Our Values
Over the years the company has grown to support numerous staff, so too have the Values grown to reflect our collective ideals.
The Franklin Fountain strives to reimagine the soda fountains and ice cream parlors of yesterday with the progressive values we hold today; both delighting and educating with products made from the highest quality goods, sprinkled with the forgotten flavors of the American past.
Our honesty is demonstrated in our products by our choosing simple, understandable ingredients. We value the honesty and transparency of our cacao broker, Uncommon Cacao, we like knowing the people that grow our lavender, and who cook our apple butter.
We also try to foster honesty among our staff, encouraging them to communicate openly about their needs, and how we continue to improve as employers, and as a company within the community.
We are honest about the values we hold as a company, and as an ever changing cohort of workers. We share our values through the flags we hang on our buildings, and the organizations we spotlight monthly.
Our Values
Over the years the company has grown to support numerous staff, so too have the Values grown to reflect our collective ideals.
The Franklin Fountain strives to reimagine the soda fountains and ice cream parlors of yesterday with the progressive values we hold today; both delighting and educating with products made from the highest quality goods, sprinkled with the forgotten flavors of the American past.
Honesty
Our honesty is demonstrated in our products by our choosing simple, understandable ingredients. We value the honesty and transparency of our cacao broker, Uncommon Cacao, we like knowing the people that grow our lavender, and who cook our apple butter.
We also try to foster honesty among our staff, encouraging them to communicate openly about their needs, and how we continue to improve as employers, and as a company within the community.
We are honest about the values we hold as a company, and as an ever changing cohort of workers. We share our values through the flags we hang on our buildings, and the organizations we spotlight monthly.
Community
As a fixture in the city, we feel a responsibility to our Philadelphia community. We support the community through our monthly Have a Heart Sundae spotlights, donations to our local community fridge, keeping NARCAN onsite, and embracing collaborations with like minded institutions and businesses.
We are also a community within the business - Supporting each other in work, helping each other outside of work, cheering each other on, and engaging with each others artistic endeavors.
Creativity
We value and invest in creativity in the forms of design, problem solving, and of course flavors. Our confections are elevated by their craftsmanship, custom in-house designed packaging, and by all the ingenuity that went into testing, tasting, tweaking and perfecting them. Our staff are artisans, weaving together the forgotten past, while welcoming in the present.
Nature
We foster growth within our company and staff by working with peoples' natures, and nurturing their best qualities.
We also have a reverence for Mother Nature that we express through our eco-efforts like composting, returnable pints, biodegradable serve ware and packaging, and free cacao husk mulch.
Human Centered
We believe in the goodness of human beings. We try to embody this through nuanced employee evaluations, that allow for individuals to shine in their own way, while making sure they are participating in favor of the group.
We want to build a culture for the children to inherit. We strive for sustainability for the benefit of our staff, our vendors, and the business as a whole - not for faceless investors.
Our Philanthropy
Beginning in 2021, we decided to take a proactive & personal approach to our annual philanthropy. Our staff are the heart and soul of our business; their concerns and interests are all of ours. Every year we survey our coworkers, and generate a list of philanthropic causes important to them.
Each month we donate $2 from each sale of our Have a Heart Sundae, sold at The Franklin Fountain, to a different local organization based on staff suggestions and interest.
By focusing our attention on one cause at a time, we hope to concentrate our efforts and amplify our reach.
2026
January Food Access/Returning Citizens/Conflict Resolution TCRC Community Healing Center
February Racial Justice Black Giving Circle
March Underserved Youth Urban Youth Kings & Queens
April Sustainable Agriculture / Food Access Mill Creek Urban Farm
May Healthcare for All Bebashi
June Immigrant Support Welcoming Center
July Food Access South Philly Fridge
August Homeless Youth Covenant House
September Disability Support Vision for Equality
October LGBTQIA+ Recovery Morris Home
November Environmental Reform Penn Future
December Historic Preservation Hidden City
January The Food Trust
February Black Women’s Health Alliance
March Institute for Community Justice
April Old City Green
May PAWS
June Trans Youth Resilience Fund
July Bathesda Project
August Urban League
September Juntos
October Sanctuary Farm
November Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
December Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia
Rebels of the Progressive Era
Purchase one of our many Rebels of the Progressive Era pins, sold in our sister shop Shane Confectionery, and donate to the ACLU!
Each pin features a historical person who pushed boundaries, and worked to gain everyone more freedom, between the 1890s–1920s. The back of the card gives a biography of the person.
Ingredients That Matter
Most ice cream makers formulate based upon cost - our approach is to formulate based on taste, and be inspired by our love of history and community. We source our ingredients from local suppliers whenever possible, although we also depend on a global supply chain for quality ingredients in order to maintain the excellence of our products.
