Shown is owner Nik Pappas.“I am lactose intolerant,” said Pappas, who will nibble on a spoonful now and again, but that’s about it.
The company’s roots go back more than half a century to Pappas’ grandfather Bill Micochera, who was a standout football player at Cuyahoga Falls High School and who went on to play briefly for Woody Hayes at Ohio State. But he was a tradesman at heart and returned home. He eventually became bored with his tire-making job at Goodyear.
“That was his Vegas money,” Pappas said. “Once he sold all his Christmas trees he’d go to Vegas and hang out there for a while. He was a big poker player, and he was the worst person to go to Vegas with. You wouldn’t see him.” He would sit at a table for days, and Pappas remembers his mom telling him: “If you sat next to him and he wasn’t doing well, it was your fault.’”Pappas had left home at 21 and worked overseas for 12 years mostly in the hospitality business.
Pappas said the market “is a little weird in general. The ice-cream industry a big boom. Now it’s kind of plateauing a little bit.” And Pappas believes Pav’s is the only ice-cream shop to have a full-service liquor license in Ohio and possibly the only one in the country. Pav’s even offers a sundae with warm homemade baklava topped with vanilla custard, chopped nuts and hot fudge.