The ground around the Frosty Caboose in Chamblee trembled as a Norfolk Southern train sped by on the nearby tracks. A few families admired the locomotive as they finished their ice cream cones and bowls.
For 15 years, the Frosty Caboose has had a prime view of the train tracks. But if trains aren’t your thing, there’s also a MARTA line that zips by overhead, and on clear days customers can catch sight of airplanes landing and taking off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.
The ice cream shop, housed in a cherry red Missouri Pacific train caboose from the 1980s, attracts an array of visitors looking to devour a sundae while watching the trains go by just beyond the tree line.
On a toasty Monday afternoon, owner Pam Kachmar sat on a bench outside her shop and talked about running the Frosty Caboose. The New Jersey native moved to Georgia soon after graduating from college and worked in human resources and sales until she was laid off. Her brother, Gary Gilmer, was a builder with several properties around Chamblee, and he was hoping to create something neat for the city, so he brought his sister in on the plan.
Considering Chamblee’s motto, “A City on the Right Track,” and the availability of cabooses no longer being used, the siblings decided an ice cream parlor inside a renovated railroad car was just what the area needed.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
They used a crane to place the ice cream-styled roof on the caboose, which was obtained in Iowa. The 180-square-foot interior is large enough to accommodate about 36 ice cream flavors at a time, plus a milkshake machine, toppings, hot dog supplies and up to four employees.
Kachmar’s husband, Charles, a graphic designer and teacher in Gwinnett County, created the Frosty Caboose logo, and the exterior of the caboose was designed to match. It’s meant to look “animated,” she said, as if the train was chugging down the tracks with mounds of ice cream melting over its sides.
While there’s frequently a line of customers on the ramp leading to the Frosty Caboose, the shop was not an instant success. Without the support of her husband, Kachmar said, she wouldn’t have been able to remain afloat during the early years. But as Chamblee has grown, her business has grown with it.
Despite its popularity, there still are challenges to owning an ice cream shop. Those include supply issues and the rising costs of materials, from ice cream to cups to gloves. Staffing also can be difficult, since most people don’t plan to make a career in ice cream, she said. She often hires early high school students, and her own children have worked there, too.
“I want to be their steppingstone,” she said.
Still, when scheduling gets hairy, she steps in to work the long shifts herself.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Kachmar said the key to the shop’s longevity is her belief that “traditional makes it through everything.” She always has sold hand-packed ice cream, instead of dipping into flashy dessert trends. And after her local ice cream supplier closed, she searched for a new distributor that offered a high-quality product that customers wouldn’t find in stores. She ended up going with Michigan-based Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream and Hershey’s ice cream.
Kachmar said it also helps that the shop is part of the Chamblee community, with a loyal base of regular customers who like to sit and watch the trains go down the track. Among them are Betty Arzu and Jormilis Bencomo, who both bring their sons to the shop.
Bencomo has been coming for eight years, and she always gets the same flavors — chunky salted caramel and chocolate lovers.
Arzu is newer to the Frosty Caboose, but she and her son didn’t need much convincing. “This is a unique spot,” she said. “I hope it never closes.”
The shop offers such ice cream flavors as banana split, lemon cheesecake, peach, and cookies and cream — the most popular flavor. Customers also come for milkshakes, and some of the sundaes have train-themed names, like Crack in the Track, which was inspired by the title of a book about Thomas the Tank Engine, a childhood favorite of her son. It comes with rocky road ice cream, fudge sauce, toasted almonds and caramel. There’s also the Short Line, which has a scoop of vanilla ice cream, strawberry topping, whipped cream and sprinkles.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The Frosty Caboose also sells hot dogs. Kachmar spent plenty of time in New York City growing up, so she wanted to offer “dirty water” Sabrett hot dogs, which are boiled with salt and pepper. She even has New York-style toppings, such as spicy mustard and onions in red sauce.
Rain or shine, chilly winters or boiling Georgia summers, people show up at the Frosty Caboose, Kachmar said, “because it’s their favorite sweet.”
She can relate. “I could give up other sweets,” she said. “I can’t give up ice cream.”
The Frosty Caboose. 5435 Peachtree Road, Chamblee. 770-451-4556, frostycaboose.com
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