking the business into its third generation. 

According to the Family Business Institute, only about 30 percent of family businesses survive into the second generation. Twelve percent make it into the third generation and only about 3 percent of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond.

“It can be hard to work with family sometimes," Vicky said. 

But the excellent sweets and the perks of an annual 3-month vacation, when Lowery's is closed in the summer, certainly make it worth it, she said.

DN PHOTOS EMMA ROGERS

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