ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) — ICE CREAM ICE CREAM! The 13th Valley Dairy Restaurant is opening its door next week right here in Altoona and yes, they’ll serve ice cream.

Valley Dairy Restaurant will open its doors Monday, Oct. 16 and it will be the third in our area, in addition to Johnstown and DuBois locations.

“We’ve been looking to get out this way. Altoona’s just a busy area, lots of people, so we think it’d be a great move for us to get out here. And we’re excited to be in the community,” District Manager, Alex Blystone said.

In preparation for the grand opening, employees at the restaurant have started doing run-throughs in which some of them act as customers, while other employees take their orders and wait on tables.

The purpose is to get critical feedback and identify any areas for improvement.

“We’re excited to get to know our staff a little more. We’re looking forward to building a regular basis of customers here in Blair County for the first time,” said Andrew Santichen, Manager of the Valley Dairy in Altoona.

Brenda Hoover recently started as an employee at Valley Dairy and has worked in the restaurant industry for over 40 years.

“When I started at Valley Dairy I never even knew what it was. Now only working for the company for 4 months, I couldn’t see myself anyplace else. I have posted so many times on Facebook how excited Altoona is for this restaurant to open,” she said.

The new shop will be located at 2724 Plank Road.

With this new restaurant opening, Altoona will join the chain as their 13th location. The company is still looking to hire more employees for the location. To view open positions, visit their website.