Altavista ice cream shop channels ‘50s charm

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.”