FENWICK ISLAND – Self-serve frozen yogurt. Gifford’s Ice Cream. Real fruit smoothies. Milkshakes. Coffee. Cookies.
Those with a sweet tooth can find it all at HaHa’s frozen yogurt and ice cream shop in Fenwick Island.
Located in the Village of Fenwick shopping center along Coastal Highway, HaHa’s serves as the resort’s local establishment for those craving a cold, creamy or sweet treat.
Owners Mike and Karen Robel opened Haha’s – Healthy Alternative, Happy Attitude – in 2011, shortly after visiting a similar frozen yogurt establishment with relatives in Atlanta.
“It was a rainy Sunday night and the place was mobbed … so needless to say we found out more about self-serve frozen yogurt,” Mike Robel said. “That was in March and we opened in June.”
The couple, who had moved from New Jersey to Fenwick the year prior, noticed a lack of frozen yogurt shops on the Eastern Shore and decided to open an establishment along Fenwick’s main corridor.
“We had moved down here the year before and we weren’t planning on doing anything, but stuff happens,” said Mike Robel. “We decided to venture into something else.”
Since opening HaHa’s, the couple has introduced new items to the menu each year.
“When we first opened, that was right when these were all the rage and now you are seeing less and less of them because everyone said, ‘Oh, this looks easy. Let’s just open up a frozen yogurt place,’” Mike Robel said. “So every year we’ve added something to keep people in the store.”
Karen Robel said HaHa’s serves 10 flavors of frozen yogurt, 60-plus toppings, 12 flavors of Gifford’s Ice Cream, chocolate and vanilla soft serve ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes and an assortment of David’s Cookies, which are made fresh daily and used in ice cream sandwiches.
In recent years, the couple has introduced a 20 Ounce Club, where patrons who purchase 20 ounces or more of frozen yogurt gets their picture, name and hometown placed on the shop’s wall.
Karen Robel said the 20 Ounce Club started out as a casual competition among their patrons, who would purchase up to 120 ounces of frozen yogurt and eat it in one sitting.
“Originally people were trying to out-best the other,” she said. “It got so crazy it wound up being very tough, and they had to eat it.”
While the owners no longer continue the competition, Mike Robel said more than 100 people from the U.S. and Europe receive a spot on the wall each year.
“You can see people that come back every year to get their picture taken and be on the wall,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s something people remember on their vacation.”
Though much has changed since opening the shop, Mike Robel said Haha’s charm brings families back year after year.
“They like the quaintness of this,” he said. “They like the tables outside. On a busy night, all the tables are filled and people are just having a good time with their families.”
HaHa’s is open daily noon to 11 p.m. until Labor Day, with limited hours afterwards.
For more information, visit the HaHa’s Facebook page or call 302-581-0039.
