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Follow us on TwitterAltavista ice cream shop channels ‘50s charm
Jill Nance/The News & Advance
Sitting outside the Dairy Freeze in Altavista, Elizabeth Perrow and her daughter, Augusta, enjoy some ice cream on a hot summer afternoon. The roadside eatery, which has been serving customers for more than 50 years, is a tribute to good ice cream and loyal customers.
Published: July 12, 2009
Updated: July 13, 2009
ALTAVISTA — At the Dairy Freeze on Main Street, a white building with a gold-colored brick foundation, customers order ice cream or food at the walk-up window. They sit at one of eight tables on the outside patio until it’s ready.
Andy Mattox, the restaurant’s owner, said people ask him why he doesn’t enclose the space so people can eat inside.
He responds: “This has always worked for us. Why change it?”
Andy Mattox’s father, Herbert Mattox, founded Dairy Freeze in 1958. It was about its current size, and it only sold ice cream.
The company began selling food in March 1965, said longtime employee Tommy McKinney.
“It was on my 15th birthday,” he said.
Little has changed at the Dairy Freeze since then. Herbert Mattox’s son, Andy, took over the store in 1988, a year after he graduated from Virginia Tech.
After studying agricultural economy, Andy Mattox said, the best job he could find was with the chicken giant Perdue, which consisted of checking on chicken houses and administering shots.
“I got to doing a little research, found out how much they pay to work the grill here, and it was more than what Perdue was paying,” Andy Mattox said.
His first step was to recruit McKinney, who had worked for Herbert Mattox for three years before going into the military.
“I’ve been cooking all my life,” McKinney said. “I even cooked in the military.”
Since joining the Dairy Freeze, McKinney has never missed a day of work. Andy Mattox said he would consider it unusual if any of his “four faithful full-time employees” missed a day.
“Nobody down here calls in sick,” he said. “Nobody misses work.”
Andy Mattox believes the employees are part of what has made his business successful. The four full-timers have worked at the Dairy Freeze for more than 70 years combined.
“I think it’s amazing the place has stayed in business with all the fast foods,” Herbert Mattox said.
Andy Mattox attributes this to his customers.
“A key thing is we got a lot of loyal customers. Families have eaten down here for several generations,” he said.
Altavista’s mayor, Rudy Burgess, enjoys the Dairy Freeze, too.
“It’s a real asset to the community — people enjoy going down to get ice cream or a hot dog,” he said.
The Mattoxes would like the business to stay in the family.
“One of my grandsons, we always say that first he has to go to college before he takes over,” Herbert Mattox said.
Although Dairy Freeze’s food hasn’t changed much in the past decades, progress marches on.
Tuesday, Andy Mattox said, “we just put in a debit/credit card machine.”
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Reader Reactions
I think dairy freeze is the best hamburgar, hotdog and icecream place in altavista. Keep up the good work.
Over and out Keith.
Arthur,enough said time to move on.
I’m with you Keith. We are almost the same vintage. I too grew up on good-memory food. I’m sure the proprietors of this place are salt of the earth. Don’t “intend” to rain on your parade.
I’m just the other kind, you know? There is GREAT, real ice-cream out there and not far away.
Food is holy to me Keith. Can’t help it. It’s kind of like if you were a Southern Baptist and I was outside your church yelling “Jesus Stinks!“ while service is taking place. It would seem bad, ridiculous and unreal to you. That’s how chemical pseudo-ice cream makes me feel. Bad for ya Keith, take my word.
Please note that I placed Ice Cream in “Quotes”. I worked there in the sixties and it was Ice Cream. We actually blended vanilla extract into 25 gallon milk/ice cream mix that was delivered by Westover Dairies. This later progressed to quart containers that once again was a milk based product. What is served now is called “Yogurt” What it actually is I don’t really know or care but it does have an FDA approval of some sort or it could not be served. I grew up on DF food. If you don’t like it don’t eat it. That’s the beauty of America, we all have choice. By the way I vote in every election and I’m not a republican nor a democrat just a good American. I’ve enjoyed 57 years of life and I have the knowledge that I can’t make the world spin in the direction I wish it to, choices my friend are personal and not to be imposed on others to the point of their discomfort. “Breathe in, breathe out, move on.“ Jimmy Buffett
Stop calling it ice cream Keith. It ain’t.
LOL. He “gets it”........he just doesn’t like anybody to enjoy anything he doesn’t.
To the “Ice Cream” dissident I must say you missed the point of the article! The Dairy Freeze has been a place you can take your family and have a pleasant wholesome experience. I worked there in my high school and college days. There are several generations of Altavista folks who have gained meaningful work experience there. Herbert Mattox taught excellent work ethics, habits and manners. In the years I worked there I was able to serve a diverse group of people from “Little League” stars to college basketball stars to even a professional wrestler. You see the Dairy Freeze was in the center of a town where Rte 29 was the main north/south route in Virginia. It was and is a great place to stop and enjoy a nasty old hot dog, a fresh meat cheeseburger, excellent french fries and a whole heaping pile of good conversation and people who care about people. Don’t forget the milk shake. They do still use real milk.
Nobody hates ice cream Mrs. BeesHatter (was Bees your maiden name?) That AIN’T ice cream! It’s chemical fluff packed full of sweet calories.
Did you know that up until age 2 or 3 a human child will “self” determine exactly how many calories it needs at a given time? It won’t over-eat! But, by then in America, moms & dads have started feeding them chemical fluff FULL of sweet, fatty or salty calories that TOTALLY blow away the bodies self regulatory mechanisms by over stimulating ancient predispositions to eat what used to be “treats” that were few and far between in nature.
The end result are “Butterballs” with dozens of health problems like diabetes and hormonal disorders, not to mention heart disease and early death. LOOK around! It’s disgusting what people around here look like. Obesity is epidemic… and why? Because people like you think a mixture of corn syrup and chemicals is “good” for you. IT AIN’T!
So wax poetic all you like about the good old days, but, while you are licking up that non-food and teaching your children that it’s a “good thing” and how we “reward” ourselves, don’t be scratching your head and wondering why and how people got so fat and NEED a dozen prescriptions to make it through the day.
While you are out, remember to pick up Lunchables, Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Hot-Pockets and Potato Chips…. The kids HAVE been really good.
This is to all the “Ice Cream Haters” out there…GROW UP People!!!....Like mommy said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”....KUDOS Andy Mattox, Dairy Freeze is a landmark in A-Town…And no one can take that away from you or your family!!! PROUD to have grown up there!
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