🍨History of Jiffy Treat🍦

By: Kelcey Thacker and Kaitlyn Goodall                                                                                                          3/30/23

Have you ever wanted fresh homemade ice cream on a hot day? If so then Jiffy Treat is the place to go! It was established in 1948  and now has 60 flavors of ice cream. That's a lot of ice cream! Jiffy Treat has a variety of different things like food, cyclones, ice cream, slushes, and things like hotdogs and fries etc. They have mostly anything and everything. HOORAY!!!!!!!!!

Mark Reszka was the original owner, he opened the Jiffy Treat in Ellettsville. His father Ralph later opened Bedford’s Jiffy Treet on 16th Street in 1983. Mark opened the Ellettsville store in 1974. As Jiffy Treet begins its 30th year, Reszka is proud to carry on his dad’s legacy. He said “you can’t beat working in the ice cream business. We are proud to have served our customers for several years.” Jiffy Treat’s original location in Bloomington opened in 1948, offering homemade ice cream flavors to the public. 


Jiffy Treat originally started with 15 flavors which included Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Kookie Monster, Soft Butter Pecan, and the Cyclone! Since then they have added many many more flavors. Some of their most popular/well known flavors are of Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Cookie Dough, Oreo, Big Bird, Big Red, Brownie Nugget, Bubble Gum, Cake Batter, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Kookie Monster, Mint Chip, Orange Sherbet, Peach Brandy, Pistachio, Rainbow Sherbet, Rocky Road, and Superman. They also have seasonal flavors such as Banana Pudding, Candy Cane, Big Red, Circus Cookie, Cream and Crimson, and Pumpkin! All of their flavors are homemade, that is what probably makes them so good. 


Working at Jiffy Treat is a really fun time. Mrs. Koontz says, “ I loved working there but it was hard work. My favorite part was definitely the friends I made.” Working at JIffy Treat seems like it would be very fun and exciting. Like she said, it would also be very hard work because you would have to make all this ice cream and different types of it, along with things like fries, hotdogs, and other food like that etc. She also said, “Jiffy Treat is delicious, a Ellettsville staple. My favorite flavor would have to be butter pecan soft serve with nuts on top, butter pecans. I love butter pecan.”


Here are some people’s thoughts on Jiffy Treat and what they like about it. Poppy Bishop says, “I like Jiffy Treat because it is so good and they always have different things.” Drew Figg said “ I like it because their flavors are very flavorful and colorful.” Lamaya Stewart says, “ It’s good, I like to get cookie dough cyclones, something I don't like about Jiffy Treat is they are all too small or too big for me to finish them.” Jesse Dixon says, “ Their chocolate ice cream is so good, it is definitely the best flavor.”


 I'm sure that everybody in Ellettsville knows what Jiffy Treat is whether they have gone there, or just heard about it. Jiffy Treat is very popular, it is even considered by many to be a landmark of Ellettsville. It was established in 1974, but is still running better than ever! This place has a long history and has been around for many years. People love their creative and unique flavors, Jiffy Treat is definitely a favorite place of many people!