Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream Henry Gentry is the owner of Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream.[/caption]

On Sept. 17, 1992, a store opened in Plano that quickly became a fan favorite: Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream.


Since Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream opened its doors, the store now offers 1,000 different flavors that rotate throughout the year, many using the same recipes and all using the one of the highest-quality creams on the market—with 16 percent butterfat, according to owner Henry Gentry.


“There was nobody selling homemade ice cream in the area when we opened; all the local ice cream shops were selling things you could buy in the grocery store,” Gentry said. “I was really surprised that I was the first in the area to sell homemade ice cream. I mean, who am I to have come up with that?”


Gentry said the store’s most popular flavors include vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but he introduces new flavors all the time, such as avocado ice cream, corn ice cream and Texas praline.


“Flavors we establish in three ways: restaurants ask us to make certain flavors, customers ask for certain flavors, and then I come up with flavors that I think can sell,” he said. “We rotate some flavors seasonally like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or peppermint stick at Christmas.”


The store was the first in the area to make Girl Scout Cookie ice cream, Gentry said, adding that he purchases 700 boxes each season and makes a different flavor of ice cream for every type of Girl Scout Cookie.


Right now, Gentry said the cooler is full of cotton candy ice cream, which is a popular summer flavor, and he will soon begin making peach ice cream as local crops come into season.


“We have such a loyal following that I’m really not surprised by the popularity of our ice creams,” Gentry said. “Our customers are usually return customers and they tell everyone they know and then they become followers. People seek out good ice cream, and once they find their favorite flavor, they only come here to get it.”


Gentry’s ice cream following has grown so large that he now supplies ice cream to 700 restaurants as well as local ice cream shops and stores across the state.