It started with an untapped passion for hospitality, quality, and good food and an unlikely chance meeting.
In 2003 John Battista decided to leave his career as an engineer and consultant to purchase and operate The Carisbrooke Inn Bed and Breakfast. That same year Agnes Debicz spent the Summer in Ventnor working for Bob Mento scooping ice cream while completing her masters degree in logistics. Neither knew their paths would cross and neither knew their passion for hospitality, quality and food would overtake their plans for the future.
Cafe & Creamery
In the late summer of 2006 John was looking for some extra help around the inn and was told by a friend to talk to this energetic and capable young woman working at Mento’s. John met her and hired Agnes. Over the next several years they became close friends and in 2010 became partners in a new building acquired to expand the inn (this new building is now being run as North Beach Hotel). During these years both realized their true passions were in hospitality and food.
In late 2010 Bob Mento approached Agnes, his long time employee and John inquiring if they were interested in leasing his water ice and ice cream shop on Ventnor Avenue, Mento’s which he started in the early 1980’s. John and Agnes agreed to lease the store and purchase all of the existing equipment. John and Agnes spent months with Bob, learning to run the store, order products and most importantly John learned to make all of the famous Mento’s water ice recipes. In the Spring of 2011 John and Agnes opened Mento’s Ventnor, keeping the operations the same as Bob Mento had taught them. After several months Bob decided he wanted to retire the Mento’s name and asked John and Agnes to stop using it. During the Summer of 2011 they renamed the store Carisbrooke Ice. They did this to tie it in with their existing business, The Carisbrooke Inn, which was growing into an 18 room bed and breakfast located a block away.
For the next seven years John and Agnes ran the store as Carisbrooke Ice, keeping the same operations and standards Bob Mento taught them. John continued to make all of the water ice in small batches, just as Bob Mento did, using the same recipes and over time adding some new flavors.
During the winter of 2016 John and Agnes decided to expand their hospitality ventures and in the Spring they opened Carisbrooke Cafe. This small boardwalk cafe served breakfast and lunch, and eventually added limited dinners. Over a period of four years the cafe thrived and grew in their small boardwalk location.
In the late winter of 2018 Bob Mento had a discussion with John and Agness and told them he made a mistake asking them to stop using the Mento’s name and suggested they go back to the original name. John and Agnes agreed and reopened that Spring as Mento’s South Philly Italian Ice. They operated in the location on Ventnor Avenue for two more years under the name Mento’s South Philly Italian Ice, all the while maintaining the same standards, water ice production and ice cream products that made the original Mento’s famous.
With their lease at the Ventnor Ave. store coming to an end and no reasonable prospects of purchasing the building from Bob Mento, John and Agnes secured a new and much larger location on the corner of Atlantic Ave and S Little Rock Ave. The new building provided an opportunity to bring the ice cream shop and the cafe under one roof, improving efficiency and their ability to service customers. In this one location they could not only provide the ice cream and water ice products they were now famous for, but also provide the fresh bakery items and simple home made foods they were loved for at their cafe. They could now provide all of these items year round and from morning to night. This new location though would need a new name so that customers would not be confused, a new name that would let people know it was a cafe and ice cream shop.
In March of 2020 just as the Covid-19 pandemic was shutting down Ventnor and the entire country John and Agnes opened North Beach Cafe & Creamery on the corner of Atlantic Ave. and S Little Rock Ave. They incorporated their micro bakery concept from their old cafe, as well as the homemade comfort foods and classic breakfasts. Many of the breakfast recipes and pastries originated in the Bed and Breakfast. They added a full line of homemade ice cream along with the original water ice recipes provided by Bob Mento.