It’s truly a family affair at Mann’s Homemade Ice Cream in Amityville. The shop, owned by Linda and Eric Mann, is a labor of love whose labor depends on the couple, their children and, occasionally, Eric’s retired parents, plus a crew of local kids who have become like family.

Eric, a master electrician, uses all his technical prowess to get the machinery to churn out flavors precisely as envisioned. Linda, a manager at the luxury boutique, Shari’s Place of Greenvale and Southampton, knows that "retail is detail," and brings her eagle eye to everything from the signage to the sprinkles. (She recently swapped out rainbow sprinkle whose color range included orange for another product with a cooler palette.) 

"Listen to the clients," is what she's learned over the course of her career. "They'll tell you what products to carry." 

The Manns took a circuitous route to their Amityville shop, Mann’s Homemade Ice Cream. Eric, whose father’s family had owned a bakery in Queens, always dreamed of running a similar business which he believed would be fun right now and could give shape to their eventual retirement.

Their first idea was to buy a franchise, perhaps a Ralph’s, but the more they investigated, the more hamstrung they felt by the rules they would have to follow. By the time they decided to hang up their own shingle, though, the idea of ice cream had taken hold and would not let go.

"We knew we wanted the ice cream to be homemade," Eric declared, "We wanted the business to have our name, and we wanted to be the faces that the customers see."

Flavors are inspired by trends (the Dubai sundae, $11.50 to $16, is flying out of the store), by travels (a recent trip to Aruba resulted in butterscotch-rum-pineapple "Aruba wedding cake" ice cream), by staff contributions (s’mores in under development) and by recipes that the Mann family had in the vaults such as the rum raisin and salted caramel. In addition to cups, cones, sundaes and shakes, the ice cream finds itself into nachos made from waffle wafers and fat ice cream sandwiches ($9.95) bookended by homemade cookies. There are also chocolates and coffee drinks made with Hamptons Coffee.

Since they opened in September, the Manns have already been through the challenging winter, and they are geared up for what they hope will be a sky-high summer season.

Mann’s Homemade Ice Cream, 189 Merrick Rd., Amityville, 631-240-2010, mannsicecream.com. Open Monday to Thursday 2 to 9 p.m., Friday 2 to 10 p.m., Saturday 1 to 10 p.m., Sunday 1 to 9 p.m.