Sweeteners
Organic, fair trade, naturally vegan, responsibly sourced sugars from Wholesome sugar is used to sweeten Franklin Fountain Ice Cream and Shane Chocolate.
Instead of corn syrup we use tapioca syrup, maple syrup, or honey depending on the application. Our maple syrup is from PA and distributed by Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-Op. Our five rooftop beehives are buzzing with activity most of the year, yielding a delicious honey complex honey that we sell seasonally in jars. This urban apiary is managed by Don Shump of Philadelphia Bee Co. For our products that use honey as an ingredient, we use responsibly sourced Swarm Bustin' honey.
Eggs & Dairy
Shane's Buttercreams and Caramels are made with butter distributed by Stryker Farms here in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Stryker operates on the principle that all animals are entitled to fresh air, sunshine and plenty of open space. The butter is made by cooperative farms in New England & Vermont.
Leiby's cream is gathered from local PA farms, and delivered weekly by Cream'O'Land to make our ice cream at The Franklin Fountain.
The eggs we use are organic and cage-free from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. All of their eggs are gathered from chickens who are fully pastured and fed only certified organic or non-GMO, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free supplemental feed. They spend their days walking around outside, looking for bugs and plants to eat.
Eggs & Dairy
Shane's Buttercreams and Caramels are made with butter distributed by Stryker Farms here in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Stryker operates on the principle that all animals are entitled to fresh air, sunshine and plenty of open space. The butter is made by cooperative farms in New England & Vermont.
Leiby's cream is gathered from local PA farms, and delivered weekly by Cream'O'Land to make our ice cream at The Franklin Fountain.
The eggs we use are organic and cage-free from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. All of their eggs are gathered from chickens who are fully pastured and fed only certified organic or non-GMO, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free supplemental feed. They spend their days walking around outside, looking for bugs and plants to eat.
Nuts
We exclusively and responsibly source hazelnuts from the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium at local Rutgers University. They are committed to creating a research and breeding program to develop hazelnuts as a widely adapted, high yielding, and low-input sustainable crop.
Our whole nuts are roasted by Wricley Nut in South Philadelphia.
Our pistachio nut butter, used in everything from Pistachio Ice Cream to Pistachio Pralines, is from Nutty Novelties of Telford, PA.
Fruit
Hot Spiced Cider at The Franklin Fountain is from Three Springs Fruit Farm. For the Apple Cider Caramels at Shane Confectionery, we use spiced cider from Mountain Cider Company, a small family operated business in North Chittenden, Vermont.
Berks County Frecon Orchard Peaches, and Lancaster County Mast Farms' Strawberries are cooked by Bauman's into purees for Franklin Ice Creams. They also create the fruit butters that go into our Apple Butter and Pumpkin ice creams.
In the Summertime you can enjoy a scoop of our dairy or vegan Blueberry ice cream, made with Blueberry Bill Farms blueberries of Hammonton, NJ!
Fruit
Hot Spiced Cider at The Franklin Fountain is from Three Springs Fruit Farm. For the Apple Cider Caramels at Shane Confectionery, we use spiced cider from Mountain Cider Company, a small family operated business in North Chittenden, Vermont.
Berks County Frecon Orchard Peaches, and Lancaster County Mast Farms' Strawberries are cooked by Bauman's into purees for Franklin Ice Creams. They also create the fruit butters that go into our Apple Butter and Pumpkin ice creams.
In the Summertime you can enjoy a scoop of our dairy or vegan Blueberry ice cream, made with Blueberry Bill Farms blueberries of Hammonton, NJ!
Grains
All of our flour is organic and from Small Valley Flour Mill in Halifax, PA.
Our Soft Pretzels are from Philly Pretzel Works; opening in 1960, its the oldest soft pretzel company existing in Philadelphia
Shane Confectionery sources large hand twisted pretzels from Shuey’s Pretzel Factory, in Lebanon, PA. Shuey's is a family owned business has been providing customers with hard and soft pretzels since 1927!
When we make special malt or barley confections, we love using grains from Deer Creek Malt, Pennsylvania's first malthouse since prohibition.
& More!
Our Coffee Ice Cream, Shane's Coffee Caramels, and Coffee Cardamom Bar, are all made with Herman's Coffee, roasted in South Philadelphia.
We use solar evaporated flake sea salt, hand harvested from the Atlantic by Salty Acres in Avalon, NJ, in many of our products. Like ourSea Salt Caramel Ice Cream, and Shane's Sea Salt Caramels and Whirly Berley Bars.
Warwick-Furnace Farms in Chester County, PA grows the certified naturally grown lavender we use in our Lavender soda, and Shane's Lavender Caramels.
We love using local Dad's Hat Whiskey in our Shane Whiskey Caramel, and New Liberty Distilling Kinsey Bourbon Whiskey for our Franklin Irish Coffee Ice Cream.