Kirke’s keeps growing after 34 years of serving up scoops
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- For 34 years, Kirke's Homemade Ice Cream has been serving up scoops in St. Clairsville, but the family's connection to ice cream stretches back nearly a century.
On Wednesday, the St. Clairsville staple celebrated its anniversary by offering customers $1 scoops of ice cream.
Owner and operator Kirke Porterfield said ice cream has been a family business for generations.
His grandfather, Herb Walker, started making ice cream in August 1926.
Porterfield said his grandparents farmed and also prepared meals for travelers along U.S. 250, which saw a high volume of traffic.
"When my granddad got back from World War One, he decided that he wanted to make ice cream, and then the ice cream kind of overtook the chicken feed and feeding the people, so they just became a full fledged ice cream stop," Porterfield said. "But he still farmed clear up until he died."
Porterfield said that while growing up, he helped his grandfather at Walker's Ice Cream Shop and eventually learned how to make ice cream from several family members.
"My dad [Bob Porterfield] also made ice cream, so I guess it’s been in the family on both sides for a long, long time," Porterfield said. "So then we decided to start up, and we’ve had the people and community have been extremely nice to us, and now we’ve got 30 some wholesale accounts."
Kirke's Homemade Ice Cream makes all of its ice cream in-house and offers 45 flavors, including the fan favorite "Catdog."
Catdog combines cookies and cream and cookie dough ice creams, a creation Porterfield developed as the wholesale side of the business grew.
"We did that because a lot of our wholesale accounts don’t have the freezer space for the type of variety that we have," Porterfield said. "When they ask which is better, cookie dough or cookies and cream, I always say that you have to have both of them. But if you only have room for eight flavors in the cooler you don't have room so then we came up with blending those two together making one flavor and saving an extra spot."
Porterfield said he knew almost from the time Kirke's opened 34 years ago that he wanted to expand into wholesale.
"Pretty soon after we opened, people wanted to buy it, and I thought, well, the more ice cream we can run through the machine, the lower my cost will be. So we started wholesaling, probably that winter of ’92, and began getting accounts and then further expanded just every year, just kept adding more," Porterfield said. "The community has supported us a tremendous amount, and we do celebrity scoopers with United Way, and we support as much stuff as we can to help out the community because without the community we’re nothing."
As the wholesale business has continued to grow, Porterfield's son, Mark, has taken over handling its logistics.
"He’s getting ready to start building the new factory. Currently we can make about 40 gallons an hour, and with the equipment he has already ordered we will be able to make about 400 gallons an hour," Porterfield said.
The Porterfields announced in July an investment of more than $900,000 to construct a new production facility that will create nine new jobs.
The initiative is being carried out in collaboration with JobsOhio, Ohio Southeast Economic Development and the Belmont County Port Authority.
"Mark’s full speed ahead and wants to grow the business. And if you’re making 400 gallons an hour, you’re going to have to leave Belmont County and expand the market considerably. So that’s kind of what he’s trying to do," Porterfield said. "He’s hoping to get started this fall. Right now, we’re waiting on the plans. Whenever you do anything like this the architectural plans take time because you have to make all the inspectors happy and make sure everything’s right before you get started. But once it gets started, I don’t think it’s going to take too long to build. It’s about a 50 by 100 building, so it’s not huge."
The factory will be built at the former Porterfield's Drive Thru Farm and Garden location, he said.
Another way Kirke's is expanding is through its mobile food trucks. The business recently debuted its third truck.
Porterfield said the business is looking to continue expanding and is considering franchising Kirke's food trailers and trucks.
"There's a lot of business out there, there's weddings, parties, baseball, soccer games and there's a real opportunity for somebody to take a trailer out and hit a lot of these spots," Porterfield said. "But we just don’t have time because the problem right now is, if we’re out at an event, we’re not making ice cream, and we’ve been making ice cream six days a week. So it’s just been just a handful."
In June 2025, Mark Porterfield and Michael DeRosa entered into a partnership to open Coffee Connection and Kirke's Homemade Ice Cream in Shadyside.
Porterfield said his son eventually decided to sell the ice cream portion of the business to DeRosa.
"Mike owned the building and he started the coffee side and Mark started the ice cream side, and then those two decided that maybe Mike should just buy the ice cream side," Porterfield said. "Which made Mike DeRosa our first franchisee."
He added that this winter, the business plans to pursue additional franchises through both concession trailers and brick-and-mortar locations.